The arsenal of tools used to investigate computer crimes will be enhanced as states begin receiving information about registered sex offenders who set up accounts on MySpace, a popular online social network.

State attorneys general demanded access to the information May 14, about two weeks after the company announced it had deleted thousands of MySpace accounts traced to known sexual predators. MySpace initially refused to comply with the demand, citing privacy concerns. The company reversed its position this week after several states subpoenaed the records.

Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson lauded the company’s decision to turn over the information, which will include the offenders’ e-mail and IP addresses. Edmondson said the information MySpace provides will be forwarded to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation’s Internet Crimes Against Children Unit.

“This is just one piece of a larger look at social networking Web sites,” Edmondson said. “I am pleased that MySpace has taken this step.”

OSBI Deputy Inspector Jon Huntington, who works with the agency’s computer crime unit, said the information provided by MySpace will be used primarily as an intelligence tool. Huntington said the MySpace agreement essentially provides law enforcers with an additional source of information that can be used to investigate crimes and enforce compliance with rules of parole and probation.

MySpace announced in December its plans to remove sexual predators from its Web site by comparing its membership roles with a database of known sex offenders.

After five months of testing, MySpace initiated the automated service May 2. Since then, the company has identified thousands of offenders with MySpace accounts. A company spokesman said those accounts have been deleted.

“While this is an important step, it is, in all likelihood, just the tip of the iceberg,” Edmondson said. “There is no way to know how many sex offenders are on these sites under fictitious identities.”

Edmondson said parents need to educate children about the dangers of posting personal information online.

“Kids are putting this information out into the world for thousands, if not millions, of complete strangers to see,” Edmondson said. “Parents should talk to their kids about what is, and what is not, appropriate content for the Internet.”