RICHMOND--Sex offenders will have to register their e-mail addresses and instant-messaging handles with the state, under a bill proposed by Attorney General Bob McDonnell that aims to stop sex offenders from preying on children online.
The bill--which is still being drafted--would add e-mail and IM handles to the list of things (like street address, work address) that sex offenders must register with the state. It's a recommendation from McDonnell's Youth Internet Safety Task Force.
The intent is to compile those e-mail addresses into a database that could then be used by investigators to track whether sex offenders are approaching children online.
The state plans to work with Myspace.com--a popular social networking site that attracts millions of teenagers--to use the database to keep sex offenders from registering on Myspace.
Myspace is already working to develop a national database of sex offenders, with the idea that it could cross-reference the e-mail addresses of those who attempt to register or log in to the site with the database.
In a statement released through McDonnell's office, Myspace.com's chief security officer, Hemanshu Nigam, said the proposed Virginia law would be a "landmark moment in the history of Internet safety."
Virginia is the first state to propose requiring sex offenders to register their e-mail addresses.
"It's a logical extension here in the cyber age of what they [already] report," McDonnell said. "We think it's a great step forward."
McDonnell said he realizes that sex offenders could easily register one e-mail address and then get another, secret one to use on such Web sites.
"That's the biggest challenge," he said.
But he hopes that increased enforcement of sex offender registration requirements, along with added penalties for offenders caught using unregistered e-mail addresses, will help cut down the number of offenders preying on children online.
"The bottom line is this--if we can keep sexual predators off of a Web site that has got 125 million users, primarily young boys and girls, it is going to be a major step forward in assuring parents and young people that this site is safe for them and that they are not going to have convicted child molesters on these sites," McDonnell said yesterday.
As of July 1 of this year, Virginia had authorized 45 new state trooper positions just to monitor sex offenders' registration status. Not all of those positions are filled yet, McDonnell said, but the extra manpower will allow police to do more spot-checking of sex offenders, making sure they really do live where they say they do. Those troopers could also physically check sex offenders' computers to see what sites they visit and what e-mail addresses they're using, McDonnell said, although that may require a change in law.
He acknowledged that some measures, like checking computers, might raise a question of sex offenders' civil rights. But due to the high recidivism rate among sex offenders, McDonnell said public safety comes first.
"We're going to have public safety trump civil liberties in this case," he said.
Sex offenders could circumvent the e-mail registration by logging in through secret e-mail addresses, or from other computers, like those in public libraries. McDonnell acknowledged that the registration proposal "is not foolproof," but said it's a "significant step forward than where we are now it's one more step toward protecting the new frontier of the Internet."
He also hopes the penalties for trying to get around the registration requirement--offenders would be charged with a misdemeanor the first time, a felony on the second, and could be subject to probation revocation--will deter some sex offenders.
Sen. Ryan McDougle, R-Hanover, who will be the bill's sponsor, said he envisions the e-mail registration being used not just by Myspace, but by investigators who are online in chat rooms and other places, looking for predators.
Ultimately, though, McDonnell said it's still up to parents to monitor who their children talk to online.
"Parents have got to get themselves up to speed" and check up on their children's Internet activity, he said. "It's not foolproof and we don't want parents to think that it is."
To reach CHELYEN DAVIS:
Email: cdavis@freelancestar.com
| 'It's a logical extension here in the cyber age of what they [already] report.' Bob McDonnell Virginia attorney general |