Match.com to screen for sex offenders

Match.com will cross-check users against sex offender databases, the company announced several days after an L.A. woman filed suit against the international dating website claiming she was attacked by a man she met online.

The announcement itself went viral, with high-profile celebrity blogger Perez Hilton reporting it.

The company released a statement to the Associated Press saying that Match.com in the past had not screened users against a sex offender database over fears that such checks would be flawed and could give a false sense of security.

Attorney Mark L. Webb, who represents the unnamed woman identified in the lawsuit — whom he described as an Ivy League graduate who works in film and television — told the LA Times last week he would ask a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge for a temporary injunction barring the site from signing up more members until his client's demands were met. He said his client wanted the site to screen members to determine if they were sexual predators.

"They are a very powerful and successful online dating service, and they have the means to do this," Webb reportedly said.

Match.com President Mandy Ginsberg said in the statement that the website had not implemented a screening process due to the "unreliability of the database." After reviewing recent improvements, he said, the company had decided to begin the sex offender checks with current and new members.

"We've been advised that a combination of improved technology and an improved database now enables a sufficient degree of accuracy to move forward with this initiative, despite its continued imperfection," Ginsberg said in the statement.