NEW YORK - New York legislators this week introduced a bill designed to restrict convicted sex offenders' use of social networking sites.
The new bill, named the Electronic Security and Targeting of Online Predators Act, would ban sex offenders convicted of the most serious crimes from using the Internet and social networking sites to communicate with people younger than 18. This would be made a condition of probation or parole.
The proposed law would require sex offenders to register their email addresses and instant-message screen names. This information would be turned over to social networking sites to prevent sex offenders from creating profiles.
MySpace keeps sex offenders from using the site by comparing names of users with names in state databases.
The bill was announced by Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, State Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.
Many critics are skeptical of whether such laws would work.
"There really is a question of enforceability because you know how easy it is to come up with a new screen name or email address," said Sophia Cope, a staff attorney with the Center for Democracy & Technology.
Cope said it would be more effective to educate children about online safety.
Similar bills are pending in other jurisdictions, and Nevada, Florida and New Jersey have passed laws that sharply curtail convicted sex offenders' ability to use the Internet.
"When the Internet is everywhere, there is no way to wall off the Internet and stop using it," wrote Eric Goldman, director of the High Tech Law Institute at Santa Clara University School of Law, in a blog post about the New Jersey law. "The Internet can be accessed through computers, of course, but it's also accessed through cell phones, handheld devices and smart appliances, all of which are seemingly potentially off-limits under this law."
