MySpace invader

Rob Stafford Correspondent • Profile

MIDDLETOWN, CONN. - He says his name is Matt— it’s not. He says he’s new to town— he’s not. And he says he’s 19— not even close. 

But that’s how he portrays himself to the kids “befriending” him online on the social networking site, MySpace.com. 

Would your child let a stranger into his or her online world?

The fictitious cyber teen known as “Matt” was created as an experiment and his instant popularity revealed to one small town just how vulnerable its children are.

When MySpace was launched in 2003, it functioned mostly as a forum for musicians, a speed-of-light way for bands to spread the word out about their music for bands— like the new group Quietdrive, who has received more than half a million downloads on MySpace before even releasing its first single.

"It’s made all the difference in what we do," says Kevin Truckenmiller, Quietdrive lead singer. "It’s helped us promote for virtually free."

Not surprisingly, MySpace caught on like wild fire with kids.  Even the pop culture figures they love use the site to reach fans.

There are lots of other social networking sites like Facebook and Xanga, but MySpace is the giant among them, boasting more than 60 million users. It attracted media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s eye. Last summer, he bought the site for $580 million.

At its best, MySpace is a place where users keep in touch with friends and express their creativity by designing personalized profiles.  It has almost replaced the telephone for after school gossiping.

Rachelle: It’s just a fun way for friends to talk.

Brittany:  There’s like music and stuff on there that I listen to on a daily basis.

Amber: To me, it is, sort of like my life.

But MySpace also has a hidden danger. Police say predators troll the site, and others like it, looking for vulnerable children, sometimes very young ones.  Even though the site’s rules require users be at least 14, on MySpace it’s easy to pretend: even preteens are making profiles and can be among the targets.   

"This Web site is a sexual predator’s dream and a parent’s worst nightmare," says Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal. Blumenthal  says he’s been inundated by calls from schools and parents angry about the site. 

But there is one community in his state that has been hit hardest:  Middletown, Connecticut.  Earlier this year, seven teenage girls there contacted police in the course of just 5 weeks saying they were sexually assaulted by men they met through MySpace.

The police and several local schools have made a huge push to try to educate residents.  They’ve put on Internet safety seminars and workshops that teach parents how to navigate MySpace.

So if any town should have its guard up, you’d think it would be Middletown. But that’s not what a local police officer found when he decided to test just how cautious the teenagers around here were.  Dateline was invited to see first hand how the experiment would unfold.

“19-yr-old Matt” is actually Detective Frank Dannahey. He came up with “Matt,” who just moved to town.  Like many MySpace users, he used an anime cartoon character  instead of a photograph.  Matt’s a baseball fan, he plays pool and loves his iPod.

Dannahey began contacting Middletown teens through their MySpace profiles, writing that he was new to the community, and asking them to add him to something called their “friend list.”

Det. Frank Dannahey: It quickly became apparent that I could get all kinds of friends. It was just that easy.  Within less than a two week period, I have over 100 friends online.

Rob Stafford, Dateline correspondent: More than 100 friends?

Det. Dannahey:  And that’s not even being aggressive.  I mean if I had some devious intents, I think I could have hundreds of friends in that period of time.

Here’s how MySpace works:  anybody can create a profile and anybody with a computer can visit that page. Users under 16 have their profiles set to “private” by MySpace.com as a way of blocking instant access. If you, the visitor, want more information, you can ask to be accepted as a “friend.”  Once you’re a “friend” nothing is private.  And accumulating friends on MySpace is a badge of honor. “Matt” made lots of them, getting easy access to many “private” pages.

Stafford:  You’re getting the phone numbers and addresses?

Det. Dannahey:  Real names.

Stafford:   Real names.

Det. Dannahey: Real dates of birth.

Stafford: Where they go to school.

Det. Dannahey:  Where they go to school.  What grade they’re in.

Stafford:  After school activities?

Det. Dannahey: Anything you’d wanna know. If I was a parent, I don’t think I could hire a private investigator to get me more information than these kids are giving out on their Internet pages.

Some of “Matt’s” new online pals asked him a few questions before accepting him as a “friend.”  But about half let him in no questions asked.  Many got into online chats with him, and it didn’t take long for one girl to post one of the most dangerous responses that could be made to a stranger online. 

It’s a parent’s dreaded scenario.

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