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Match.com To Weed Out Sex Offenders From Dating Pool
By
John Del Signore
Published Apr 18, 2011
Modified Apr 18, 2011
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By
John Del Signore
Published Apr 18, 2011
Modified Apr 18, 2011
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Where's a registered sex offender supposed to look for love these days? Not Match.com, which has decided to filter customers through a national sex offender registry. In a statement issued last night, Match.com's president said the "improved technology and an improved database now enables a sufficient degree of accuracy to move forward." The company says it has been considering such a move for a while now, but had been holding back because of background checks' "historical unreliability." A spokesman also says the company decided to take the step in part due to publicity generated by a lawsuit filed by a California woman who used Match.com and got raped.
The class action lawsuit, filed under the name Jane Doe, accuses the company of failing "to undertake a basic screening process that disqualifies from membership anyone who has a documented history of sexual assault. Match and sexual predators benefit, while female members... are endangered." The victim was raped by a man named Alan Wurtzel, who reportedly has a record of "six separate convictions for sexual battery" in Los Angeles County. After their second date, Wurtzel followed the woman, an "Ivy League graduate who works in film and television," into her home.
"Never in my wildest dreams did I think I was going out with a criminal," she told ABC News last year. Her attorney had planned to ask an LA judge to issue a temporary injunction barring Match.com from signing up more members until the company starts screening for criminals, CNN reports. In announcing the changes, Match.com president Mandy Ginsberg said, "We want to stress that while these checks may help in certain instances, they remain highly flawed, and it is critical that this effort does not provide a false sense of security to our members."
And what about those of us who share the same name as registered sex offenders? This news is going to be a heavy blow to the innocent Jesus Quintanas of the world. (Yes there is actually a registered sex offender named Jesus Quintana in the state of California. We hear the creep can roll.)
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John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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