MIDLOTHIAN, Va. (AP) — Virginia is the first state to mandate that public schools offer Internet safety classes for all grade levels.

It’s one of many measures being taken nationally to protect young Web users.

Virginia’s requirement initially stemmed from concerns about sex offenders preying on children online and a general increase in Internet-based crime, including spamming and phishing.

On the screen at the front of a James River High School classroom, Virginia assistant attorney general Gene Fishel flashed an online social-networking profile a 15-year-old who says she enjoys being around boys and wants to meet new people.

The next image revealed the real profile user — a mugshot of a 31-year-old man convicted of sexually abusing 11 children he met online and sentenced to a 45-year prison term on charges including child pornography and forcible sodomy.

A 2006 study by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, about 13 percent of Internet users ages 10 to 17 received unwanted sexual solicitations.

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