VIDEO-GAME COMPANIES AGREE TO CLOSE SEX OFFENDERS’ ONLINE ACCOUNTS
New York Times/Joseph Goldstein
In an effort to cut off another avenue used by online predators, several video-gamecompanies have agreed to close the accounts of more than 3,500 registered sex offenders in New Yorkstate following an agreement with the attorney general's office. Many games contain an audioor text component that allows players to communicate with one another. Among the companiesthat agreed to close accounts linked to sex offenders were Microsoft, which runs the Xbox Livegaming network, and Sony, which runs the PlayStation Network. Others included ElectronicArts, Warner Brothers, Disney Interactive Media Group, Blizzard Entertainment and Apple. Twocases were cited in the state in which predators had targeted children through online games: a casein Monroe County in which a 19 year old man sexually abuse a 12 year old boy he met through XboxLive, and a case on Long Island in which a man had sexually abuse a 14 year old girl he met byplaying online chess.
(New York)
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