Social media
Social media are computer-mediated tools that allow people to create, share or exchange information, ideas, and pictures/videos in virtual communities and networks. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit struck down an Indiana law that banned sex offenders from social media sites used by children.[1]
According to ACLU attorney Nathan Wessler, "The reporting requirement is particularly problematic, because you have a right to engage in anonymous debate online. You have the right to ask about embarrassing medical matters online to write on the Facebook page of the Mayo Clinic or post on message boards. The government is requiring people to turn over these anonymous identities so they can watch what they’re doing online even when it’s protected anonymous political speech."[2]
Convicted sex offenders can sign up for (or at least aren't explicitly banned from using) OkCupid, MySpace, Foursquare, (Facebook-owned) Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and LinkedIn, to name a few. Match.com prohibits use by sex offenders.[3] 15 major social networking sites have agreed to use New York's e-STOP law, which requires sex offenders to register their online information with the state Division of Criminal Justice Services. That information is then passed along to social networking sites which then remove the sex offenders.[4]
Facebook has software to scan chats and postings for attempts to entice children into sex. This evidence is then turned over to law enforcement.[5]
References
- ↑ http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/01/law-to-keep-sex-offenders-from-social-media-ruled-unconstitutional/
- ↑ http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/trying-to-ban-sex-offenders-from-social-media-is-a-waste-of-time
- ↑ http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2012/06/21/so-which-social-networking-sites-can-sex-offenders-actually-use/
- ↑ http://www.webpronews.com/google-and-yahoo-to-kick-sex-offenders-off-social-networks-2009-12
- ↑ http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/12/us-usa-internet-predators-idUSBRE86B05G20120712
