MySpace Sex Offender Number Soars

The number of registered sex offenders identified as having profiles on MySpace has ballooned from 7,000 to over 29,000 in the last 2 months, and the site has removed them. Under pressure from several state attorneys general, the company agreed to release predators' information to prosecutors in May. Connecticut's AG said yesterday he's "astonished and appalled" by the new figure.

MySpace declined to comment, the AP reports, but released a statement urging other social networking sites to track down sex offenders and take down their profiles. Lawmakers and law enforcement officials across the country are battling to rein in the sites, but they're meeting resistance from advocates of free-speech laws and unfettered interstate commerce. (More sex offenders stories.)