Report: Nearly 2,000 Illinois sex offenders have MySpace pages

The Illinois attorney general's office has released a report on the use of the MySpace Web site by registered sex offenders in Illinois.

The report's release Monday came as Myspace.com announced it is planning a major overhaul to its site in an effort to combat sexual predators.

The social networking site has reached an agreement with 45 states, including Illinois, to add online protections and develop age-verification technology, according to official. The Web site is willing to accept independent monitoring and changes in the way the site is structured.

As a result of Attorney General Lisa Madigan's subpoenas in recent months, MySpace released information revealing the use of MySpace by registered sex offenders in Illinois. The report was created to report to improve understanding of the dangers children face online.

"In Illinois, my office confirmed that 1,843 of the member profiles disclosed by MySpace were created by distinct registered sex offenders," Madigan said.

MySpace reported that Illinois registered sex offenders created 2,290 MySpace member profiles between May and November. Multiple profiles were created by some offenders who have been convicted of serious sexual offenses, such as predatory criminal sexual assault of a child and sexual exploitation of a child.

Stacy DeBroff, founder of a parenting Web site called MomCentral.com, said MySpace's issues go beyond sexual predators.

"I hope this is the beginning of (changes) that has school principals and parents really on edge (about) what's happening on MySpace other than sexual predators, like bullying, the spreading of false information about someone or the availability of personal data," DeBroff said.

One of the safety measures that MySpace will implement will allow parents to submit their children's e-mail addresses to block them from setting up a MySpace profile. There also will be a 24-hour police hot line to report suspicious behavior.

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The Illinois report is available at: www.illinoisattorneygeneral.gov