NY sex predator effort targets video games

Major software and video game providers have purged the accounts of more than 3,500 sex offenders from access to online video game platforms as a way to block predators from targeting children, New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced Thursday.

The database sweep was dubbed "Operation: Game Over" and enlisted the support of major companies such as Microsoft, Sony and Apple, Schneiderman said.

Warning that the Internet has the potential to become the "21st century's crime scene" in terms of sexual predators, Schneiderman said at a Manhattan news conference that the measures taken by the companies were a pre-emptive strike aimed at closing off another possible avenue for sex predators to children.

"We must ensure online video game systems do not become a digital playground for dangerous predators," he said.

State officials said that under state law, convicted sex offenders must register all of their email addresses, screen names and other identifiers with the state and that the information is made known to certain websites and networking sites so they can be purged.

Because many video game consoles allow users to access the Internet and send messages to other players anonymously, investigators were concerned that sex offenders could communicate with youths and possibly set up meetings.

One case of suspected sex abuse through a gaming site was cited by Schneiderman. Earlier this month, a 19-year-old man from upstate Monroe County plead guilty to sexual abuse charges after meeting a 10-year-old boy on the online video game system Xbox LIVE, said Schneiderman and other officials. The man gained the boy's trust over three months and then invited the youngster to his house, where the abuse allegedly occurred, according to Schneiderman.

"At Microsoft, we continually evaluate ways to manage safety for our 40 million Xbox LIVE members," said Microsoft vice president Rich Wallis in a prepared statement. "By leveraging the online identity information all registered sex offenders are required to provide, we are able to help reduce potentially harmful situations."