MySpace.com picks online security chief

NEW YORK -- MySpace.com, News Corp.'s social networking site, has appointed a security chief to police its 70 million personal Web pages, responding to the concerns of child-safety advocates. Hemanshu Nigam, who ran consumer security at Microsoft Corp., will begin at Santa Monica, Calif.-based MySpace.com on May 1, the company said yesterday.

MySpace.com, popular with teens who post their profiles and diaries, has been under fire because of some explicit content and the risk of exposure to sexual predators. Nigam is a former federal prosecutor and an adviser to the White House on cyber stalking.

So-called social networking websites have grown in popularity with young people. The trend started with sites including Friendster.com; now Yahoo Inc. and Google Inc. also operate friend-finder services.

US visitors to MySpace.com rose more than sixfold in February to 32 million from a year earlier, according to Nielsen//NetRatings. The number hit 36 million in March, making MySpace the tenth-most-visited US site.