Police in a Connecticut city suspect up to seven girls have been assaulted by men they met on Rupert Murdoch's MySpace.

But it's as safe as, "anyplace in the offline world despite recent reports that sexual predators may be using it to find and lure young victims, the company's CEO said," according to the Associated Press.

"If you go to the mall and start talking to strange people, bad things can happen," Chris DeWolfe, the site's co-founder, said in a telephone interview. "You've got to take the same precautions on the Internet."

However, "Last week, two men were arrested in what prosecutors said were the first federal sex charges involving MySpace," the story continues.

Children under 14 aren't allowed on MySpace and 14-year-olds are allowed only restricted access, AP has DeWolfe stressing.

And he said the site, "uses a computer program that analyzes user profiles and flags members likely to be under 14. More than 200,000 users have been deleted, he said. But children regularly lie about their age to get around those restrictions."

DeWolfe said MySpace had assisted on more than 2,400 investigations, "from criminal cases to runaways, and make themselves available to investigators around the clock," adds AP.

Also See:
Associated Press - MySpace CEO says site is as safe as offline world, March 6, 2006
assaulted - MySpace: Danger Place, February 4, 2006