29,000 Sex Offender Profiles on MySpace

The problem of sex offenders on MySpace now appears to be much larger than the company initially suggested.

The social networking site said earlier this week that it had deleted 29,000 sex offender profiles, far more than the 7,000 it had initially said it found in May of this year. The site holds about 180 million profiles.

MySpace caved to demands of Attorneys General in several states, and agreed to hand over information that it had gathered by searching through its databases. At least one of the Attorneys General from Connecticut, Richard Blumenthal, called it an "epidemic."

The parents of several children who were molested by sex offenders who preyed on children through the popular social networking site sued MySpace in January.

"[It] screams for action," he said in a statement. In another statement, MySpace seemed to focus more on the success of removing the sex offender profiles and expressed hope that other similar sites would also take steps to protect minors.

Sex offenders are required by law to register their contact information with authorities. However, the rules surrounding online communication are lax, and the databases are regional, further complicating search efforts.