Under a new law signed by President Bush ("Keeping the Internet Devoid of Sexual Predators Act of 2008" or the "KIDS Act of 2008,"), social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace will be able to track and expel potential sex predators. The law requires sex offenders to submit their identifying Internet information along with their home addresses. Wired has more. From Newsday.com:
Social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook can now trace and expel potential sexual predators under a new law requiring sex offenders to submit all identifying Internet information along with home addresses.
Under the law, signed yesterday by President George W. Bush registered sex offenders must submit all e-mail addresses, instant messenger names or other online identifiers for inclusion in the National Sex Offender Registry.
The U.S. attorney general will make that information available on a database where approved Web sites can cross-check their users' information and weed out any potential predators, said New York Sen. Charles Schumer, who introduced the original bill.
Under the law, sex offenders not providing all Internet information face the same penalty as those who fail to register their home address - up to 10 years in prison.
"Millions of teenagers log on to Web sites like MySpace and they, and their parents, shouldn't have to worry about running into these predators online," Schumer said. "Sex offenders have no business joining social networking communities - especially those with teenage users - and our legislation will help keep them out."
Many child advocacy groups and other social networking sites, including the American Family Association, MySpace and Facebook have also endorsed the legislation.
"We at Facebook are very pleased that Congress has acted to enhance sex offender reporting requirements and give us access to data that will supplement our robust safety systems," said Chris Kelly, chief privacy officer at Facebook.
H/T: Crime and Consequences.
Update 10/15: Sentencing Law & Policy is covering the bill here and highlights the connection to McCain.
Is it constitutional and would it be subject to strict scrutiny? Does there have to be a nexus between the crime (Internet) and the surrender of anonymous speech? And isn't it ex post facto?
Compare "Kentucky Lawmaker Wants to Make Anonymous Internet Posting Illegal":
http://volokh.com/posts/1205170371.shtml
Posted by: | October 15, 2008 at 03:01 AM