You know I pick on MySpace, and Xanga, and once in a great while Facebook, but there’s one name that hasn’t been mentioned on this site so far. One that in my personal opinion is more dangerous than Xanga and MySpace put together. That would be LiveJournal.
Check out this interview on MSNBC with Xavier Von Erck, the director of operations of Perverted Justice…
VAN ERCK: Yahoo! recently has closed down all their teen rooms and is trying to keep teens out of their chat services. But still, they don’t have any moderators, and they can still do more.
MySpace is actually trying to play catch-up now with a staff that tries to eliminate predators from their services.
But there’s also other sites out there that are just as dangerous, such as LiveJournal, which does not have any policies restricting pedophiles from their web site. And in fact, they’ve said so publicly.
CARLSON: They have said out loud, pedophiles are welcome to use this site. Not prohibited from it.
VAN ERCK: Nothing in their terms of service restricts them.
CARLSON: Wow. That’s a little bit over the top.
Well, I can do Mr. Van Erck one better than he did in this interview. Not too long ago myself and a few other crime bloggers went after LiveJournal for allowing pedophile communities to proliferate within LiveJournal. This was the response that I got…
Dear LiveJournal User thetrenchcoat,
As explained in our previous response to you, it is neither against the Terms of Service nor illegal to discuss illegal actions, or to admit to having committed them. As long as the content posted does not solicit illegal activity, it is considered allowable under both the Terms of Service and the ideal of free speech. LiveJournal is committed to preserving as much free speech as possible for its users, as long as that speech does not cross the line into invading other users’ privacy.
Users are entitled to post about topics that may be abhorrent to much of the general population, so long as they do not cross the line into solicitation or instruction of illegal acts. We respectfully suggest, if the posts in this community disturb you, that you simply cease reading them.
Regards,
Morgan
LiveJournal Abuse Team
So basically LiveJournal doesn’t care that there are groups of people congregating within their virtual walls that share their fantasies about having sex with their daughter with other pedophiles. True story.
There are two schools of thought when it comes to these types of situations. The first one is let them operate out in the open so law enforcement can keep better tabs on them. Or drive them back to pre-internet days where instead of a global community of pedophiles there were only pockets of them where it was even more difficult to get to our children.
LiveJournal can either do one of two things. They can clear out the pedophiles from their membership or they can make LJ age restricted to 18+. The choice is theirs. I know one man isn’t going to change their mind but I’m about to become the sand in LiveJournals’ vagina.
Real Crime with Trench Reynolds 
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