Facebook and Myspace oust sex offenders

WILLIAMSVILLE, N.Y. (WIVB) - New York State launched a new weapon in the cyber war against sex offenders.

Hundreds have now been kicked off popular networking websites.

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo came to western New York to give a progress report on the success of his initiative called e-stop, a law to stop sexual predators from trolling social networking sites for victims.

More than 3,500 registered sex offenders have been purged from Myspace and Facebook including 129 here in Erie County and 67 in Niagara County. The electronic securing and targeting of online predators act went into effect last year. It's the first of its kind requiring convicted sex offenders to register their e-mail addresses and internet accounts. At Williamsville South High School, the attorney general said he hopes other social networking sites will follow the lead of Myspace and Facebook.

"And if they don't, we have some power ourself here in the state of New York. The people in this room have power. They are consumers. Why would they use a social networking site that isn't the safest site? If you have a choice what would you do? You can either go on a site that has eliminated registered sex offenders or not," explained Cuomo.

Many sex offenders aren't allowed on social networking sites while on probation. Attorney General Cuomo says his office will now work with law enforcement agencies to take action against offenders who violate terms of probation by surfing the net on those social networking sites.