The dismay from officials at MySpace.com and other Internet social networking sites was understandable.

If N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper and N.C. Sen. Walter Dalton had their way, the sites would be forced to require parental consent before North Carolina children could use the sites. One end result: fewer users and fewer advertising dollars for the firms.

Cooper and Dalton, a Rutherford County Democrat with aspirations of becoming lieutenant governor, had another goal in mind. They want to make it more difficult for sexual predators to prowl such sites and give parents tools to protect their children.

Legislators, though, left town without passing Dalton's bill. The N.C. House succumbed to arguments from representatives of the Web site firms that the verification process would be both unworkable and unconstitutional.

On their first argument, they've got a point.

The legislation contemplated verification by requiring site operators to match parent-provided information against other commercial databases. Other means could have been a requirement that parents provide credit cards or send in printed forms.

Sounds good. But it's clunky enough that an unintended consequence could have been that site users would just go to companies set up overseas – and not subject to U.S. laws – with no verification requirements.

The second argument is a little less compelling.

After all, what constitution are they talking about? The same one that the U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled doesn't protect the free speech rights of a student who was punished by his school for holding up a banner reading, "Bong Hits for Jesus?"

Yes, the nation's high court, in a 5-4 vote in 2004, did strike down a federal law that would have required Internet sites to have proof of age before allowing users to view pornographic content.

But John Roberts wasn't on the court at the time.

Roberts was the author of the opinion in the case involving the Alaskan school student with the offending banner. Had he been on the court in 2004, a different result in the Internet restriction case might well have come to pass.

MySpace and other networking sites may also have more to worry about than Cooper, Dalton or government-imposed restrictions.

Officials in two states say that MySpace uncovered 29,000 registered sex offenders with profiles, a figure company officials refuse to confirm.

Without taking more steps to protect the children these sites primarily are aimed at, the company risks public backlash and the wrath of judges, who aren't robots immune to public sentiment. MySpace already faces a $30 million lawsuit by a Texas girl who was allegedly sexually assaulted by someone contacted through the network.

Cooper, meanwhile, hinted at court action if MySpace doesn't make voluntary efforts to require parental verification.

His proposal for parental verification may not have been the most workable solution.

But if MySpace can't come up with a better solution, few parents will shed tears if government restrictions, lawsuits or responsible competition damage its bottom line.