Every once in a rare while, Albany man ages to produce constructive legisla tion for the benefit of all New Yorkers. Case in point: a new bill that enhances protection on the Internet from sex offenders.

The two top legislative leaders – Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver – worked together at the behest of Attorney General Andrew Cuomo to introduce the Electronic Security and Targeting of Online Predators (e-STOP) Act.

The bill, described as the nation’s most comprehensive legislative attack on Web-based sexual predators, will restrict convicted sex offenders’ use of the Internet.

Its most important component is a requirement that, as a condition of their parole, convicted offenders register all of their Internet accounts – including e-mail addresses and instant-messaging names – under the state’s Megan’s Law.

This information will then be supplied to social-network sites likes MySpace (which, like The Post, is owned by News Corp.) and Facebook, which can use it to pre-screen applicants and remove convicted sex offenders.

Although there has been a recent upgrade in security at the wildly popular social-networking sites, which have millions of users, until now it has not been legal for them simply to ban predators.

Cuomo himself yesterday acknowledged this shortcoming: “You can’t say to MySpace and Facebook, ‘It’s not illegal, but I want you to stop it’,” he said.

Which is why the present law has been introduced – with the full cooperation of the social networks.

It’s an important bill with real, positive consequences for all New Yorkers – especially children, who are most at risk from these vicious predators.

Kudos to Cuomo, Bruno and Silver for working together to make it happen.