State Panel OK's Internet Dating-service Bill

MIAMI HERALD -- Mar 25 -- The ''Internet predator awareness and online safety act'' has been approved at the state Senate's Commerce Committee despite the objections of companies such as Yahoo! and Match.com. The bill would require any Internet dating service to disclose online and by e-mail whether or not it conducts a criminal background check. The site would have to tell a user if it allows members to have criminal records, but it doesn't have to say what that record is. Match.com doesn't conduct background searches because they're so unreliable, something that Republican Senator and former Alachua County Sheriff Steve Oelrich confirmed. He said criminal background checks are iffy things and would give ''a false sense of comfort'' to users who could think that a ''Jack the Ripper'' was really a ''Jack Robertson'' until it's too late.