Dating sites and California attorney general announce partnership agreement to screen for sex offenders

Sites including eHarmonay and Match.com announced that they have entered into a partnership agreement with the California attorney general to better protect their respective dating sites members, including implementing policies and proceduers to screen their subscribers and members against sex-offender databases.

The development of this agreement stems from a lawsuit filed in 2011 against Match.com by one of their users,  who was attacked by another Match.com member after going on a date with him, follwowing a match proposed by the site. After the attack was investigated it turned out that the man was a repeat sex offender. As part of a settlement Match.com reached with the plaintiff in August of last year, they already agreed to start screening their members for possible matches against sex offender registries.

At the time many speculated that Match.com's policy would be followed by others in the industry, such as eHarmony. With the announcement today that expectation is now confirmed and others are urged to join the practice and the agreement.

Dating sites that quickly want to comply with this approach can turn to backgroundchecks.com. One of their products is the US Offender OneSEARCH which can scan new subscribers for matches against sex offender databases all over the country. It provides information from all 50 states, plus Washington DC, Guam, and Puerto Rico, with photos. Unique to backgroundchecks.com is their ability to complement the above search type with an ability to continually monitor a member list for updates to those records with their product Ongoing Criminal Monitoring. Both of these products are available for ordering through the standard website order interface for smaller dating sites and agencies, but can also be accessed and ordered through backgroundchecks.com API which allows for tighter integration with the dating site's online registration process and back office security and compliance operations.

<span style="font-family: " calibri","sans-serif";="" color:="" black;"="">About backgroundchecks.com -

backgroundchecks.com - a founding member of the National Association of Professional Background Screeners (NAPBS®) - serves thousands of customers nationwide, from small businesses to Fortune 100 companies by providing comprehensive screening services.  Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, with an Eastern Operations Center in Chapin, S.C., backgroundchecks.com is home to one of the largest online criminal conviction databases in the industry. For more information about backgroundchecks’ offerings, please visit www.backgroundchecks.com.

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Source: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-lazarus-20120323,0,1556561.column