Is Internet Sex-Offender Bill a Solid Protective Measure or a Civil Rights No-No? Navigating through the Recent Debate
The growth and popularity of social networking sites in the last couple of years has resulted in a growing concern about sexual predators using these online tools to their advantage, and recent legislation would aim to prevent such dangers like the alleged kidnappings, drugging and sexual assaults of minors by adult MySpace.com users from occurring.
MySpace and its parent company NewsCorp. were sued in January by the families of four girls in Pennsylvania, Texas, New York and South Carolina who said that adult MySpace users lured their teenagers to meetings in which they were drugged, kidnapped or sexually assaulted. Lawyers of the families have accused MySpace of not adequately protecting these children.
With such disturbing incidents in mind, the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate introduced an Internet sex-offender bill last week that would allow social networking websites to screen for sex offenders. Specifically, this Internet sex crime legislation would require sex offenders to register e-mail and instant message addresses with the government. The Justice Department would then make this information available to social networking sites, according to a story from the Scripps Howard Foundation Wire.
According to one of its sponsors, this Internet sex crime bill would also make it illegal for any over 18 years old to represent his or her age with the goal of using the Internet to engage in criminal sexual conduct with a minor. New York Representative Anthony Weiner added that this criminal offense would be punishable for up to 20 years in prison.
Under current law, convicted sex offenders must register their online information before leaving prison. While law enforcement can monitor online activity while offenders are on parole, they do not have to share such information. Of even more concern, ex-offenders do not have register new e-mail addresses, which can be easily acquired online for free.
New York Senator Charles E. Schumer introduced this Internet sex crime bill in the Senate with Arizona Senator John McCain and said that sexual predators have no business using online social networking sites. MySpace, Facebook and Friendster have all said that they will block convicted sex offenders from becoming members of their respective sites.
While legislators and social networking sites are expected to champion such legislation, this Internet sex-offender bill has already prompted concern among lawyers and civil rights advocates. As an example, one of the lawyers of the families in the MySpace lawsuit described the new bill as a good start but not going far enough. For example, this Internet sex-predator bill would not prevent a sex offender from lying about his or her age.
A Temple University Law Professor and recognized civil rights attorney compared the mentality of this Internet sex-predator bill to a blacklist in the story. Specifically, David Kairys warned about the government "compiling lists of bad people and preventing them, with the cooperation of private individuals, of using certain things." He also cited how this Internet sex-offender bill does little to distinguish dangerous sex offenders in the sex offender registry from testosterone-fueled teens who may be goofing around on these sites.
Another attorney called this sex offender registry legislation a "false security blanket." Attorney Adam Loewy added that he supports a measure calling for social sites to raise the minimum user age from 14 to 16 and require users to verify their ages. Social sites have allegedly resisted this second step.
In response to its own lawsuit, MySpace has been developing software which would give parents minimal information about their child's profiles and an optional tool which would prevent adult users from contacting minors. The company has also announced the formation of a 24-hour security team to cross-reference profile information with registered sex offender databases. MySpace will also begin to distribute Amber alerts to notify members of missing children.
Stay updated on the latest developments with this Internet sex-offender bill at Total Lawyers.