McMaster leaves research group

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster has withdrawn from a group studying the problem of Internet predators on social networking sites after a report downplayed threats that children face online.
   
McMaster said Wednesday that findings from the report commissioned by a National Association of Attorneys General working group create a “false sense of security on the issue of child Internet safety.“
   
The report released Wednesday played down fears of Internet sexual predators who target children on social-networking sites like Facebook and MySpace.
   
The Harvard-led study also dismissed prospects for age-verification technologies, the approach favored by many law-enforcement officials who had pushed for the creation of the task force.