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Following is an opinion piece by Sam McQuade.

McQuade is a Rochester Institute of Technology professor and author of "Understanding and Managing Cybercrime."

Pieces of this bill, which is being called the Keeping the Internet Devoid of Sexual Predators (KIDS) Act of 2007, are definitely a step in the right direction.

For example, Senators McCain and Schumer should be applauded for introducing legislation that will finally force sex offenders to register their e-mail and instant message addresses with the Department of Justice's National Sex Offender Registry.

Now that such legislation is before Congress, educators must wake up and begin to work together to help take this issue a step further.

This country needs to undertake an education reform movement that implements cyber information, ethics and safety education into K-12 curricula.

Ironically, year after year, American schools promote the use of the Internet to enhance education, yet systematically do not incorporate Internet safety, information security and cyber ethics instruction into lesson plans and curricula.

Adolescents are increasingly learning from each other how to use interoperable and increasingly affordable and miniaturized gadgets such as handheld computers, cell phones, PDAs, MP3 players and other devices in ways that can be harmful.

Rochester Institute of Technology is teaming with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the Information Systems Security Association, Infra Gard, the Catholic Diocese or Rochester and more than 20 area school districts to conduct research designed to determine the nature and extent of cyber offending and victimization by and among primary and secondary school students.

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