NY State to Bar Sex Offenders From Facebook
Posted by Anthony LaFauce on January 30th, 2008 10:43 AM
According to a NY Times article today NY State’s Attorney General, Andrew Cuomo, is pushing for a bill that will keep level 3 sex offenders from registering on sites like Facebook and Myspace. While I applaud the effort I wonder if the bill is just window dressing for an upcoming political season.
The bill proposes that higher level sex offenders must register an email address with their probation officer. States would then be able to share these email address and cross check them with the Facebook data base. Last time I checked getting an email address was a tad easier than picking up a hot dog at a 7-11.
Think about it. I have more email address than I can handle, look I just signed up for another one, its that easy. Currently both Myspace and Facebook bar any sex offender from registering on their sites and Myspace has a team of individuals that monitor new accounts looking for sex offenders.
Mr. Cuomo stated that he did not believe the bill would restrict the rights of any sex offenders but it will be interesting to see if anyone takes up the case when the law passes. The real problem is that creating a social profile is increasingly easy and incredibly difficult to control.
This is a problem I wish I had a solution for, it is something that can keep you up at night. What if we find an effective way to stop sex offenders from using Myspace and Facebook, won’t they just turn to Xbox Live and Playstation Home next.
If politicians and Corporate America are serious about halting sex offenders from using social networks sterner actions need to be taken. The problem then becomes, who sets these limits. Do Facebook and Myspace require a Social Security numbers or maybe a drivers licenses to register ? Do we want those companies having that kind of information. I don’t know.
The problem of sex offenders and the internet will not be solved by passing a bill that requires individuals to register an email address. I would love to hear if anyone out there can think of a solution to this problem. Let me know.
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#1 it won't work - as you say, they can set up a new e-mail address. Also there are plenty of other places to meet people online.
#2 it will waste money to administer
#3 what about sex offenders that haven't been found yet? what about violent offenders? etc.etc. there are lots of undesirable people who aren't registered sex offenders that you wouldn't want talking to your kids. The solution is to practise restraint in who you talk to, what information you give out, and who you agree to meet, and to teach your kids to do the same.
If the court has decided that someone is 'safe' enough to not be in prison, they should be 'safe' enough to join a social networking site. If they're not - then they shouldn't be out of prison in the first place.
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If this is to work, it has to be done at the ISP level.
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