Va.'s online-teen protection plan

Echoing Sens. Schumer and McCain's announcement last week (see this item), Virginia is now looking at a proposal to bar sex offenders from social-networking sites. The state attorney general, Robert McDonnell, is proposing requiring the state's 13,500 sex offenders to register their email addresses and IM screen names," InformationWeek reports, adding that "the proposal was immediately endorsed by MySpace.com." The proposal, which will go to Virginia's General Assembly for approval, calls for the offenders' electronic IDs to be turned over to social sites for blocking. Here are reactions to the McCain-drafted legislation at CNET.