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Economic Stimulus Checks Printed in Kansas City
KANSAS CITY, MO (kansascityfrontpage.com), May 12, 2008 - Secretary Henry M. Paulson, Jr. visited the Financial Management Service Regional Financial Center in Kansas City, May 8, to see first hand printing of the economic stimulus checks that will put money in the hands of American families and boost our economy this year.

In remarks, Paulson said, "It's fitting that I see this economic stimulus become a reality in Kansas City, because my visit here last December was among the events that convinced me that we needed to boost the U.S. economy, and do it early so it could make a difference in 2008."

"This morning at the FMS center I saw employees printing checks non-stop on high speed printers. There are machines manufacturing envelopes and wrapping the envelopes around the checks. Checks are being sorted by zip code and loaded onto trays for pickup by the U.S. Postal Service," stated Paulson.

"Today is the first day that economic stimulus checks are being mass produced --- more than two million checks are being printed at FMS centers across the country, and this is just the first big batch. During the rest of May, Kansas City will print 2.5 million checks a week. In June and July, once the regular tax filing season is finished, we expect Kansas City will send 3.75 million stimulus checks per week. FMS centers in Philadelphia, Austin and San Francisco are also preparing checks that will be, without a doubt, in the mail soon. In total, we will send an estimated 88 million stimulus payments as paper checks through the mail," Paulson said.

Facebook Will Enforce "Age Locking" for
Existing and New Profiles
KANSAS CITY, MO (kansascityfrontpage.com), May 12, 2008 - The popular social networking site Facebook will initiate significant new safeguards and continue existing ones to help protect children from online predators, under an agreement announced May 8 by Attorney General Jay Nixon and the Attorneys General from 48 other states and the District of Columbia.

The Facebook agreement and the accompanying safeguards build upon a ground-breaking agreement in January between the Attorneys General and another leading social networking site, MySpace. Nixon said the agreements with MySpace and Facebook are a result of two years' work by the Attorneys General and have helped set the standards for online safety.

"Both Facebook and MySpace have already implemented several recommendations from Attorneys General and other online safety advocates," Nixon said. "Today's agreement sets out the additional steps Facebook will take as part of this broad-based task force that is exploring and developing age and identity verification technology. It is important to remember, however, that the most effective tools in protecting children from dangers online are parents who are actively involved in monitoring and talking to their children about their online activities."

The Attorneys General advocate age and identity verification, calling it vital to better protect children using social networking sites from online sexual predators and inappropriate material. The states pushed for changes after sexual predators repeatedly used social networking sites to victimize children.

Under the agreement, Facebook will be part of an industry-wide Internet Safety Technical Task Force that is exploring and developing age and identity verification tools for social networking Web sites. The task force, created through the earlier agreement with MySpace, includes social networking sites, age and identification verification experts, child protection groups and technology companies. Last month, the task force released the first of its quarterly reports to the Attorneys General; the group will issue a formal report with findings and recommendations at the end of 2008.

Nixon said the agreement with Facebook, like the agreement with MySpace, incorporates four over-arching principles: preventing underage users; protecting younger users from inappropriate content; protecting younger users from inappropriate contact; and providing safety tools for members.

Preventing Underage Users: Facebook will enforce "age locking" for existing and new profiles. If members are under 18, or if they want to change their age to indicate they are under 18, the profile must be reviewed by a customer service representative. The site also will grant only a single request to change a member's age above or below the 18-year-old threshold.

Protecting Younger Users from Inappropriate Content: Among other actions, Facebook will use technology to block and remove inappropriate images; delete accounts for upload child pornography and refer them to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children; and maintain a list of pornographic sites on an ongoing basis and sever active links to those sites.

Protecting Younger Users from Inappropriate Contact: Facebook will identify and remove profiles of registered sex offenders; allow users under 18 to block over-18 users from contacting or viewing them; limit users over 18 from searching users under 18; remove posting of contact information; and prohibit unregistered users from viewing search results in mature groups and forums.

Providing Safety Tools for all Members: Both the MySpace and Facebook agreements include providing privacy controls for users; allow users to conceal their "online now" status; promote safety tips on the site, and require under-18 users to affirmatively consent to reviewing the safety tips.

Facebook and the Attorneys General also issued a joint statement on key principles of social networking safety. The statement recognizes that an ongoing effort by the online social networking industry is required both to keep pace with the latest technological developments and to develop additional ways to protect teens, including online identity authentication tools.

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