May 5, 2009 · Texas lawmakers are working to pass a bill that would better track the Internet activities of registered sex offenders. The measure hopes to make chat rooms and social networking sites safer for kids.
The bill does a couple of things. It requires sex offenders to add Internet information on their standard registration. Things like screen names, e-mail addresses and even cell phone numbers. Texas Attorney General Gregg Abbott says “A lot of the communications that predators use with teens is through texting, which is the favorite way of communicating with teens. It’s important that we have that tracking device in there.”
The added information works right along with step two of the bill which allows law enforcement to use the data to monitor the online activities of sex offenders. The bill’s author, Plano Republican Senator Florence Shapiro, says “We have now given that tool to the judge and said you shall use on-line provisions to make sure that they do not go. And therefore if they are online, there is the possibility of reversing their parole.”
Social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook will also be able to use the extra sex offender registry info to scrub their own sites. Jeffrey Clark, who heads up TechAmerica, a large nationwide tech association, says “When a sex offender is on the registry and they say my name in John Doe and my e-mail is johndoe@johndoe.com, we have that information by access to that data base of sex offender identifiers. And we’re able to use that information if that person comes and registers on the site.”
Now scrubbing’s not cheap. Although Clark didn’t want to give a specific price tag, he said no matter the cost, it’s good policy for the sites. The Attorney General’s Cyber Crimes Unit isn’t expected to see an increased cost either because any law enforcement agency would be able to use the Internet data collected to monitor a sex offender. |
