Editorial:

Parents, lock up your children. The Internet is on the loose.

The cyberspace era is the best and worst time to be a kid, as the latest sting arrest by the Huntington Beach Police Department reminded us last week. In one sense, the Internet gives children access to information that might have taken weeks to retrieve in the past, certainly a welcome thing when trying to complete a research paper or lounging around the house on an uneventful day.

At the same time, the readiness of online access makes it nearly impossible for parents to supervise everything their children view on the web. And with sites like Craigslist that allow posters to upload fake photos, lie about their names and make discreet offers, it’s impossible to know with whom they’re communicating, either.

The arrest last week of a registered sex offender who allegedly tried to solicit sex from a 13-year-old girl was hardly the first of its kind in Huntington Beach. Lt. Russell Reinhart said about a dozen people have been arrested in recent years after officers posed as young boys or girls online and waited for prospective predators.

The sites where detectives had conducted stings, Reinhart said, shared a few attributes. Unlike eHarmony and more organized sites, they allowed all members of the public to post and required no money or membership applications.

Even professional operations like eHarmony are not foolproof, because members can still lie about essential information. But they are far more likely to deter criminals than public sites like Craigslist, which may give posters the illusion that they can operate under the radar.

They can’t, of course, and we commend detectives for their efforts in keeping predators off the web. Further, we urge parents to talk to their kids about the dangers of communicating online.

The next 13-year-old who agrees to a rendezvous with a stranger may not be an officer in disguise.