More than a dozen states are considering whether to require convicted sex offenders to register e-mail addresses as part of efforts to combat online sexual predators, reports the Associated Press. Arizona, Kentucky, and Virginia already require sex offenders to provide law enforcement with their e-mail addresses, as well as their home addresses. The bills have support from the social networking site MySpace.com, which has been under pressure to ferret out convicted child molesters and stop them from creating online profiles.
A Connecticut proposal would require sex offenders to register any e-mail addresses, instant message addresses, or other Internet identifiers with the state police. Those who don’t report the information would face up to five years in prison. The bill passed the state House yesterday, 149-0, and awaits action in the Senate. It would be part of the state’s version of Megan’s Law. “Megan’s Law is based on keeping track of where sex offenders reside. So it makes sense to track their location in cyberspace,” said Connecticut House Speaker James Amann. “The Internet represents a new frontier of sex predators.”
Link: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techpolicy/2007-05-25-internet-predators-email_N.htm