MA - Norfolk County DA Morrissey Testifies on Sexual Predator Bill

Original Article

05/09/2013

By Nate Homan

The following was sent to Patch from David Traub, Press Officer/Director of Communications from the Office of Norfolk District Attorney Michael W. Morrissey

Norfolk District Attorney Michael W. Morrissey was at the State House this week, standing with Rep. Tackey Chan to push their bill to force convicted predators to provide their email addresses and other online information when they register as sex offenders.

“As we investigate crimes, we see cases where defendants started with electronic contact, under false names or false identities, with their eventual victims,” Morrissey said. “This is an effort to curtail that kind of activity from those previously convicted of sexual assaults.”

Morrissey said the legislation should improve public safety in two ways.

First, it will be useful for law enforcement. When a sex offender does comply with the new requirement, it will create a meaningful resource to cross-check online identities without having to subpoena user information, Morrissey said. When a sex offender does not comply, and an online identity traces back to them while police are investigating another crime, there would be an immediate right of arrest on the failure to register charge – even if police did not yet have probable cause to arrest on the central crime under investigation.

Second, part of the premise of community supervision of sex offenders is that recidivism can be reduced by keeping the post-conviction offender away from behaviors and patterns of thought that precede re-offense. “Creating false identities in order to communicate on-line under false premises should resonate as obvious bellwether behavior,” District Attorney Morrissey told the Joint Committee on the Judiciary at its May 7 hearing on House Bill No. 1252 (PDF).

“There has been a revolution in the way we communicate in the years since the Sex Offender Registry was designed and implemented in Massachusetts, but the registry has not evolved in kind,” District Attorney Morrissey said. “When the national enabling legislation known as Meghan’s Law passed in 1994, the public wasn’t communicating through email or social media.”

Representative Chan said “The legislation expands the way we protect our families from potential danger by sex offenders. So much of our lives are connected through the Internet and identities we created. We must update our laws to reflect the high technology world we live in."

Morrissey has been pushing for the change since 2007, when he was serving as Quincy’s State Senator. He said New Hampshire enacted an analogous measure in 2009.

Morrissey and Chan received bi-partisan support of 19 other legislators who co-sponsored the bill, including Sen. John F. Keenan, Sen. Brian Joyce, Rep Paul McMurtry, Rep. Louis L. Kafka, Rep. William Galvin, Rep. Bruce Ayers, Rep. James Murphy and Rep. John H. Rogers.

See Also:

• Foxborough Selectman Implores Judiciary Committee to Approve Sex Offender Registry and Notification Act
• Local Lawmakers, Police Chief, Testify on Sex Offender Legislation

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TX - Bills promote digital scarlet letters for drunks, sex offenders

And since Facebook has it in their Terms Of Service that ex-sex offenders cannot use their site, this would basically brand them for Facebook to see and kick them off.

Excerpt:
Ostracism inhibits the reintegration of offenders into law abiding society, which to my mind argues against a pair of ill-conceived bills proposed by Democrats which are on the Texas House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee agenda today.

A bill by Rep. Trey Martinez-Fischer, HB 23 (PDF), would require sex offenders on social networking sites to "ensure" the following information is viewable by everyone who comes to their page: An "indication" that the person is sex offender, the type of offense that required their registration and the city of their conviction, "the person's full name, date of birth, sex, race, height, weight, eye color, and hair color," and their home address. The definition of a social networking site is broad (see Art. 62.0061(f) of the Code of Criminal Procedure). It wouldn't just apply to sites like Facebook or LinkedIn, but also to blogs and any other site through which one can post information and receive communication from the public. The law already requires registrants to report online pseudonyms; this bill would effectively prohibit them.

Read the rest of the article here

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How to Commit Internet Suicide and Disappear from the Web Forever

Sick of horribly embarrassing things showing up when potential employers Google your name? Tired of everyone knowing you live in a garden level dungeon apartment? Perhaps you just don't like the fact the internet makes you easy to find. Thankfully, it's not that hard to delete yourself entirely. Here's how to do it.

For mildly famous (or infamous) individuals, disappearing is essentially impossible, but for the average person it's surprisingly easy. It just depends on much info is already out there.

Click the image to read the article

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CA - Sex Offenders Win Right To Online Anonymity

Original Article

We do not force ex-identity thieves or ex-hackers to post their personal information online, nor any other criminal, so why should we start with today's modern day scapegoat? If you do it for one group, then everybody, criminal or not, should be forced to not be anonymous online!

01/15/2013

A federal judge has blocked a California bill that would take away sex offenders’ ability to anonymously use email, social media, instant messaging and various other web sites and services. The bill, Proposition 35, was deemed by Judge Thelton Henderson, to be unconstitutional.

Here’s how the State of California summarizes the bill in question:

Increases prison sentences and fines for human trafficking convictions. Requires convicted human traffickers to register as sex offenders. Requires registered sex offenders to disclose Internet activities and identities. Fiscal Impact: Costs of a few million dollars annually to state and local governments for addressing human trafficking offenses. Potential increased annual fine revenue of a similar amount, dedicated primarily for human trafficking victims.

In November, the bill passed with 81% of the vote. The bill, however, was temporarily blocked as the ACLU (along with a couple of sex offenders) got involved and filed suit.

The ACLU said of the bill, “Proposition 35 increases criminal penalties for sex offenses and imposes new restrictions on registered sex offenders. For example, the measure requires that registrants provide online screen names and information about their Internet service providers to law enforcement – even if their convictions are very old and have nothing to do with the Internet or children. This provision essentially eliminates the ability of registrants to engage in anonymous online speech and imposes a substantial burden whenever a registrant wants to use a new online platform to speech, infringing on registrants’ First Amendment right to free speech.”

Similarly, Judge Henderson, who blocked the bill on Friday, said (as quoted by Wired): “The challenged provisions have some nexus with the government’s legitimate purpose of combating online sex offenses and human trafficking, but the government may not regulate expression in such a manner that a substantial portion of the burden on speech does not serve to advance its goals.”

Bloomberg quotes Henderson as saying, “The court does not lightly take the step of enjoining a state statute, even on a preliminary basis. However, just as the court is mindful that a strong majority of California voters approved Proposition 35 and that the government has a legitimate interest in protecting individuals from online sex offenses and human trafficking, it is equally mindful that anonymity is a shield from the tyranny of the majority, and that plaintiffs enjoy no lesser right to anonymous speech simply because they are unpopular.”

According to Wired, the next phase of the legal process could be a trial on the lawsuit’s merits. Bloomberg quotes a spokesman for California Attorney General Kamala Harris, as saying, “Our office is reviewing the decision.”

Mike Masnick at TechDirt writes of Proposition 35, “There are serious issues with the bill if you don’t know the details. First, many ‘sex offenders’ aren't what you might think of as ‘sex offenders’ — people who are arrested for things like urinating in public, or for consensual sex between minors. Beyond that, this particular bill went really, really far, requiring all such “offenders” to hand over all details of every online service they used — no matter what the purpose.”

Sex offenders’ online rights have always been a hot button issue, and have received a great deal of attention over the past year, particularly. Last year, we wrote about a wave of challenges (especially from the ACLU) to state laws banning sex offenders’ use of social media.

One such law was in Indiana, where a judge ruled that a state ban on convicted sex offenders accessing social media sites at all, is lawful. A similar case took place in Nebraska, where a law banning registered sex offenders from holding social media accounts was thrown out. In Louisiana, a sex offender Facebook ban was deemed “unconstitutionally overbroad.”

“Although the act is intended to promote the legitimate and compelling state interest of protecting minors from internet predators, the near total ban on internet access imposed by the act unreasonably restricts many ordinary activities that have become important to everyday life in today’s world,” the judge said of that case.

Still, one Louisiana lawmaker passed a law requiring all registered sex offenders to list their status and crimes on any social network in which they participate.

Clearly this issue is seeing various state responses across the nation.

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CA - Judge blocks sex offender online-ID law

Original Article

01/11/2013

By Bob Egelko

A federal judge on Friday barred California from enforcing a voter-approved law that requires 73,000 registered sex offenders to disclose their Internet identities to police.

The requirement would discourage offenders from exercising their right to post anonymous comments online about a variety of topics, including social and political issues, with little apparent benefit to public safety, said U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson of San Francisco.

"Registrants are likely to be chilled from engaging in legitimate public, political and civil communications for fear of losing their anonymity," Henderson said.

The law was part of Proposition 35, an initiative approved by an 81 percent majority in November that increased prison sentences for sex-trafficking crimes, such as coercing someone into prostitution.

Friday's order leaves most of Prop. 35 intact. It blocks only a requirement that all registered sex offenders in California, for past convictions of crimes ranging from indecent exposure to rape, provide police with their e-mail addresses, Internet user names and the names of their Internet service providers.

Henderson had issued a restraining order temporarily blocking the same Internet provision on Nov. 7, the day after the election. His new ruling is a preliminary injunction that would remain in effect indefinitely, although the state and the measure's sponsors could appeal it to a higher court.

The suit was filed by two unidentified former sex offenders and an advocacy group called California Reform Sex Offender Laws, which runs a website where the men post anonymous comments. Linda Lye, an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer representing the plaintiffs, praised the ruling.

"Stopping human trafficking is a worthy goal, but the portions of Prop. 35 that limit online speech won't get us there," she said. "It's crucial that free speech remain free for all of us."
- Why do they get a way with making one bill that covers more than one issue?  If they want to handle additional issues, make another bill!  This should be illegal to do this, in our opinion.

Chris Kelly, a former chief privacy officer of Facebook who helped to sponsor Prop. 35 and similar laws in other states, said backers of the initiative were disappointed by the ruling but "we are confident that in due time this common-sense provision will be upheld by the courts."

Henderson acknowledged that Internet identification information could help police in some cases - for example, if a registered sex offender used a social networking site to recruit victims of human trafficking.
- So if you suspect a crime has been committed, then why don't you go get a warrant like you are suppose to?

But he said Prop. 35's requirement swept more broadly and would not prevent officers from making the information public. Police have other tools, such as subpoenas, to investigate online sex crimes, the judge said.

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NY - New York Continues To Punish All Ex-Sex Offenders For The Deeds Of One Person!

Original Article

12/19/2012

By Owen Good

New York State, whose "Operation Game Over" earlier this year banned more than 3,500 registered sex offenders from services like Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network, has booted another 2,100 from online gaming after bringing THQ, Funcom and NCSoft to the cause.
- Just imagine if congress passed laws to say all DUI offenders could not drive anymore simply due to one person driving under the influence and hurt someone.  This is the same thing.  They are punishing all ex-sex offenders for the deeds of one person.

Eric T. Schneiderman, the state's attorney general, announced the bannings earlier this morning. They coincide with state law requiring convicted sex offenders to register all email addresses, screen names and other online personae with the state. The state then turns that information over to its Operation Game Over partners, who purge the convicted sex offenders from their rolls.
- And even requiring their email addresses and other online info is a violation of their rights, but hey, the Constitution means nothing anymore, so anything goes.  Just remember that when they come to violate your rights!

Many states have sex offender registries, with requirements covering email addresses and the like, but New York State says it is the only one working to have offenders removed from online gaming services. The initiative was inspired by this case, in which a 19-year-old met a 12-year-old boy over Xbox Live, arranged a meeting with the child, and then sexually abused him. The offender was sentenced earlier this year to six months in jail, making his lifetime permaban from online gaming a more lasting and potentially worse punishment.
- Exactly, they are punishing all ex-sex offenders due to one man's deeds!  No other group of offenders do they do this with, it's basically discrimination.

In addition to THQ, NCSoft, Funcom, Microsoft and Sony, publishers such as Gaia Online, Apple, Blizzard Entertainment, Electronic Arts, Disney Interactive Media Group and Warner Brothers are working with the state.

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NE - Trial begins in case over changes to state's sex offender laws

Original Article

07/17/2012

By LORI PILGER

In a federal courtroom in Lincoln, it wasn't an accused sex offender but Nebraska's sex offender laws on trial Monday.

If the state wins, convicted sex offenders would be forced to disclose to law enforcement the online names they use and sites where they've posted comments and to consent to searches of their computers and software.
- Surely this is for those still on probation / parole?  If not, searching someone's computer is illegal without a warrant.

And they would be banned from using social networking sites, instant messaging services and chat rooms that can be used by minors.

In the end of what is expected to be a two-week trial, U.S. Senior District Judge Richard Kopf will decide whether the state's lawmakers went too far when they passed changes in 2009, as some three dozen offenders subjected to the registry alleged in the suit.
- Well, based on this 2010 article, it doesn't look good.

"This is a case that questions the constitutionality of what the state intended as a first-of-its-kind, one-of-a-kind piece of legislation," said Rod Dahlquist, an attorney for the John and Jane Does who sued.

It comes down to this, he said: Can the state take away someone's ability to use social networking, instant messaging and chat room tools based on a prior conviction?

Dahlquist said the law violated sex offenders' First Amendment rights and was punitive and unconstitutionally vague.

Sex offenders, for example, couldn't make anonymous posts on a political website without informing the state of their online name and where and when they posted it, he said.

Kopf asked him what then was the state to do. How could they get at the online places where predators find kids?

"The state has a right to be proactive," the judge said.

Dahlquist said one way is to fund law enforcement so more could pose as teens online.

"I can tell you how not to do it," he said. "And that is banning them from the Internet entirely, which is what they've done."

His expert, David Post, a law professor at Temple University, testified later that the law could be read to apply to nearly all websites and even to sex offenders' ability to make landline and cellphone calls and send text messages.

But, on the other side, Assistant Attorney General Katherine Spohn disputed the contention.

She said it doesn't prevent all use of the Internet. Sex offenders would be free to look at websites, so long as they aren't communicating, she said. They would have to notify law enforcement within a day if they did.

And the sites would have to expressly permit minors to use them in their terms of use, Spohn said.

"Why doesn't the statute say that?" Kopf asked her.

She agreed the statute may be more complicated than it needed to be.

Spohn said the Internet today is the equivalent to a real-world playground, and the state is making efforts to protect children from predators who meet and groom them online over time until they agree to meet in person.

The goal is to protect children, she said.

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LA - Changes approved to sex-offender bill

Original Article

03/27/2012

By Jeremy Alford

BATON ROUGE — Under a proposed law pending in the Senate, convicted sex offenders would have to keep police abreast of changes in their online identities.

As for a definition, that means everything from new email addresses to Internet-based screen names.

The Senate Judiciary B Committee unanimously advanced the proposal Tuesday along with a bill that would require new licensing and training for bouncers and other security personnel who work in bars and nightclubs.

Both measures are sponsored by Sen. Gary Smith, D-Norco, who represents a portion of northern Lafourche Parish.

Senate Bill 377 (PDF) would force convicted sex offenders to update law-enforcement officers whenever they change their identities online.

Such offenders already have to maintain an active address with their local sheriffs or police departments, depending on where they live.

“With all of the new changes that are happening with technology, we’ve got to make a better effort to keep up with this information,” Smith told the committee.

He said the proposal was recommended by the U.S. Department of Justice and has been included in Gov. Bobby Jindal’s latest legislative package strengthening Louisiana’s sex-offender laws.

Sen. J.P. Morrell, D-New Orleans, said it makes sense, given the times.

“We need to track sex offenders in this electronic medium,” said Morrell, chairman of the judiciary committee. “It only takes about three seconds to make an new email address.”
- Exactly!  And if a person is intent on committing a new crime, they will.

Smith’s Senate Bill 234 would revise the Louisiana Responsible Vendor Program, which deals exclusively with individuals who serve alcohol in bars and restaurants.

Those who are licensed under the program undergo training to help them identify and handle situations in which customers are drinking too much or becoming a danger to themselves, among other things.
- So, you need a law for this?  In the old days, bouncers just kicked them out, or they called the police.  What is a new law going to do?

Smith told the committee he wants to add a new section in the law for security personnel.

“We’re seeing more problems where excessive force is being used or there are fights and people are getting a little unruly,” Smith said.

He said the proposed training would help bouncers and others learn how to deal with customer fights and how to subdue conflicts until police arrive.

The fee for the new license would mirror that of those required by servers: $50.
- Just another way for Big Brother to take more money from your pockets!

See Also:

• Jindal revisits ban on sex offenders from Facebook

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AL - Adding Registering Requirements for Sex Offenders

Original Article

02/16/2012

By Andrea Ramey

MOBILE - Alabama lawmakers are considering legislation that would place more registering requirements for convicted sex offenders. State Senator Ben Brooks (R-Mobile) is sponsoring the bill that would make sex offenders register things like their email address and social media log-in names.

- Of course they are!  All states, almost, do this every single year.

"This is a tool that we'll be able to use that we will be able to track them better," said Lori Myles with the Mobile County Sheriff's Office.
- Track them?  Will you be using a warrant as well for those off probation/parole?

Myles says the laws that force sex offenders to register with local law enforcement agencies were written in a time when things like text messaging and Facebook didn't exist, and it's time the laws reflect how potential victims now are contacted.

"We are just now catching up with it. It was a playground for them, for a while," said Myles.
- Yeah right, a "playground," you funny!

"So much communication takes place on the internet," said Child Advocacy Director Pay Guyton.

Guyton says this proposed law could prevent children from being victimized. He says if sex offenders provided their technology addresses, investigators would have a better idea of what to monitor and would be able to track what offenders are doing online.
- Like we've said a million times, if a person is intent on committing a crime, they'll just use another email address they create in a matter of minutes.  This won't protect anybody, or prevent any crime, it's just more ways to eradicate someone's rights.

"A lot of that can be traced if we have the correct address," said Guyton. "You go on a Facebook account, and someone posts something on your Facebook and says, 'I'm a 15 year old girl and I just want to know what other girls think about this.' And really it's a 65 year old sex offender. You have no way of knowing that. And it happens. Unfortunately, it happens all the time."
- You are right, but the same can be said for murderers, identity thieves, etc, but you don't see them having to registry their online id's.

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DC - Obama Calls for Secure Online-Identity System

Original Article

Next they will want to implant it under your skin on your right hand or forehead. This is just the first step towards that goal. Push it through slowly, so people don't see what is going on, then it will hit you like a ton or bricks.

04/15/2011

By David Kravets

President Barack Obama unveiled an ambitious proposal Friday urging the private sector to create a trusted-identity system to boost consumer security in cyberspace.

Digital rights groups cautiously welcomed the first-of-its-kind government proposal, calling it a blueprint for increased internet security and privacy, as the nation drifts to the virtual world to take care of basic needs from grocery shopping to paying taxes and dating.

“The internet has transformed how we communicate and do business, opening up markets, and connecting our society as never before. But it has also led to new challenges, like online fraud and identity theft, that harm consumers and cost billions of dollars each year,” President Obama said in announcing the so-called “National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (PDF)”.

The announcement came days after Sens. John Kerry (D-Massachusetts) and John McCain (R-Arizona) proposed online-privacy legislation that for the first time would give web users the right to demand they not be tracked online.
- I'm sure that doesn't include sex offenders, which it doesn't mention, but I'd not be surprised.

The latest plan, which distances itself from a national ID approach, calls on the private sector to develop methods by which consumers can create a secure, online identification to enable web transactions. The plan envisions replacing today’s reality of generally having to remember passwords for dozens of sites where consumers have already lodged their sensitive data, such as credit card numbers.

The government estimated that 11.7 million Americans were victims of some form of identity theft in the past two years, and it suggests Friday’s proposal could reduce those numbers.
- Why don't you crack down on identity thieves like you do sex offenders?

“We must do more to help consumers protect themselves, and we must make it more convenient than remembering dozens of passwords,” Commerce Secretary Gary Locke told the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on Friday.
- It's not the governments job to do this!

The Center for Democracy and Technology lauded the idea, at least in theory.

“It’s not a national ID card at all. This is a proposal to figure out ways for more reliably saying who we are on the internet,” Aaron Brauer-Rieke, a CDT fellow, said in a telephone interview. “This is the beginning of the story, not the end. There’s potential gains for privacy and empowerment. But if it goes wrong, it could have the opposite effect.”
- And we all know, it will go wrong!

Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, agreed.

He applauded the proposal for it not being a government-run “Big Brother,” national-identification plan. The administration, he said, was “genuinely trying to solve a hard problem.”

But he cautioned that there’s a risk in consolidating online credentials.

“If that gets compromised, that’s like losing your whole wallet, instead of just losing your driver’s license or credit card,” Rotenberg said.

The government is allotting up to five years for the “standardization of policy and technology” to come together. Implementation of the plan, the government said, “will not occur overnight.”

Video Link

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VT - Vermont Mulls Ban on Aliases Online for Sex Offenders

Original Article
Senator Urges Facebook to Change its Pseudonym Policy to Protect the Identity of Activists, Protesters

02/11/2011

By DAVE GRAM

Vermont lawmakers consider ban on sex offenders using false names on social networking sites

Vermont lawmakers are considering making it a crime for convicted sex offenders to use false names on social media sites like Facebook, after one such incident was reported in the state.

Only two states have related measures, said Erik Fitzpatrick, a lawyer on the research staff for the Vermont Legislature: New York and Illinois bar convicted sex offenders from using social networking sites at all as a condition of their probation. The National Conference of State Legislatures was unaware of similar laws or pending legislating in other states.

A former teacher at a school for boys who had committed sex crimes told a state Senate committee Friday that he spotted a Facebook profile last fall with a picture of a former student in the program who was using an alias.

Chuck Laramie, the former teacher, said the 26-year-old man had become Facebook friends with 14- and 15-year-old girls.

The man was convicted in 2004 of sexual assault, defined in Vermont law as engaging in a sex act with another person without that person's consent, and has not completed a sex offender treatment program, the state's online sex offender registry shows.

Laramie said he saw Facebook messages the man sent the girls, telling them he was "struggling with his sexuality and thinking he might be gay. Some of the girls were replying by saying, 'Oh, no, you're not.' He was getting these young girls to feel sympathy for him," Laramie said. "It was a classic grooming situation" in which sexual predators psychologically manipulate potential victims.

If the man were a sex offender trying not to re-offend, that was "an extremely high-risk situation to put yourself in," Laramie said.

Facebook takes extensive steps, including teams of internal investigators working with law enforcement agents around the country, when it detects people on its network behaving suspiciously, the company said in a statement. Contacting minors or users of predominantly one gender are seen as clues, and Facebook uses systems including a national database of convicted sex offenders to do real-time checks, the statement said.

Read the rest of the article

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CA - Runner Legislation Requires Sex Offenders to Register Online Addresses with Law Enforcement

Original Article

04/21/2010

The Senate Public Safety Committee today passed legislation authored by Sen. George Runner (Contact) (R-Antelope Valley) that would require all registered sex offenders to register their online addresses with state law enforcement.

Runner called Senate Bill 1204 another tool for law enforcement to use in monitoring some of society’s most dangerous sex offenders, like admitted rapist/murder John Albert Gardner. If the offenders don’t comply with new registration requirements, they risk up to six months in jail, under SB 1204.
- Yep, you got to throw that name in there to make all offenders look all evil and stuff, don't you?  A person who is intent on committing a crime, online, can make a new email address in a matter of seconds.  This is just more BS to get him the brownie points he needs to "look tough" on crime, while doing nothing.

“We know where they live and now we will know what web pages, instant messaging names and email addresses they control,” Runner said. “The Internet has become a virtual playground to predators. It makes sense to force convicted sex offenders to share their online addresses with law enforcement.”
- And do you think a true predator is going to give you all their email addresses?  And if the Internet is so dangerous, then why not set an age limit and kick kids off social networking sites?  We set age limits for drinking, smoking, etc.  Oh yeah, it's not about protecting kids, it's about exploiting them and fear!

Besides registering online addresses, one of the objectives of SB 1204 is to prevent sex offenders from joining Facebook, MySpace and other social networking websites. While on parole, sex offenders can be prohibited from accessing social networking sites. Once parole is completed, however, a sex offender is free to join such sites.
- As if all sex offenders are trolling these sites for victims!  And yeah, even if they are off probation/parole, we all know that sites will use that to discriminate against people and kick them off, just read the news.

By requiring sex offenders to register their online addresses, SB 1204 not only creates a database for law enforcement but creates a tool, which can be used to remove sexual predators from social networking sites. While the law cannot directly prohibit sex offenders who are no longer on parole from joining, social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace have voluntarily purged thousands of registered sex offenders from New York.
- Yes, my point exactly.  It's not because they have committed a crime, or are doing something suspicious, but simply due to a label, they assume all are out looking for kids to molest!

As the bill moves forward, Senator Runner is committed to ensuring that online address information collected under SB 1204 may be used to permit social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace to voluntarily purge registered sex offenders from the sites.

California will join New York and Illinois in enacting such a law. New York became the bill passed a similar bill in 2008, known as “e-STOP,” which was sponsored by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo (Contact).
- And e-STOP doesn't stop a true predator from creating a new email address and being on their way, if that is what they chose to do!

Cuomo said more than 3,500 registered New York sex offenders have been purged from Facebook and MySpace since the bill passed, including a man convicted of assaulting a 14-year-old boy and another man who raped a 2-year-old girl.
- You see, they make you assume all those kicked off were doing something wrong, and I am willing to bet, about 99% of them were not, they were kicked off simply due to a label, nothing more.  Even the very study and report many AG's and other organizations did, these two ignored and said they did not believe it, which the study says is blown out of proportion.

John Walsh, co-founder of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and host of “America’s Most Wanted,” supports New York e-STOP saying last year in a press release that “New York sets the gold standard for other states to follow.”
- John Walsh, the admitted sex addict, would approve anything which punished sex offenders, even knowing that his son's death was NOT by a sex offender.

SB 1204 is supported by statewide law enforcement agencies and associations. It moves to the Senate Appropriations Committee for a vote in the coming weeks.

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"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Benjamin Franklin

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TX - Texas Bill Might Require Sex Offenders To Register Gaming Identities

View the article here
View HB-22 Here

So now, you will also be kicked off gaming and many other sites.  Eventually it will be the Internet!

05/04/2009

By Stephen Johnson

A bill that passed the Texas Senate today would change sex offender registration regulations in the state so convicted sex offenders would have to provide law enforcement with each “alias, assumed name, nickname, or pseudonym, including a screen name, used by the person.” Presumably, the law includes gamertags, twitter user names, facebook names, and other public online identifiers.

The additional information would not be made public but would be available to law enforcement and social-networking sites, and presumably, video game companies. This gives companies the ability reject people from joining based on their inclusion on the list. The bill, introduced by Sen. Florence Shapiro, is headed to a vote by the Texas House, and should it pass, the governor’s desk.

Chicago attorney and video gamer Wesley Johnson said, "It appears this law would apply to gamertags, although the final definition of what's covered in the law is up to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice."

We’ve put in a call to Microsoft and Sony to find out what the companies' policies are regarding these types of non-public databases, and how it would affect membership on Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network. A Microsoft spokesperson issued the following statement:

“While we don’t have all of the details surrounding this specific bill in Texas or any of the implications it would have for online networks, Microsoft remains committed to abiding by all laws and providing a safe and fun environment for Xbox LIVE members.”

I haven't heard back from Sony on the issue yet, but when I do, I'll pass the word on to you.

LiveLeak Video Link

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