We all want to make a good first impression, but when it comes to online dating, who is to say you are telling the truth about yourself? One lawmaker wants to make the Internet safer for Texas singles.
You have seen the happy online dating subscribers on TV. Often, their stories end with a wedding. Brandi Means is one of those lucky people.
"Today is our three year anniversary,” she said. “We are planning our wedding. It is coming up April 24."
She and her fiance Adrian met on eHarmony.com.
"I was the first person he reached out to, and he was the last person I agreed to communicate with before I ended by subscription online,” Means said.
Senator Leticia Van de Putte says not all Internet relationships have a fairytale ending.
"I know a friend of mine who was very concerned for their daughter who met through a site. He ended up having a criminal background, but the gentleman was also married with children,” Van de Putte said.
Van de Putte wants Texas singles looking for love to know exactly what they are getting in to. She wants dating sites to disclose whether they have performed criminal background checks on their users. Most do not.
Van de Putte wants it written in bold, capital letters in at least 12-point type somewhere on each company's website.
"It requires them to disclose it whether they've done one or not. It doesn't require them to do it. At least people who go on that site would know,” Van de Putte said.
"That may make me think more about how I was interacting. If someone was to assume that was being done and it wasn't that it might be a false sense of safety,” Means said.
Van de Putte defines "background check" as a screen for felony offenses, sex offender registration, and domestic violence charges. If websites do not comply, she wants the attorney general's office to sue the sites for $250 for each Texas member during the time of violation.
