Protecting kids from online predators has always been one of my highest priorities.

While serving as chief counsel for Facebook, I worked with Attorneys General across the nation to help build a safer internet — and I’ve seen some of the ideas I’ve championed enacted into law.

One of those ideas I championed was requiring convicted sex offenders to provide their online identifiers as part of their registrations, and as a result, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo was able to announce that more than 3,500 registered New York sex offenders were removed from MySpace and Facebook under the state’s “e-STOP” law that we crafted together.

On Tuesday, San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris held a public media event to introduce a bill she is sponsoring in the legislature that purports to keep online predators off social networking sites, including Facebook and MySpace.  

But here’s the problem: Her bill doesn’t do anything that the big sites haven’t already done, and there is no real way to enforce its provisions — which KGO-TV reported on Tuesday. Click here to watch KGO’s report on Kamala Harris’ flawed plan.

As I called for last year, we must implement the full “e-STOP” solution here in California — not feel-good half-measures. We can’t afford to play political games with our kids’ safety.

Click here to watch a video clip about my efforts to make the Internet safer — and then urge your legislators to pass “e-STOP” right here in California!

The success of “e-STOP” in New York demonstrates that effective, 21st century law enforcement must embrace new technology, working hand-in-hand with online social networks and other websites to enhance safety.

Under “e-STOP,” convicted sex offenders in New York must now share email addresses, screen names, and other Internet identifiers with the state, which the state in turn shares with social networking sites for removal — going beyond Kamala Harris’ inadequate proposal, which does not proactively remove registered sex offenders from the membership rolls of these sites.

We can and should do more. Our “e-STOP” measure worked in New York, and it can work here. I hope you’ll join me in getting this important legislation passed.

In order to protect California citizens, it’s critical that our next Attorney General understands 21st century public safety issues — and knows how to apply new technologies and solutions to solve them. Catchy slogans and half-measures aren’t enough. I believe I’m the right person for the job, with the the right mix of experience in public policy, technology and law to fight traditional, violent crime as well as “today’s crimes” like identity theft and corporate fraud.  

To learn more about my ideas as a candidate for Attorney General, or to share your own ideas, please visit my website at www.kelly2010.com.