From UWire:

A bill aiming to keep sexual predators off social networking sites passed through the Texas Senate on Monday.

“If we remove that tool from the predators’ arsenal, then they no longer have that to exploit our children,” said state Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, the bill’s author.

The bill would require convicted sex offenders to register their online identifiers, e-mail addresses and cell phone numbers with authorities. It would also prohibit convicted child sex offenders, level-three sex offenders and offenders who used the Internet to commit their crimes from accessing obscene material or communicating with anyone under 17 years old on the Internet.

State Attorney General Greg Abbott said cell phone registration is important to the bill because sexual predators often use text messages to contact children and set up meeting times.

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