Match.com Plans To Ask Users If They're Sexual Predators
from the yeah,-that'll-work dept
We noted recently an odd lawsuit against Match.com from a woman who was sexually assaulted by a man she met via the service. The company is almost certainly protected via Section 230 from liability, but with a bit of interesting timing, Match.com announced plans to start screening users' names against a sexual predator database. This seems like the sort of quickly slapped together ideas that sound good until you think through the details. And, thankfully, the folks over at the EFF have thought through the details and are pointing out how deeply flawed Match.com's idea is:There are several glaring flaws with Match.com's plan. For one, Match.com can't prevent sexual assault by screening for sex offenders. But even if Match.com's goal is merely to check whether users are on a registered sex offender list, rather than to actually prevent assault, Match.com runs into the difficulty that many people who use the site may not use their real names. And while a portion of Match.com's services require a form of payment, a user looking to conceal her identity might simply use someone else's credit card to purchase a Match.com subscription. For this plan to work, Match.com will likely need to move to a real name policy, similar to Facebook's. And often a legal name may not be enough to establish one's identity -- Match.com could well need to collect other data points, like address or phone number, to truly figure out which "John Smith" has registered for their site. (Of note: a quick search through the sex offender registries for the name "John Smith" returns dozens of results.) This will be a change for Match.com: you can currently sign up for an account without providing your real name and there's nothing in the terms of service that requires an individual to provide her real name.The post goes on to highlight numerous other problems, and note that Match.com "doesn't promise to safeguard user data," in the company's privacy policy -- so with any verification process almost certainly involving handing over a lot more data, the whole plan seems dangerous from a privacy perspective:
And the real flaw in Match.com’s plan is the most obvious: criminals who want to use Match.com for nefarious purposes could use a false identity to set up service. So while law abiding citizens searching for love are handing over loads of personal data to Match.com, those with criminal intent are unlikely to provide real information about themselves when signing up for the site.
It's an affront to privacy masquerading as a safety feature.This sort of thing, by the way, is exactly the kind of thing we'll be discussing at the Techdirt Insight Dinner salon on May 18th, where one of the key points is to better figure out how companies can and should deal with the data they're collecting, without trampling on privacy issues.
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Isn't that the American way?
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Re:
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Yea, that's going to work
"Check this box if you are a terrorist"
Question that's on the form they ask passengers to fill out upon entering the country.
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Re: Yea, that's going to work
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Re: Re: Yea, that's going to work
The purpose of my visit (please check all that apply)
_ Business _ Pleasure _ Terrorism
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Actually, techdirt is paid for by the pharma industry. So far we have caused you to require anti-depressants, and statins for the blood pressure. All by just telling the truth. Pretty cool huh?
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At least one of you is single and a predator!
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Re: Re: Yea, that's going to work
From the ESTA itself:
"C) Have you ever been or are you now involved in espionage or sabotage; or in terrorist activities; or genocide; or between 1933 and 1945 were you involved, in any way, in persecutions associated with Nazi Germany or its allies?"
https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/esta/
(first click "Apply", then accept the disclaimers to see the question for yourself)
btw, filling out that Visa Waiver costs a (Non-US) visitor to the US $14 per 2 years, "to promote tourism" or so they claim.
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I guess I am in Congress.
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I Won't Murder You
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Re: Re: Yea, that's going to work
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As a side, I just don't know how this dating thing could get so complicated. I mean I guess I don't see how dating from an online matchmaker is any less risky than any other public meeting between two relative strangers.
Makes me glad I found the right lady early on.
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as a sex offender....
This new adam walsh act that was passed now requires my email, instant message, cell phone, license plate, company name and address, and school name and address also be public on the registry. (it also changes me to lifetime even though i was supposed to be removed in a few years)
Match.com is the first step. I fully anticipate sites like facebook pretty much banning me from the web as well. How does that keep people safe? Eventually it will reach the point where I'll have to use a fake name (a 2 year minimum felony for me under the new law) just to use the internet for the course of doing my job every day.
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Re: Re: Re: Yea, that's going to work
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not a checkbox
Pretty much any web site will be able to see if somebody is on the registry, however they won't know why. It won't differentiate between those caught peeing in public, or teens who had sex with each other and those on parole for rape.
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Re: as a sex offender....
90% or more of the people on it are on it for consensual relationships as teenagers or for consensual relationships between them and children/teenagers.
The fact is that very few of the people on the sex offender registry should truly be on it, and the added pressure from being on it just makes them MORE likely to offend as they are unable to find jobs and have a normal life because of one mistake.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Yea, that's going to work
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Match.com
However, the major point (for Match.com, anyway), is that "volentia non fit injuria" - volunteers cannot complain of injury.
If Match.com wants to do this, they will have to do it to "everyone's" satisfaction, or face interminable lawsuits.
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Re: as a sex offender....
(I know...who reads TOS forms these days?) Don't be surprised if your account just vanishs one day, you have been warned...in the TOS...which nobody reads....
Yeah.
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Sex Offenders etc. on Match.com etc.
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lol!
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