South Carolina Criminal Defense Blog

Two new laws signed by President Bush on Monday require internet companies to report child pornography, requires sex offenders to provide all of their internet identifiers such as email addresses to the National Registry, and requires the attorney general to give the offender's information to social-networking websites.

Child predators will be easier to track online because of two new laws President Bush signed Monday.

The Protect Our Children Act--which includes provisions introduced by Sens. Joe Biden (D-Del.), Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), and John McCain, (R-Ariz.)--sets requirements for Internet companies to report incidences of child pornography. It also authorizes more than $320 million for the Justice Department over the next five years for, among other things, the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

The president on Monday also signed the Keeping the Internet Devoid of Sexual Predators Act, which requires a sex offender to provide the National Sex Offender Registry with all of his Internet identifiers, such as e-mail addresses.

While the KIDS Act does not permit sex offenders' Internet identifiers to be made public, it does require the attorney general to share the information with social-networking Web sites, so the sites can compare the identifying information with that of their respective users. The bill was sponsored by Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) in the Senate and Earl Pomeroy (D-N.D.) in the House.

This law is substantially similar to a provision in Utah that was declared unconstitutional by a federal court in September 2008 (The first page only of the Order is reproduced below):

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF UTAH NORTHERN DIVISION JOHN DOE, Plaintiff, ORDER and MEMORANDUM DECISION vs. MARK SHURTLEFF, Office of the Attorney General for the State of Utah, in his Official Capacity, et al., Case No. 1:08-CV-64 TC Defendants.

This case involves a constitutional challenge to a Utah state statute that has recently taken effect. The relevant part of that statute requires sex offenders in Utah to provide Utah's sec offender registry with all of their internet identifiers and the websites on which they use those identifiers. This action was brought by a Utah resident convicted of sex offense in a United States military court who has sued under the fictitious name of John Doe. Mr. Doe has completed his sentence for his sex-related crimes and is not on parole or subject to supervised release. Mr. Doe contends that his right to protected anonymous speech on the internet is diminished by the disclosure requirements of Utah's statute. He challenges the statute as unconstitutional on its face as applied to him and is seeking summary judgment. The court agrees with Mr. Doe. Although Mr. Doe is a sex offender, he has not forfeited his First Amendment rights, including his right to anonymous online speech. To justify a restriction of those rights, Utah needs to show that it has a compelling interest and has chosen the least restrictive means to achieve that interest. While Utah undeniably has a strong interest in protecting children from internet predators and investigating crime, the state's disclosure requirements are not crafted in a way to meet those goals while also protecting Mr. Doe's rights.

Accordingly, the court GRANTS Mr. Doe's motion for summary judgment.

Politicians will continue to create new and exciting ways to thrash convicted sex offenders for the public's benefit. Whatever it takes to get publicity and votes. It is too much to ask for legislators or the President to consider the constitution, let alone uphold it as they are sworn to do.

Edit: Derek Logue, from a comment posted below, has put together an excellent website that is worth taking a look at, with information on treatment, recovery, and re-integration of sex offenders, up-to-date information on laws targeting convicted sex offenders, ways to fight those laws, and online resources for offenders.