Easy for me to say, but...Parents...get your heads out of your ...

If you have a child in the house, you need to know the truth about MySpace and other similar sites...

Hamilton, 24, is one of at least two dozen people living in the Milwaukee area who appear to have matching profiles in both the Wisconsin sex offender registry and MySpace, the wildly popular online social networking site.

After a month that has seen stories across the country detailing how sexual predators use My- Space to attract teenagers, the company, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., announced this month that it hired Hemanshu Nigam, a former federal prosecutor, to be its chief security officer. MySpace also launched public service announcements on its site about the dangers inherent in meeting strangers online.

Why on earth would ANY parent allow their child to have a computer with Internet connection in their room, away from supervision/prying eyes?

I opened a MySpace account today. There are no checks. You voluntarily put in your age, location, etc.

Adults should be free to use the site.

Your child, can 'appear' as an adult and have access to a world beyond your worst nightmare. While MySpace tries to self-police, it allows users to link to other sites.

And, heaven forbid your child has access to your credit card. Or, worse yet, heaven forbid if you are one of the "cool parents" who obtained a card for their teen.

I realize it is easy for me, a non parent, to say.

It's also easy for parents to be in denial.