MySpace invader

Det. Dannahey: They love to take photos of themselves. Predators just must go out of their minds for the fact that they have these sites where they get all this information.

Detective Frank Dannahey is about to introduce himself to three unsuspecting teenagers—Brittany, Rachelle, and Amber. They’re the girls who struck up a cyber friendship with his fake persona “Matt.”  And their moms are all in favor of the face-to-face meeting. 

Rachelle’s mom: I hope it’s a wake up call.

Amber’s mom: Yeah, they need a scare, I think.

But first we asked Amber, known online as “Ambercitaaa,” Brittany, a.k.a “pretty girl with a knife” and “Rachelle” how well they thought they were protecting themselves.

Stafford: Do you take precautions to protect yourself from predators?

Amber: Yeah.

Stafford: What do you do to be safe?

Rachelle:  You don’t put, like, your full name out there.  You know, where you live. I don’t add people I don’t know.  I don’t, you know, talk to people I don’t know.

Stafford: So you’re careful?

Rachelle: Yeah.

Stafford:  So do you post personal information?

Amber: There’s no way I would.

Stafford: Name, address, phone number?

Amber: Like I say my name’s Amber.  But that’s all I say.

Stafford:  Brittany?

Brittany: If people, like, talk to me that I don’t know, then I just—I just don’t talk to them.

Stafford:  You would know someone was trying to con their way into your life.

Brittany: Yeah. I’d know it.

Stafford: There’s a guy in town named Matt who has a MySpace page.  What do you know about him?

Amber:  Does he have a cartoon for a picture?

Stafford: I think so.

Amber: And he’s a college student.

Stafford: Tell me about him. What do you know about him?

Brittany: I went to his MySpace, and I saw that a lot of like people that I know had him as their friend.  So I just like added him.  And I was like “okay.” 

Now it was time for a big surprise for the three teens.

Stafford:  Would you like to meet Matt? He’s out in the hallway.

Detective Dannahey walks in.

Rachelle:  Hello.

Det. Dannahey:  Hey, Brittany.

Brittany: Hi.

Det. Dannahey: How are you?

Brittany:  Good.

Det. Dannahey: Hey, Rachelle. Hi, amber. Nice to meet you.

Amber:  Nice to meet you.

Det. Dannahey:  I’m Matt.

Stafford:   What do you think?

Rachelle: Do you have a badge?

Amber: Oh, god. You have a badge.

Stafford:  “Matt” is actually Detective Frank Dannahey.  Surprised?

Brittany:   Never would have thought.

Stafford:   No idea?

Brittany:   No idea.

Stafford: Did you believe Matt was really 19?

Brittany: I actually believed it.

Rachelle:  When he walked in, I was like. It’s true.  You can be deceived easily. 

The girls were willing to admit that much, but were quick to say that they hadn’t revealed anything to this stranger.

Stafford: You don’t think you gave him any private information?

Amber: No.  I don’t believe I did. 

Stafford: But what did you find out about Amber?

Det. Dannahey: Her real name.  Your birthday.  And you have a 377-- question survey in  your page,

Amber:  Oh!  I forgot about that.

Det. Dannahey:  ... which if I really was a predator, that would be just the kind of information that could maybe years ago, take me months talking to you to get that kind of information.

Stafford: Did you realize you’d given up that much information to someone you didn’t know?

Amber:  No.  I actually didn’t really. But that was my first survey that I’ve ever done before.  And like it looked cool.  And it was like—it took me an hour to do. I was really proud of myself.

Stafford: What did you find out about Rachelle?

Det. Dannahey:  Rachelle sends a lot of bulletins. 

Rachelle: Those are fun.

Remember the bulletin Rachelle posted that showed the time she wrote it and spelled out where she and her buddies were headed?  We reminded Rachelle about that.

Stafford:  On the bulletin you said exactly where you were gonna go with your friends.

Rachelle: To Taco Bell.

Amber:  That was our conversation!

Stafford: How hard would it be to find you?

Amber: Not that hard.

Det. Dannahey: Plus, your whole full name is on your page. 

Rachelle: Where’s my full name? (to Amber) Oh, you left me a comment.

Det. Dannahey: (to Amber)  Yes.  Yes.  I, unfortunately, got her name through your comment. So have—knowing that you’re from Middletown, Connecticut and knowing your full name. If you’re in the phone book, I could probably basically go and ring your doorbell.

And finally Brittany, the girl who offered an online hug and who said she wanted to meet up with Matt.

Brittany:  I don’t remember it like ever saying “I’m gonna meet up with you.” I don’t remember saying that.  I really don’t.

Det. Dannahey: You did. In one of our conversations, early on, you said, “We should meet some time.” 

Brittany: I really thought you were like one of my—‘cause like Amber and Rachelle said a lot of our friends were on there.  So I was just like, “yeah.”

Stafford:  Do you think you would have met him?

Brittany:  I wouldn’t go by myself.  I’m not that dumb.

Stafford:  Did you get to the point where you thought your space was really your space and only you and your friends were looking at it?

Rachelle:  Oh, yeah.  I thought I was pretty safe.  But I’m gonna double-check myself now.  I feel less confident.

Stafford:  I mean, millions of people do a ton more than you guys do.  They put name, addresses, phone numbers, pictures, provocative pictures.  You guys don’t do that.  But he had just a little bit, and he got more. 

Experiments like Det. Dannahey’s and safety meetings like the one we attended in Middletown are alerting parents that it is their responsibility to be more vigilant.

But how much responsibility should fall on the MySpace company itself? Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumental says—a lot. In February, he met with MySpace executives. 

Connecticut Attorney General Blumenthal: I hope and I believe that MySpace will do better.  It must do better, or we will enforce the law to require that they do better.  My hope is that they will recognize their responsibility and provide a model for other social networking sites.

Three weeks ago, Blumenthal sent MySpace a letter requesting changes such as providing free software for parents that would block MySpace, banning users under the age of 16, and hiring independent monitors to report potential illegal activity on the site.

MySpace declined our repeated requests for an interview but told us in an e-mail that it’s deeply committed to providing a safe and secure environment for its users and has initiatives to protect them.  A third of its staff, about 90 people --  is dedicated to monitoring the site’s 63 million profiles for pornography and underage users.  MySpace also says it has deleted more than a quarter million underage profiles.

And late Friday, MySpace told dateline they have appointed a former federal prosecutor to oversee privacy, safety and law enforcement outreach.

Whatever social network your child uses there are easy steps you can take to reduce risks: Monitor your child’s profile regularly,  keep photos and personal details off, and put your child’s computer in an open area.

As for the moms whose three daughters were unwitting subjects in Det. Dannahey’s experiment, they say there are no more online secrets in their homes.

Brittany’s mom: I didn’t even have to ask her. She went right to her MySpace and changed the whole thing.

Rachelle's mom: I actually sat w/ her and had her go through each person that’s her friend on MySpace and tell me who they were. So that if she didn’t know their name, they came off the friends list.

Their girls say they’re grateful for their unexpected lesson in online dangers.  They’ve even joined detective Dannahey’s Internet safety presentations.

So it turns out that for Rachelle, Amber and Brittany, the person they thought was 19 year old “Matt” really is a friend.

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