The giant social networking hub MySpace was in the news yesterday for announcing that it will soon be scouring its 100 million-plus member pages for known child molesters, using existing databases to match them not just by their names, but also by their physical descriptions, include details such as age, hair color, height, scars and tattoos.

If that doesn't make you wonder about possible cases of mistaken identity and other forms of creepy overkill, check out this story from blogger Scott Henson. Apparently, the warrantless tactics that some prosecutors are now using to pull information off of MySpace pages to track sex offenders are now spreading to much lower level crimes. Henson discovered a thread on the Texas District and County Attorney's public user forum where a bunch of prosecutors are discussing whether it's OK to go online and create a fake profile on MySpace in order to get a kid to "friend" them and thus give them access to their private MySpace page, where they might find evidence of someone bragging about a petty crime like vandalism. Here's an excerpt of what Henson found, with his comments included. The dialogue picks up after an assistant DA only identified as Gretchen someone named Stacey suggested checking some kids' MySpace accounts.

[Prosecutor] Tirey went and checked, then replied, "One of these kids apparently does not have a MySpace page. The other has several, including one that was last updated a few days ago, but they are all private. I do not think that I can very well invite her (or whatever you do on MySpace) to be my friend and let me see her page. I am reasonably sure she might recognize my name and refuse. Is there some way I can get to look at the page without using outright deception?"

Good question. What constitutes outright deception? Lets see what his fellow prosecutors think. Gretchen replied: "Could you have an investigator invite your D as a friend? I would think that'd be no different than chatting up a child molester online, and you'd only have your investigator monitoring the site, not even necessarily engaging in conversation. Just a thought."

That IS quite a thought. I wonder how many investigators and cops are "monitoring" private MySpace accounts, having used this ruse to pretend to be a "friend" when they really are seeking evidence to prosecute?

Here's an example of that famous slippery slope: Tactics become commonly used to pursue a terrible crime, like child molestation, that may violate constitutioonal rights, but because the crime is so heinous it's tolerated by public opinion. In the legal world, though, what that does is set precedent for using those same tools in other, less serious crimes - in this case a Class B misdemeanor. No warrant, no judicial oversight. Nothing. And how long may this "monitoring" go on? Quien sabe? Who knows?

Tirey asks if it'd be okay if a probation officer made the surreptitious ask to be the defendant's friend, but Gretchen thought "it would be better if it was law enforcement, such as your arresting officer."

That last bit of advice tells me prosecutors understand that this would constitute an investigative function. In that case, there's a process for them to access private information of defendants: If they have a need to see this girl's MySpace account, prosecutors should go to the judge and ask for a search warrant. And if they don't have probable cause to get a warrant, they shouldn't send cops surreptitiously lurking onto young girls' private MySpace pages, or anybody else's.

I'm not a criminal defense lawyer, but I'm going to run this by some friends who are. Sure sounds creepy to me.

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