MySpace

Cooper, along with top law enforcement officials in other states, said the sites provide sexual predators easy access to children and teenagers because people of any age can join. North Carolina legislators failed to pass a bill this year targeting such sites, as some House members and Internet commerce groups said a broad restriction would be unworkable and unconstitutional."One thing we pride ourselves in doing is being ahead of the curve with ideas," Cooper said during a news conference. "Sometimes it just takes the slow-moving Legislature a period of time to see the light."In response, MS general counsel Mike Angus said the bill didn't pass because the verification technology isn't up to par."Leading Internet and technology experts, as well as respected Internet and media companies, successfully explained why age verification and parental consent would be ineffective," he said in a written statement Monday.MS, the largest social networking site of its kind, allows users to create personal profiles with pictures, music and text. Users can send messages to one another and allow their profiles to be viewed publicly, but they can block specific MS users or make their entire profile accessible only to only users designated as "friends."Officials in two states have said MS recently identified more than 29,000 registered sex offenders with profiles. The company will not confirm the reports but said it is working to locate and remove profiles posted by sexual offenders.Cooper threatened Monday to take action against MS if it fails to require parental consent voluntarily, but he declined to discuss specifics.Law enforcement officials nationwide are trying to find better ways to keep tabs on sex offenders, such as toughening child pornography penalties or requiring offenders give e-mail addresses to authorities.Cooper is pushing for a state law that would require social networking Web sites to confirm and verify a parent's permission before allowing a minor to create a profile.The Senate approved bill that included that requirement by a wide margin in May, but it got smothered in the House by lobbyists and attorneys speaking against the measure. They said parental consent was well-meant but wouldn't prevent minors from fabricating their parents' information."Parental consent is just not feasible. It won't be feasible next year when they bring it up again," said Braden Cox with NetChoice, a Washington-based e-commerce trade group that lists MS parent News Corp., Yahoo and AOL among its members.A House committee eventually passed the bill without the parental permission component, leaving behind a provision banning registered sex offenders from joining social networking sites and slightly increasing child pornography penalties.But no further action was taken on the measure before the session ended last week.Cooper said age verification technology is already being used on adult oriented sites that advertise tobacco and alcohol. He said social networking sites just don't want to lose the revenue generated from advertising to young people, an accusation MS denies."We're going to be working the Legislature to show them why this is a good idea," Cooper said Monday, as the State Bureau of Investigation received an award from a nonprofit group for fighting computer sex crimes. "It will be a great blow against these predators and it will protect children."