US looks to regulate message boards

Websites such as Myspace where users can interact with each other could come under regulation from the US government, under a new law proposed by an American senator.

In the USA, only internet service providers (ISPs) are obliged under the law to report activity that they suspect to be related to child abuse and child pornography. The new bill, proposed by Senator John McCain, would see that duty extended to all sites with message boards, and so-called social networking sites. The bill also proposes that anyone convicted of a sex offence would have to register his or her online username and identity.

The bill, known as the 'Stop The Online Exploitation of Our Children Act' has already been through the Senate, and is currently being debated in a committee. MySpace has already said that it would work with the new system, if it becomes law, to ban sex offenders from the site.