By MARIA NEWMAN
Published: April 12, 2006
MySpace.com, the social networking Internet site popular with young people that has alarmed some parents and law enforcement officials concerned about sexual predators, announced yesterday that it was hiring a former federal prosecutor to be its first chief security officer.
The site, acquired last July by the News Corporation, which also owns Fox Broadcasting and DirecTV satellite television, is used by young people to post personal pages that can include their photographs and other details about their lives and interests so they can interact with others on the site.
Because of concern by parents and school and law enforcement officials that the site sometimes unwittingly makes young people vulnerable to pornographers or predators, the company has hired Hemanshu Nigam, director of consumer security outreach and child-safe computing at the Microsoft Corporation, to oversee safety, education and privacy programs and law enforcement affairs.
Mr. Nigam has also served as a federal prosecutor of Internet child exploitation cases, an adviser to a Congressional commission on online child safety and an adviser to the White House on cyberstalking.
"Hemu is a proven leader in online safety and security," said Chris DeWolfe, chief executive of My- Space. "We are fortunate to have him join MySpace, help us educate the public and protect our members' safety and privacy."
Mr. Nigam's appointment was reported yesterday in The Los Angeles Times.
The company also announced that it was starting an advertising campaign, in conjunction with the Advertising Council and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, to educate parents and young people about Internet safety. The Ad Council will team with the News Corporation to run public service announcements on MySpace and other Web sites and television channels of the News Corporation.
The commercials will caution young people to be more skeptical of strangers who approach them online.
The ad campaign was reported Monday in The Wall Street Journal.
MySpace is not the only site dedicated to social networking among the young — others include Xanga.com and Facebook.com — but it has attracted much attention from parents, school officials and law enforcers, possibly because of its popularity. It now has 65 million members, company officials said.
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