Sweep Of MySpace Nets 90,000 Sexual Predators

An ongoing sweep of MySpace.com has netted 90,000 sex offenders -- twice the number the company anticipated when it agreed to stricter safety standards last year. MySpace and Facebook.com claim more than 170 million combined users -- many of whom are children.

The social networking sites agreed to do more to protect those young users -- including banning convicted sex offenders. "The social networking sites are a fertile playground for sexual predators," Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler said. MySpace used a database that takes the names, physical traits and other distinctive characteristics of sex offenders and compares them to MySpace members. Gansler is part of a national push to make social networking safer and said that many sex offenders use fake profiles to avoid getting caught. "One of the things we're trying to do is make it so children under 14 can't get on these sites in the first place. There's no real reason for them to be there. If you reduce the supply, you'll reduce the demand," Gansler said. But more and more kids are creating profiles. "It's private, so nobody can get on it. If I don't know the person who sends a friend request, I spam or deny it," MySpace user Kayla Lake said. In addition to the ban on convicted sex offenders, MySpace and Facebook said they're taking other steps to protect kids. That includes adding a better age verification process and imposing a limit on member searches to prevent adults from trolling for children. Connecticut's attorney general said an initial sweep of Facebook turned up a substantial number of sex offenders. But he said the site has not officially responded to a subpoena of its records.