In the news today, match.com, eHarmony, and Spark Networks dating companies signed a joint statement of business principles agreeing to put member safety as a priority, through checking subscribers against national sex registries, providing online safety tips to members, and providing a quick way for members to report abuses.  As you may already know, Friends Match Me dating site, being a Facebook dating app, already uses Facebook member screening – as all members must sign up through their Facebook account, and Facebook already performs sexual predator screening.

“Consumers should be able to use websites without the fear of being scammed or targeted,” Attorney General Kamala D. Harris said in a statement.

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The statement is nonbinding and carries no enforcement penalties, but it does publicly hold dating sites to account for their members’ safety, said Lynda Gledhill, a spokeswoman for the attorney general’s office.

“They can’t be sued by private parties based on this agreement. We fully expect that the companies will, in good faith, comply,” she said.

via: http://www.abc-7.com/story/17203105/3-online-date-sites-agree-to-screen-for-predators

This is a good step for the online dating industry.  However, match.com did provide proof of performing such screening after being sued for a 2010 sexual assault of a Los Angeles-area woman by a man she met through Match.com.  Alan Wurtzel had a string of previous convictions for sexual battery but was not registered as a sex offender.  On their second date, he drove the woman to her home, and then followed her inside and assaulted her. 

Besides taking precautions such as meeting in a public place, and providing your own transportation, you could also use Friends Match Me dating site vs the other dating sites to even choose to limit your online dating to members who have mutual friends with you.