That’s more than four times the number cited by the popular social networking site May. After initially withholding the information, citing federal privacy laws, MySpace began sharing the information after states filed formal legal requests. Previously MySpace said it had already used a database it helped create to remove about 7,000 profiles of sex offenders out of a total of about 180 million profiles on the site. “I’m absolutely astonished and appalled because the number has grown so exponentially over so short of time with no explanation,” said Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who had pressed the company earlier for sex offender data.

MySpace declined to comment on the figure, focusing instead on its efforts to clean up its profile rolls. Other state attorneys general are pressuring MySpace to use age and identity verification methods voluntarily. Based on media reports, it was determined that more than 100 criminal incidents took place this year where adults used MySpace to prey or attempt to prey on children.

“All we’re doing is giving parents the right to make a choice whether their children can go online,” said Roy Cooper, attorney general of North Carolina, to a state House committee considering the bill on parental involvement and verification. He said the measure would lead to “fewer children at risk, because there will be fewer children on those Web sites.”

The parental verification requirement “makes promises to consumers that cannot be kept. It is dangerous language,” said Emily Hackett, executive director of the Washington-based Internet Alliance, whose clients include Time Warner Inc.’s AOL, Yahoo Inc., and VeriSign Inc. “There is no way to eyeball a user.”