Although myspace is getting most of the press about this problem (unfortunately for them), this is an issue that all of the social networks and every community website must deal with.

Robert Young on Om Malik's blog seems most concerned with how the presence of sexual predators on social networking sites and the sites' inability to properly police it, will cut into Rupert Murdoch's profit margins. Quote:

The root of the problem lies in the fact that there is no definitive solution to the core problem of eliminating predators within a web community. Actually, there is one way - by verifying the real identities of every member. But doing so is not practical, as it would effectively destroy the community. As anyone who has battle-scars from running a large community can attest, nearly every effort that attempts to ensure higher safety & security will have a diametrically opposite effect on the growth and attractiveness of the service to existing members and potential members alike. At the end of day, people online will generally prefer the benefits of anonymity, even when weighed against extreme risks.

Does this mean MySpace will not be able to monetize their enormous inventory of pageviews? As I wrote in my last piece, where I compared MySpace to Google, the challenge is a tough one to begin with. How does MySpace over come this challenge, and still be the money machine for Murdoch's web ambitions. So, in conclusion, does this mean that Murdoch made a mistake by buying MySpace, after all? Absolutely not. Even if he cannot directly monetize the community to the levels that he had hoped for, this group of 50 million people (the new new MTV generation) is the most valuable strategic asset he owns as he transitions his empire into the digital age.

I don't think that the only solution to preventing this problem is eliminating anonymity. I'd also challenge the assumption that eliminating anonymity will destroy growth of the community. There are other leaders in social networking that have (and continue) to develop better solutions to enable the community to identify, report and resolve issues. I hope that myspace can do more to solve this problem than hire a bunch of people to delete pictures of boobies.