
Tinder Lets Known Sex Offenders Use the App. It’s Not the Only One - mzs
https://www.propublica.org/article/tinder-lets-known-sex-offenders-use-the-app-its-not-the-only-one
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rubbingalcohol
If Tinder forced people to do background checks, propublica would do a similar
write-up about how invasive that is and how it disproportionately affects
[affected group]. The only way to win this game is to not play.

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DyslexicAtheist
sounds like an impossible problem for where the only (dystopian) solution
would be strong attestation of users identity by the service provider. not
only would that too be riddled with potential mistakes. but as it is with all
such cases, the service provider can't actually be trusted with such data (or
managing such a process).

EDIT: this story sounds like trying to use the sex-offender thing to
fabricated outrage. People who use these apps to "hook up" with strangers
should be well aware that they might bump into all kind of bad people (some of
them might be lunatics or even criminals). Having the service provider
suddenly be in charge of attesting for the (lack of) character of its users
sounds like a terrible idea.

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toomuchtodo
It is not unreasonable to regulate platforms for the safety of its users.
Background checks and ID verification flows can be automated, and are
inexpensive in bulk.

"Gig economy" platforms already support this in various forms, due to customer
pressure and local regulatory environments.

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DyslexicAtheist
they could push to educate users better on how to be safe or at least tailor
part of the process (getting to know each other workflow) so it becomes safer.

meeting strangers and attesting for identity is a problem that isn't unique to
Tinder/Grindr. It's relevant to any service that spills over into _meat-
space_.

Background checks and ID checks unfortunately won't work for many people not
in the US. Worse they will give people a wrong sense of security. IMO training
and steering users to the right behavior would be more effective.

Some of these tips[1] could be used to implement a workflow (user stories)
around it to make it safer:

[1] staying safe on Tinder: [https://www.vyke.com/stay-safe-on-
tinder/](https://www.vyke.com/stay-safe-on-tinder/)

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vageli
Is there anything stopping a sex offender from taking out a classified ad in
the paper or a missed connection on Craigslist? This doesn't seem isolated to
web properties so the framing is a little odd to me.

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SamReidHughes
The link is broken, but the link from the propublica.org home page is also
broken (and is the same link). Maybe it will start working.

