In its latest step to curb child exploitation, MySpace is banning searches for members over the age of 68, reports CEO.

Hemanshu Nigam, CSO of Fox Interactive Media, which owns the social networking site, says MySpace employees noticed that some young members were jokingly listing their age as 69 (shorthand for a sexual position). Older members were then searching for, say, 69-year-olds under 4 feet tall, in hopes of finding young members interested in sex. Now, members can no longer browse for people over the age of 68.

In addition, Nigam says, the company’s safety and security team sent notification to all the members on the site who had listed their age as 69 or older, and told them that their profiles would be deleted if they were misrepresenting their age. The team then looked at the profiles of members who claimed to be either age 69 or 70, to see if there was any indication that they actually were that age. “We were thinking about that teen who thought they were being cute and that predator” who was looking for child victims, Nigam says.

Presumably these children will now switch their age to something lower than 69 to continue using the service and child predictors will just find other ways to still get in touch with them. If you’re a parent you must be aware of what your children are doing online. Don’t rely on MySpace or anyone else to ensure the safety of your child because nothing can replace your proper supervision.

[MySpace Cracks Down on 69-Year-Old Members]

[tags]myspace, myspacers, child exploitation, child predictor, children[/tags]