Crackdown on internet sex offenders

Home secretary Jacqui Smith has unveiled new plans to protect children from sex offenders on the internet.

Issuing new guidance for web users on Friday, Smith said social networking sites would be given the details of registered child sex offenders.

Websites such as Facebook and MySpace would be able to block offenders, who would face a prison term of up to five years if they failed to give police their email address.

The social networking guidance also provides advice for parents and businesses in how to protect children from online predators.

It recommended that other service providers, such as the Child Exploitation Online Protection Agency and the NSPCC, carry advice to allow users to report abuse.

It also called for industry to do more to report suspicious behaviour to the police and said that it should be made more difficult for users over the age of 18 to search for underage users.

Smith also launched a kitemark setting minimum standards for filtering software for home computers.

"I want to see every child living their lives free from fear, whether they are meeting friends in a youth club or in a chat room," she said.

"We have some of the strictest controls on sex offenders in the world to protect our children.

"We are working together with police, industry and charities to create a hostile environment for sex offenders on the internet and are determined to make it as hard for predators to strike online, as in the real world."