BUSINESS WIRE -- Mar 21 -- IDEA-OASIS, the Internet Dating Executive Alliance/Online Association for Social Industry Standards www.ideaoasis.org,
today announced its formal opposition to state legislative efforts
regarding personals companies conducting background checks on all users
of Internet dating and online matchmaking services. It's "legislative
overkill vs self-regulation through better business models and
policies," said Michael Jones, president of IDEA OASIS. "In addition to
damaging individual privacy, this kind of misguided effort may
ultimately undermine e-commerce -- from giants such as eBay and Amazon
down to the small business and start-ups. In the end, the supposed cure
is worse than the disease, which is why we believe this will simply
force the hand of online businesses and impair the rights of free
speech and free communication online." Meir Strahlberg, CEO,
Date.com, said "rather than risk giving consumers a false sense of
security with criminal checks that are not 100% accurate, responsible
companies in the industry should continue to promote safety guidelines
to those in the online dating community." RELEASE @ YAHOO