(Online Dating Industry Journal) State Rep. John Bradley, a Southern Illinois Democrat, is considering creating legislation that would require online dating services to do criminal background checks on its members. An article in The Bloomington Pantagraph noted that Bradley was surprised when he found out that many dating sites do not conduct background checks and said "It seems to me that there should at least be a non-sex-offender requirement."
Bradley is facing some opposition from online dating site owners, particularly from the International Associate of Dating Web sites, headed by founder Rich Gosse. According to the article:
"Rich Gosse, founder of the International Association of Dating Web sites, a trade group with over 100 members, said lawmakers mistakenly view online dating as more dangerous than other forms of meeting people.
'We recommend to people that they use common sense when dating on the Internet. Internet dating is not anymore safe or anymore dangerous than any other method of meeting people,' he said. 'I tell people that you can meet people in church and they could be a hatchet murderer.'"
This is a controversial issue among online dating site owners and lawmakers. The issue was originally brought up by online dating service True.com. True has been trying to pass legislation to force online dating service owners to have background checks or prominently display on their site that they do not provide such background checks, but many other dating site owners believe this is just a way for True to try and push out its competition. For the full article, click here.
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