N.J.: Sex offender Internet use targeted

N.J.: Sex offender Internet use targeted

	Published : Thu, 01 Mar 2007 00:08 By : Agencies Print this Story

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - Amid growing concern about child safety on the computer, New Jersey lawmakers are considering a measure to prohibit released sex offenders from using the Internet and to impose new rules for online dating sites.

'We are living in some very scary times,' said Senate President Richard J. Codey, who is spearheading New Jersey's effort. 'No matter how much you trust your kids, no matter how much you think you know what they are doing, there are some sick people out there who will stop at nothing to prey on them.'

Released sex offenders caught using the Internet would face up to 18 months in jail and fines of up to $10,000. Sex offenders caught using the Internet to solicit a child would face a mandatory five years in jail, rather than the three years they face under the current law.

The measure also requires online dating sites to tell New Jersey residents whether they do background checks.

No federal law imposes Internet restrictions on convicted sex offenders, though Florida and Nevada have laws imposing computer restrictions on sex offenders.

The plan is to be considered soon by the state Senate, but already has raised constitutional questions. Internet companies like Yahoo!, AOL, eHarmony and Match.com are also concerned about the online dating rule.

Bill Ashworth, director of state government affairs at Yahoo!, said background checks are unreliable because of fraud and problems getting information from states with different laws on what information is available.

'Criminal background checks provide users of online dating with a false sense of security,' he said. 'The last thing we want users to do is let their guard down.'

A 2000 U.S. Department of Justice survey of youths ages 10 to 17 found that about one in five received a sexual solicitation or approach over the Internet in the prior year. The concern has prompted several states to take steps against child solicitation through the Internet.

Last year, Colorado banned any person from using a computer to talk to an unrelated child under age 15 without parental permission if the person if at least four years older than the child. Kansas and Oklahoma have made electronic solicitation of a child a crime.

'People have to worry about people preying on their kids even when they are in the safety of their own home,' said Codey, D-Essex.

The New Jersey proposal would apply to sex offenders subject to Megan's Law registration, community supervision for life and those on probation or parole.

Under the plan, convicted sex offenders would have to submit to periodic, unannounced examinations of their computer equipment, install equipment on their computer so its use could be monitored and inform law enforcement if they have access to a computer.

But Parry Aftab, a lawyer, author and executive director of WiredSafety.org, an online safety and education group based in Bergen County, said Internet restrictions for sex offenders may not survive a court challenge. She said the idea makes her 'child protection hat conflict with my Internet privacy lawyer hat.'

'So many human services and educational services are available online that I think they may not have access to services that they should have access to,' Aftab said.

She said keeping sex offenders off the Internet would be difficult to enforce, but that monitoring equipment would help put people back in jail when they violate it.

'(The measure) is going to be ignored by anyone who's predatorial,' Aftab said.

Tom Rosenthal, of the New Jersey Office of the Public Defender, said the office will look into the constitutional ramifications of the proposal and expressed concern that barring juvenile sex offenders from the Internet would deny them educational opportunities.

He said it may also be best to rely on parole officers' vigilance to decide whether computers need to be checked after finding probable cause.

'We think it's best to leave discretion in the hands of professional law enforcement,' he said.

Aftab also questioned whether the law regarding background checks for online dating sites, which she thought would be a first, would be effective.

Both Ashworth and Aftab said emphasizing safety tips on meeting people through the computer was the better approach.