I'm glad to see a little rationality being suggested. Having a Myspace is merely the grounds to meet people, in many cases it's AIM or other instant messaging services that really connect these people. Myspace is also singled out in cases where the victim and offender both had sites. There was a murder of a young girl (http://digg.com/tech_news/Girl_murdered_by_man_she_met_on_MySpace) who met a man on Deviant Art and talked through instant messaging, they also had each other on their Myspace page, but that was NOT where they met. The headlines everywhere read "MySpace Murder", but noone took note of the fact that MySpace was merely incidental in this case.

If MySpace were a coutry, it would be the 8th largest. If there were only 29,000 sex offenders in the 8th largest country in the world, that would be a pretty good statistic. Because technophobes hear that this newfangled website is coming for their daughters, they want to waste time and effort regulating the site in a way that makes no sense at all. Why would they require such standards for a networking site, but you can go to Youporn.com and click "yes, I'm over 18" and watch all the filthy things you want, as well as chat with the people on that site.

Sorry but he is. Down here in Rednecktarheelistan the air is thick with the slish vapors of angry psychochristian white middle class morons screaming about everything under the sun that is guaranteed to get little Kaylie raped and little Kyle gay, on crack and a terrorist. Perish the thought that Roy Cooper investigate white collar crime, government corruption or the fact that employers here actively work with Mexican officials to import illegal alien labor - it's a known fact. And oh - we have one meth lab per 1500 people here. Never mind that Roy - yeah let's focus on the Christian purity of little minds and genitals.

PS. NC convicted a HS student for a 4th degree felony sex crime for snapping a girl's bra in class. Oooooh - scary lock up the wimmin from the intratubes!!

Nobody ever got raped on MySpace. Let's remember that the cybersphere is not reality! Legislation of computer usage is as futile as legislation of software copyrights. The beneficiaries of this squabble (lawyers and politicians) have a vested interest in hiding the facts from the technologically-challenged public. Remember, the registry of sex offenders is based on voluntary compliance. The smartest and worst criminals are far too clever to end up on public files.

Meanwhile, the same virtual playground is used by law enforcement to trap criminals. Take away MySpace, and the creeps will simply sink underground again, where nobody can find them.

Parent: Don't talk to strangers

Child: OK

At least that is how it used to be when I was a lad.

One thing the above readers should remember is that sex offenses aren't all contact offenses, which is why internet sex offenses are prosecuted in the first place. So before conjuring statistics about the lack of rapes resulting from Myspace, one should remember the instances of online sexual coercion of minors (sometimes resulting in production of child pornography) and others where there have been planned meetings between offenders and minors resulting from online contact. Some of these are stopped first by authorities, but there have been many publicized cases in recent years where they weren't.

A correction about sex offender registries, too: they are not necessarily voluntary. Canada's offender registry (SORCA) is legally mandated as part of sentencing.

Please take this into consideration before forming a kneejerk reaction.

If snapping a bra at age 12, buying "marital aids," getting a lap dance from a dancer with too small a g-string, having a consensual sexual relationship with a 15 year old at age 17, etc., are the types of criteria one has to meet to get put on the list.

There are a lot of states that hve an insultingly low threshold for branding people with being a sex offender, yet most people who hear "sex offender" hear instead "rapist" or "child molester."

It's all about keeping people afraid of everyone and everything so they're easier to control. Ask Karl Rove, it works like a charm.

Another point to keep in mind is that a lot of "sex offenders" are really not a threat to children on MySpace. For instance, until recent years, most states had (and some still have) anti-sodomy laws that were enforced almost exclusively against gay men and often in cases of purely consensual sex. Convictions mean that these men are now "sex offenders," though they rarely pose a threat to children. Keep in mind too that once convicted, it's a lifetime scarlet "A."

The "stranger sex pervert" boogeyman is big in our society, though statistics show that sexual abuse of children is more likely to come from a relative than from a stranger. Parents should be more alert to the relatives around a child than some stranger on MySpace.

This whole story is such an overreaction. Parents need to be responsible for their own kids. The tiny percentage of MySpace profiles that belong to "registered sex offenders" is nowhere close to the major threat to children in regards to sex offenses. Neither are any of the other strangers on the "sex offender" registry. The media needs to talk more about, and parents need to face up to, the fact that a child is way more likely to be offended sexually by a friend or family member than by some random "sex offender." Way, way more likely.

And as others have pointed out, someone can be a "registered sex offender" for having done something that makes them little to no risk to any person they may meet on MySpace. Most states, for example, require juvenile sex offenders to register, but the percentage of juveniles who ever commit another offense at all is somewhere around 10%--much lower than the recidivism rate for other juvenile offenders--and that is for all offenses. The percentage that commit another SEX offense is even lower.

A correction about sex offender registries, too: they are not necessarily voluntary. Canada's offender registry (SORCA) is legally mandated as part of sentencing.

Of course they're not voluntary. Who would voluntarily register as a sex offender? They are mandatory here, too, and overbroad, and largely useless.