MySpace and other social networking websites will meet police, parents and teachers this week to try to head off a storm brewing over internet paedophilia.

The conviction last month of Lee Costi, a 21-year-old student who groomed and had sex with teenagers he met online, has highlighted the dangers posed by chatrooms and sites where young people post personal information for their friends - and potential predators - to see. Almost one in 12 young people have met someone in the real world whom they first encountered on the internet, according to research from the London School of Economics.