You saw this one coming, right?

Washington- Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives have proposed legislation that would require schools and libraries to prohibit access to social networking sites.

The bill, introduced Tuesday by Rep. Michael G. Fitzpatrick (R-Pennsylvania) and supported by members of a coalition of Republicans calling itself the Suburban Caucus, would oblige schools and libraries that receive federal support to implement systems that prevent minors from viewing obscene and objectionable material online.

Parental authorization would be required for students to access chat rooms and social networking sites, which are defined to include everything from sites like MySpace and Facebook to instant messaging services and forums.

“This new technology has become a feeding ground for child predators that use these sites as just another way to do our children harm,” said Mr. Fitzpatrick in a statement. An amendment to the Communications Act of 1934, the legislation is called the Deleting Online Predators Act of 2006. It would require the Federal Trade Commission to create an educational web site about the dangers of the Internet.

Social networking sites have been widely criticized for the anonymity they can provide as well as the personal details they encourage members to share. Occasionally, these two aspects combine to allow adults to prey on young users.

MySpace would not comment directly on the proposed legislation, but said it is committed to safety and security issues.

“We’ve… met with several state and federal legislators and are working with them to address their concerns,” said Rick Lane, vice president for government affairs at MySpace’s parent company News Corp., in an emailed statement. “We hope this healthy dialogue will continue.”

Both MySpace and Facebook have attempted to protect their millions of members. Facebook appointed a chief privacy officer in September 2005 and MySpace hired a chief security officer in April (see Facebook Gets Another $25M, MySpace Hires Safety Czar, MySpace Cuts 250,000 Profiles).

MySpace has said nearly 100 of its employees, or a third of its workforce, are dedicated to safety and customer care.

The legislation has some environmental factors working in its favor, according to attorney Kraig Marini Baker, a partner at Davis Wright Tremaine in Seattle.

“It’s hard for someone to get up and say, ‘No, we shouldn’t protect children,'” he said, noting this would be especially true in an election year. “There is a tendency, particularly when it comes to defending children, for most of the legislation to be overly broad.”

However, the First Amendment implications would ensure that such a law would be carefully scrutinized in the courts, he added.