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One of the world's top dating websites, Match.com, announced that it would begin checking its members against a domestic stimulate offender registry. The announcement was prefabricated about a hebdomad after a class-action causa was filed against the consort by digit women who verify men they met through the assist sexually harassed them.

Whether an endeavor to ward soured future lawsuits or merely a publicity stunt, the measure is nearly worthless and in fact may do more harm than beatific by raising a simulated sense of security. There are individual manifest flaws with the plan.

The first is that users on ethnic networking and matchmaking websites typically do not hit their identities verified. Thus anyone (including convicted stimulate offenders) crapper locate whatever study they wish to ingest on the site and easily refrain triggering a correct on registries.

Even if Match.com members' obloquy were somehow verified, obloquy are rattling common. A correct with a study on a stimulate offender registry would also order a matching come to be trusty it's the same person. Anyone crapper rent a locate duty incase (or ingest a friend's transmitting address) to easily refrain triggering an alert. [Predator Panic: Reality Check on Sex Offenders]

Second, even if the aggregation provided to Match.com was completely accurate, it may not correct what's on the nation's stimulate offender registries, which are notoriously unreliable. A 2010 study of Vermont's stimulate offender registry institute that half of the entries sampled contained significant mistakes and criminal information, including digit people who should not hit been listed. Another audit terminal year institute that the registry aggregation for Texas offenders was often wrong, half and outdated.

Third, statistics exhibit that relatively few assaults are sworn by convicted stimulate offenders. That is, a given mortal (adult or child) is farther more probable to be sexually assaulted by someone who is not traded on some stimulate offender registry than a convicted stimulate offender. The vast majority of physical and sexed assaults are sworn by friends, family and other idolized ones, not a recently met intruder hiding a stimulate offense conviction. This is digit of the fundamental flaws of Megan's Laws and other offender asking measures: They distract attention and resources absent from the greater threat.

Even Match.com's president, Mandy Ginsberg, recognized that the newborn measures"remain highly flawed." The rules of innocuous dating hit not changed in decades: Meet in a public place, verify a someone where you're going, and don't provide out personal aggregation likewise early.

Benjamin Radford is deputy application of Skeptical Inquirer science entrepot and communicator of sextet books. His website is www.RadfordBooks.com.

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