At a Manhattan press conference today, the state attorney general lauded Facebook and MySpace officials for denying access to their social networking websites to more than 3,500 convicted New York State sex offenders. NY1's Anthony Pascale filed the following report.

Saying the Internet is now a little safer for children, State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo applauded two of the world's most popular social networking websites for blocking access to thousands of sex offenders.

"What were doing here in New York, every state should be doing, and I believe they will be doing it, and I want to thank Facebook and MySpace," said Cuomo at a press conference in Gramercy, Manhattan today.

As part of a new law authored by Cuomo and passed by state lawmakers last year, social networking sites can now get access to information on registered sex offenders and then take action to prohibit their access.

Cuomo said ever since the passage of the Electronic Securing And Targeting Of Internet Predators Act, or e-STOP, Facebook and MySpace have removed from their websites more than 3,500 sex offenders in New York State, including more than 650 in the city alone.

"Cyber sex offenders are lurking in the dark corners of the Internet and unsuspecting children and teens are being victimized," said Laura Ahern of the Crime Victims Center. "They are trolling through social networking sites, ultimately to find a potential victim."

Facebook already had a policy to not allow sex offenders to open an account, but company officials say the law makes it possible to identify sexual predators.

"As a result of the e-STOP data, ... we can look at people who try to register in our site, and if they are a registered sex offender, we can prohibit them from using our service," said Joe Sullivan of Facebook.

By accessing such sites, many sex offenders were found by officials to be violating their parole or probation, and officials say the new law will help reign in predators.

Since the law was passed, Facebook and MySpace have been the only to sites to take action against sex offenders, but Cuomo has called on other social networking websites to take action.