Lauren Nelson urges Web safety classes

WASHINGTON — Miss America Lauren Nelson urged a Senate committee Tuesday to make Internet safety education mandatory in schools, saying millions of children are vulnerable to online predators.

The Lawton native said she travels 20,000 miles a month to promote Internet education for young people — the cause she chose when winning the crown earlier this year.

Nelson said she had personal experience with the topic dating from her own teenage years. When she was 13, she said, she and some of her friends chatted online with a person who asked them for personal information.

"We gave him the information instantly,” she said, allowing him to know they were female and lived in Oklahoma. A few days later, she said, the man sent "inappropriate” pictures and Nelson told her parents, who reported it to the police. The man never tried to track her down, she said.

"These stories happen all the time,” she said.

Nelson posed as a 14-year-old girl to help with a sting operation conducted by New York's Suffolk County police department for the television show "America's Most Wanted.”

During her time helping the police, Nelson said, she learned predators "prey on the most vulnerable of our children,” particularly those who may be lonely or having trouble at home.

She said that children who are routinely taught basic safety in other areas of life should also be taught Internet safety and that it should be mandatory.

Nelson appeared on a panel of witnesses before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation about protecting children on the Web.

On the same day as Nelson made her testimony, MySpace.com officials in North Carolina said the