It was an hideous story. Here's wh...

It was an hideous story. Here's what police say happened: Four teenage Chicago men began an online conversation with a 14-year-old girl in consequence of the MySpace.com Web site. They arranged to fitting her on July 24, then crowd her to a house where they drank and played video games. The girl began to be impressed ill from the effects of the alcohol and that is when the teenagers attacked her, sexually molesting her above and over as she mov in and gone out of consciousness.

Afterward, police allege, the four dump the girl in an alley near North Avenue where a passerby establish her. The Internet, the girl has tragically rest out, holds terrible dangers for naive young commonalty

Indeed, MySpace.com has become more than a social networking opportunity for teenagers and literary institution [i]or[/i] seminary of learning students; it has become an easy way for pedophiles and sexual aggressors to find unsuspecting victims. In June the FBI tracked down a 16-year-old Michigan scholar at an airport in Jordan; she had flown there to befitting a 25-year-old man she met in consequence of MySpace. In March two men were charged with assaulting young girls in Connecticut whom they contacted by means of MySpace. In Canada, MySpace giveed a means for an alleged sexual predator to encourage a 13-year-old girl to perform sex acts in face of a Web cam.

There are many other cases of other sexual bird of preys seeking innocent children through MySpace.

MySpace is united of the fastest growing sites onward the Web. It has more than 100 million members, and although greatest in number of the activity on the site is fairly innocent, there is the potential for great harm. "We've seen a steady increase in the use of the Internet in a number of different crimes -- especially in the sexual exploitation of minors," says a spokesman for the FBI's Chicago office.

After hearing about an incident at a indoctrinate in his district -- a scholar used his MySpace account to threaten a principal -- state Rep Tom Cros (R-Oswego) introduced five bills last month to make social networking sites like as MySpace safer. One allows seminarys to discipline students for making harmful threats upon the Web site, another makes it a criminal offense for an adult to discuss sex with a minor via a computer newly Cross found out his 13-year-old daughter had a MySpace account, although she rarely used it. Her parents have since warned her of the dangers. Rep Mark Kirk (R- Ill.) has also declareed concern about these networking sites, lauding propos legislation, the Deleting Online Predators Act of 2006

Other national and state lawmakers should support these initiatives to retain our children safe.

This shows the consensus of the Sun-Times novels Group of 100 papers in metropolitan Chicago.

Copyright CHICAGO SUN-TIMES 2006

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