In the next 60 seconds, more than 100 people will sign up for MySpace.com, the social networking site that is exciting teens and worrying parents around the world.
In January, the free site had 47.3 million registered users, a number that grows by an estimated 160,000 people each day.
The vast majority of its members are young adults and teenagers, who post photos and some detailed personal information for the world to see.
While the users sometimes post revealing personal photos, such as bathing suit shots, pornography and nudity are banned from MySpace.com. Company officials police the personal accounts, according to the terms and conditions for membership listed on the site.
MySpace.com also prohibits members from posting telephone numbers, street addresses and last names.
Prior to this week's arrest of two teenage girls from North Smithfield and Lincoln on child-pornography charges, there have been several high-profile cases that have attracted negative attention to the popular site.
Earlier in the year, a 14-year-old girl in Maine was raped by a 21-year-old man she met online.
A member of Rhode Island State Police's Computer Crimes Unit visited with school children in January, using the crime as a warning.
Several Rhode Island school districts ban students from accessing MySpace.com and other similar sites while at school. And other school districts regularly monitor MySpace.com to gauge student activities.
During a routine patrol of the site this week in Lincoln, a high school resource officer recognized a teenager from the school who had posted sexually explicit photos. The 16-year-old girl and a 19-year-old woman from North Smithfield were then charged with child pornography stemming from their photos.
North Smithfield police said MySpace.com had removed the photos of the two. A MySpace.com spokesman in California did not immediately return a call this afternoon seeking more information about the teens' sites and the company's policies.
Despite the parental concerns, MySpace.com continues to grow. And it continues to attract money.
MySpace.com was launched in January 2004. In July 2005, Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. bought it for $580 million.
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