Cooper: Online task force failed

ryanteaguebeckwith — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 15:31:10 -0500

Roy Cooper says a task force on social networking did not do its job.

Speaking at the spring conference of the National Association of Attorneys General in Washington this afternoon, the attorney general disagreed with a task force that said sex predators are not a major problem on sites like Facebook and MySpace.

The Internet Safety Technical Task Force was created by 49 attorneys general to look into the problem of sexual solicitation of children online.

Its 278-page report, released in January, said that children were unlikely to be propositioned online and teens were willing participants.

In brief remarks at the conference, Cooper said he shares the concerns of other attorneys general about the report.

He said the task force interpreted its mission in an "overly broad" way and "did not concentrate on what we asked them to do."

After promoting state legislation and considering multistate litigation, Cooper said he now has hopes that technological advances on identity verification can address the problem, along with education and law enforcement efforts.

What Easley's up to in D.C., Florida

ryanteaguebeckwith — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 11:40:15 -0500

Gov. Mike Easley is discussing foreclosure, education and the law this week.

According to a schedule provided by the governor's office today, Easley had several stops in Washington after going to an economic summit with President-elect Barack Obama in Philadelphia Tuesday.

During a three-hour stopover, he was interviewed by BBC America about the summit, met with state and federal education experts interested in the state's Learn and Earn and 21st Century Skills programs and met with 20 of his colleagues at the Democratic Governors Association.

Easley, a former North Carolina attorney general, is meeting today and tomorrow with the National Association of Attorneys General conference in Florida about the state's predatory lending laws and home foreclosure reduction laws, which other states are considering as a model.

He will make a formal speech in the morning.

"The National Association of Attorneys General winter conference is an all business, non-press event, which is why they asked the Governor not to publicize his speech," wrote spokeswoman Renee Hoffman in an e-mail to Dome.

She added that Easley reimburses the state for any trips "of a political nature."

Previously: Why is Easley stopping in D.C., Florida?