New York attorney general Andrew Cuomo has received the backing
of the district attorneys of the state's five boroughs for his
proposal, which would bar certain kinds of sex offenders from using
social networking sites. No such law currently exists in the
US.
The ban would apply to people whose victim was a minor, or who
used the internet to commit the offence or if the person is the
highest category of offender, a level 3 offender.
The law would require these people to register all of their
online identities, internet accounts and email addresses with the
authorities as a condition of their probation or parole.
It would also allow the Division of Criminal Justice Services to
release offenders' online identities, including email addresses, to
the operators of social networking sites and "certain other online
services" in order to have those users screened and banned from the
services. They would also have to tell the police if those
identities were used.
“Existing laws protecting children from sexual predators have
not kept pace with rapid advances in technology," said Cuomo.
"Government’s primary responsibility is to protect its citizens,
and e-STOP [the proposed law] will be effective at helping prevent
sexual predators from using the internet to victimise our
children.”
The New York Senate passed the proposed law this week, and the
Assembly will debate it next. The Assembly speaker Sheldon Silver
has said he supports the proposal.
