By Kathryn Moss

AUSTIN, Tx. - Texas is trying to advance state and federal efforts to protect children from predators, and could affect who is allowed onto websites available to everyone. 

The Lone Star State's Attorney General, Greg Abbott, U.S. Senator John Cornyn and U.S. Representative Lamar Smith announced the SAFETY Act of 2009 this week.  The bill would combat internet predators and create a safer environment for children.

Convicted sex offenders would have to provide their e-mail addresses, mobile telephone numbers, social networking aliases and other electronic information to that state's Department of Public Safety.  Unlike the information sex offenders currently must report, this data would not be available to the public.  The data would be provided to social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook so they could pre-screen their customers and, if they choose, refuse service to sex offenders.

According to Newsweek, in the last two years alone, Facebook and Myspace have removed nearly 96,000 sex offenders in total from their websites.

Texas and Colorado's current registries requires sex offenders to report their address, birth date, height, weight and race to local authorities, and to keep an up-to-date photo on file. This information is available to the public on searchable Web sites.  Critics of the new requirements say the current information is often inaccurate, and adding more kinds of information would further complicate the situation.