MySpace Labels Innocent Woman as Sex Offender -- Updated

Jessica Davis, a 29-year-old University of Colorado senior, found herself falsely branded a sex offender and kicked off MySpace last weekend, ABC News reports. There is no registered sex offender by her name in Colorado. But when Davis availed herself of MySpace's appeals process, the results were less than satisfactory

"I want to inform you that I am NOT a sex offender, let me repeat my self (sic), I am NOT a sex offender. You have the wrong person and I'm horrified and appalled at such an accusation," wrote Davis, an English major who lives outside of Boulder and hopes to attend law school. "I would like to know where you got this information and would like this matter cleared up ASAP."

On Wednesday, days after she sent a second e-mail to MySpace, Davis said she finally heard back.

"We do not keep records of removed profiles or images," the response note reads. "If it was removed by MySpace it was because of a violation of our terms and conditions -- which can include a number of things (underage, inappropriate images, cyber bullying, spam, etc). Please review our terms for further assistance."

If MySpace really isn't saving full copies of the profiles it's removing, there are going to be some very pissed off attorneys general with unfulfilled subpoenas in their pockets -- and probably a few recidivist sex offenders breathing sighs of relief. Davis told ABC News that she supports MySpace's efforts, but is worried that the database it built with Sentinel Tech Holding Corp. will start circulating with her information in it.

Beyond basic confusion, concerns about possible identify theft and frustration at the lack of follow up by MySpace, Davis said she fears that at some point she may have to explain a sex offender label she doesn't understand -- particularly as states, including Colorado, will have access to the MySpace database.

"I do plan to go into law and I want to go into the public sector and I don't want to have to explain this to people that there's this Web site MySpace and they screwed this up," Davis said. "I don't want to have defend my innocence."

Update:

MySpace isn't talking about this, but Sentinel -- the company that built the database for MySpace -- has acknowledged the error. Sentinel CEO John Cardillo told ABC News that the system functioned properly, because an actual sex offender existed with the same name, and a date of birth two years and two days apart from Davis'.

"It was so close," Cardillo told ABCNEWS.com. "It was one of those rare instances where there was nothing else we could have done but flag her. If we get an offender and I'm looking at a date of birth that's two days off, we're going to assume were dealing with the offender."

Cardillo would not say exactly what pieces of information Davis had to provide to clear her name, citing trade secrets that could help sex offenders beat his database. He added that the experience is likely isolated and may help prevent the same type of snafu from happening again.

When I performed my MySpace sex offender survey, it took manual inspection to distill 744 confirmed matches from thousands of computer-generated leads. I wouldn't label someone a "match" if their ages were different, unless the photographs were clearly of the same person, and the location matched. Since Davis and her sex offender name-alike don't resemble each other, it appears that MySpace isn't taking the same care.

That means we'll be seeing more cases like this. The incident also casts doubt on the usefulness of MySpace's appeal process. Responding to Davis' plea by sending her a form letter falsely accusing her of wrongdoing isn't Solomonic jurisprudence.

Previous Posts:

Misidentified Sex Offenders

Have 14 Days to Appeal MySpace Ban

Banned MySpace Sex Offender:

Why Me?

MySpace Sex Offenders, Five of Nine Still Online

Attorneys General Demand

MySpace Give Up Sex Offenders

Photo: The Wrong Man. (1956)