Monday, April 18, 2011

Match.com and the Sex Offender Registry

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110418/ap_on_re_us/us_matchcom_sex_offenders;_ylt=AlrkTQ1ojsjWdZKVXHvRkn.s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTFoNTBlaWExBHBvcwMxMzAEc2VjA2FjY29yZGlvbl90ZWNobm9sb2d5BHNsawNtYXRjaGNvbXRvY2g-

A woman (who remains anonymous) is filing a lawsuit against dating website, match.com, for not protecting her against a sexual predator who assaulted her after meeting her through the site. As a result, match.com is combining with the sex offender registry system to restrict registered sex offenders from joining the dating site. I thought this was a very interesting way of combining different technologies and utilizing information that is available. Match.com and dating sites like it have revolutionized dating and how people meet. I'm not sure of the actual percentage, but I do know that a formidable percentage of couples nowadays meet online. In the same way that dating moved online, so did the method in which the public was notified of dangerous sex offenders in their communities. Through Megan's Law, the Wetterling Act, and the PROTECT amendment to the Wetterling Act, sex offenders were required to register in state registries that eventually went online. It seems strange that these two new innovations - online dating and online sex offender registries - are collaborating together to provide a safer dating service, but I think that it's a positive step to take that is innovative and certainly keeping up with the way our world is changing more and more into an online one.
In any case, I thought it was interesting and a good idea that other dating websites i'm sure will also pick up on.

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