Plan Would Restrict State’s Sex Offenders Online
By Luis Perez, Newsday, Melville, N.Y.
Feb. 8–Long Island’s district attorneys banded together yesterday behind a legislative effort aimed at logging out convicted sex offenders who target children on MySpace and Facebook.
Under the proposal drafted by state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, sex offenders convicted of molesting minors or registered as high-level offenders would be required to reveal their e-mail addresses, screen names and online identities to the state parole board. That information would then be passed on to MySpace and Facebook, which would use it to restrict access.
“This is probably one of the most important tools we have seen in some time,” said Suffolk District Attorney Thomas Spota, who appeared at a news conference with Cuomo and state Sen. Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre), the sponsor of the measure. Skelos said the plan was making progress in Albany.
Dubbed e-Stop, the Electronic Security and Targeting of Online Predators Act came about after the social networking sites agreed to help states beef up security.
Under New York’s Megan’s Law, 25,000 sexual predators — 457 in Nassau and 825 in Suffolk — are already required to reveal their screen names and are restricted from contacting minors. Violators face felony charges.
Still, officials acknowledged that policing cyberspace is a recent phenomenon. Nassau District Attorney Kathleen Rice praised the measure but warned it could prove a “false sense of security” if not bolstered.
While the bill would give parole officers the ability to check offenders’ computer hard drives, in the end the offenders would primarily police themselves. The bill also does not apply to offenders in other states who contact children in New York. “It is a major step forward,” Cuomo said. “It is not the be-all and end-all because there is none.”
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