There's no question that social networking Web sites have added new and in many ways exciting dimensions to people's social lives. Facebook, My Space and the like have made it easier to meet and connect with those whom in an earlier day you almost certainly would never have crossed paths with.

And just as the Internet and e-mail have made it easy for Nigerian con-men to assault you with phony solicitation letters, that technology has made it easier for sexual predators to meet their potential victims. That's true as well for sex offenders in search of underage victims.

To try and preclude that, at least one state, New York, has passed a law aimed at removing registered sex offenders from social networking sites, and California and Oklahoma are considering doing so as well.

Georgia state Rep. Rob Teilhet is a Democrat from Smyrna. Like Cobb Commission Chairman Sam Olens of east Cobb, a Republican, he is seeking his party's nomination for state attorney general in this summer's primary. Teilhet this week introduced a bill in the Georgia Legislature similar to the one passed in New York. Known as The Electronic Security and Targeting of Online Predators Act - or E-STOP - it would allow the Georgia bureau of Investigation to transmit registered information about sex offenders to those social networking sites. The sites could then choose to remove the offenders from their sites and prohibit them from creating further profiles. In addition, the sites could choose to notify the GBI in return of any suspicious activity emanating from the original profiles, such as inappropriate communications with minors.

"A lot has changed from when I was growing up - including how children come into contact with strangers," Teilhet said in a press release about the bill. "It's not just the playgrounds and neighborhoods that parents have to worry about, it's our home computers and the Internet. Our kids are playing, studying and communicating with their friends online. Social networking Web sites are a way of life for kids these days - and child predators know it."

True enough. It makes sense to do anything and everything legally possible to protect children, especially from such predators. Especially when it's a simple, low-cost, common-sense step.

The E-STOP bill deserves full consideration from this session of the Legislature.