Arizona Bill targets sex offenders who go online
Samantha M. Novick, Cronkite News Service, 02/09/07
There's often more to sexual predators than just a name and street address.
Lurking behind computer monitors and MySpace profiles, many sexual predators have turned the anonymity of the Internet into a means of contacting children, Attorney General Terry Goddard says. "MySpace has become a playground for the Internet predator," Goddard said.
An Arizona lawmaker wants to address that threat by requiring registered sex offenders to share their social networking site profiles, e-mail addresses and instant messaging names with authorities. Those refusing to do so would be charged with a felony. "We're beginning to recognize that it's become this untamed world, the Internet," said Rep. Bob Robson, R-Chandler. "It's created a perfect sanctuary for criminals to hide. This is the time that we can start doing something about this." Robson introduced HB 2734, which would require registered sex offenders to provide their online information to their county sheriff's department. This would be added to information already collected on sex offenders and made public, such as name, age, photograph and current address.
Parents would be able to access the information on the Arizona Department of Public Safety Web site to verify who their children are speaking to online. The information would also be used to notify social networking Web sites such as MySpace, the Facebook and Friendster.
Sex offenders failing to comply with the requirement would face up to 15 years in prison without probation, depending upon their prior convictions.
One in seven children between the ages of 10 to 17 has been sexually solicited over the Internet, according to a 2006 study by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. There are currently 11,000 registered sex offenders in Arizona.
Dr. Frank Kardasz, a sergeant with the Phoenix Police Department and project director of the Arizona Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, said the Internet is one of the best inventions to aid pedophiles. "It doesn't take us that long before police officers are approached online as we're posing as minors," Kardasz said. "This legislation would be a helpful tool for us. It also puts them on notice that we're watching them."
In August, Goddard started giving Internet safety presentations to middle school students across the state. He said that only half of the students he has spoken to had talked to their parents about their computer use. "Many parents tend to be very unaware of what their children are doing on the computer," Goddard said. "Many parents are unaware that their son or daughter even has a MySpace page, and that to me is inexcusable." Goddard said that HB 2734 was a step in the right direction, but he added that national legislation is needed so information on offenders in other states is available.
Congress is considering similar legislation, as are legislatures in Kentucky and Florida. The federal bill would require convicted sex offenders to register their online information into a national database that could be accessed by social networking Web sites. These Web sites could use the information to check their members, but the database would not be made public.
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