New app weeds out sex offenders from Facebook
Mar 12, 2012, 1:02 PM | Updated: 5:10 pm
While the app has recently been introduced, creator Joe Penora says that even though the app is open to the public, it's still in the testing phases. (Image courtesy Friend Verifier/Facebook)
(Image courtesy Friend Verifier/Facebook)
As Facebook’s popularity has increased so has the number of friend requests from people you might not know in real life.
Verify Anybody, a company that runs background checks for paying users, has introduced a free app called “Friend Verifier” to help get rid of the creep-factor on Facebook.
The application scans through your current Facebook friends, as well as your pending requests, and will tell you if any of them are sex offenders.
Your friends are matched against names in public databases to see if any of them are sexual offenders.
The creator, Joe Penora, says even though the app is open to the public, it’s still in the testing phases.
The company is hoping to refine it and make it an even better tool. Because names are matched to Facebook friend names, there could be issues among common names.
Also, the app can’t help you if someone is lying about their identity. Future versions, Penora says, could improve results regarding fraudulent accounts as well as work on platforms other than Facebook.
It seems that one of the biggest benefits of the app is for concerned parents, who, if granted access to their child’s Facebook account, can double check their friends to make sure a sex offender hasn’t weaseled their way in to your child’s online life.
