"Texans will not tolerate criminals who prey on our children," Attorney General Abbott said. "These convicted sex predators established online identities on a Web site that is popular with teenagers and children. The Cyber Crimes Unit will continue its aggressive crackdown on sex predators who threaten our kids."
Attorney General Abbott added: "By providing law enforcement with this critical user profile information, MySpace.com has taken an important first step towards a safer Internet. We urge all social networking sites to do whatever is necessary to protect children from Internet predators."
The Office of the Attorney General arrested six previously convicted sex offenders who activated MySpace.com accounts in violation of parole or probation requirements that specifically prohibit them from using the Internet. As part of the ongoing investigation, officers also arrested a parole violator with a MySpace.com profile who failed to register as a sex offender.
In May, MySpace was forced by the Attorneys General of multiple states to release subscriber information of all registered sex offenders who established online member profiles. MySpace.com provided data from Sentinel Safe, a database of information on registered sex offenders that the network compiled to verify the identities of their users. MySpace has since taken steps to improve safety on its site, including screening profiles for inappropriate content and making certain profiles private.
