MySpace Agrees to Share Sex Offender Data

mikesd81 writes "The Seattle Times is reporting that MySpace will be providing a number of state attorney generals with data on registered sex offenders who use their site. Attorney generals from eight states demanded last week that the company provide data on how many registered sex offenders are using the site and where they live. MySpace obtained the data from Sentinel Tech Holding Corp., which the company partnered with in December to build a database with information on sex offenders. Attorneys general in North Carolina, Connecticut, Georgia, Idaho, Mississippi, New Hampshire, Ohio and Pennsylvania asked for the Sentinel data last week."

Call me an idiot...

[Anonymous Coward]

... but do regular people actually sign up with their real name / information, and even if they do, is it likely that sex offenders do too?

Re:Call me an idiot...

[Deagol]

On the internet, nobody knows you're a dog, right?

Given the broad range of things that gets you the tag "sex offender" (and a lovely scarlet "S" in the bargain), the whole sex offender registry thing is kinda silly. I mean, if you got a citation for pissing in the bushes at your local park, and got into your state's sex offender registry, would *you* really take the restrictions seriously? I sure as hell wouldn't. And I imagine that "real" sex offenders wouldn't either -- at least the ones who are total morons [ksl.com], anyway.

Validity Of "Sex Offender"

[nick_davison]

Up until the last couple of years, consensual homosexual acts have been able to put you on the sex offenders register in many states. Sex with a consenting partner, in a park, after midnight, when all children should long since be in bed - you're a sex offender. Oral sex in Utah? Mississippi's ludicrous "sex with a minor unless you can prove she was not of previously virtuous character.."? They all merit a place on the list.

I don't dispute that identifying those who prey on children may have its merits. Given the sex offender registry is a great way of stitching red letters on the chests of anyone that offends good conservative taste, that is hardly its sole effect.

Given how open to abuse the system is, how long before the MPAA figures, "Hey, there's hardcore porn on them there torrents. I wonder if we could get anyone that uses them labeled a sex offender, destroy their lives, and kill off torrents that way, without worrying about trying to prove actual piracy."?

I've never got caught having sex in public nor getting a blowjob in Utah. I also happen to be straight. Still, even if I had been caught for any of those acts, it's absolutely none of their business whether I use MySpace.

Mind you, I also grew up in England where, after the Daily Mail posted a list of 1,000 sex offenders, including some errors, a paediatrician got their house burned down. Dirty paediatricians! I hate the way they look at and touch children!

Re:Call me an idiot...

[Anonymous Coward]

How long till someone registers at MySpace with the name etc of a registered sex offender they want to cause problems for? Especially if the "registered sex offender" has an open wireless network where they can really make it look like they are that person, at least under the assumption that the owner of the connection is the one using it? There are groups that are as nutty about going after "sex offenders" as there for abortion clinics.

Re:Bullshit.

[Belacgod]

Actually, the most minimal intrusion would be to make child rape punishable by life in prison. That wouldn't intrude on the liberties of people who piss in the bushes, and 19-year-olds who screw 17-year-olds, and would intrude on the liberties of people who really should have their liberties intruded upon. Child rapists are capable of traveling 1000 feet, or 1000 yards, or however long to get to where the kids are. They're capable of making false internet identities. What they're not capable of is doing any of that while locked up.

Re:Call me an idiot...

[daeg]

Here in Florida, most communities are enacting completely unconstitutional laws barring exactly where "sex offenders" can live. In one community in the Tampa Bay area, they set the distance limit to something like 2,500 feet from *any* bus stop, church, school, library, etc. There were a few small areas in the town left over, which the city promptly added school bus stops despite there being no demand for them, effectively chasing out every sex offender, regardless of actual offense.

It is a scarlet letter. It isn't like the Puritan punishments meant to shame someone in front of their community to deter crime. In fact it does the opposite by creating lists of names, addresses, and photos of free offenders (as in, not in prison). It's a political tool, plain and simple, and it's only a matter of time before it is struck as unconstitutional and, hopefully, some "offenders" will have a free shot at the governments that put them on the list.

And before you mod me as a troll or other nonsense, I'm not advocating any sort of behavior. Child molesters, for instance, are in a separate class as mere sex offenders.

Maybe if we freed the ridiculous number of jailings of petty criminals we'd have room for those that actually deserve--and need--the confinement of prison.

Re:Bullshit.

[Anonymous Coward]

well, i haven't been murdered, because i'm posting this, so i can't honestly compare and critique the two experiences, but i do think if i'm given the choice next time, i'll take a bullet in the head over rape. i will fight to the death to avoid that experience again. as to the "the proof is that they haven't committed suicide" bit, i've got to disagree that that constitutes proof. i'm staying alive out of spite, honestly. i'm not going to give them the satisfaction. also, it's harder to kill yourself than to have someone else do it.

Need better examples of stupid laws?

[nick_davison]

Aside from your missing the implication of strangers for cottaging [wikipedia.org] to apply...

How about:

There was a case featured in the November 1996 issue of "Marie Claire" involving an Atlanta wife who tried to have her soon-to-be ex-husband charged with rape. She had persuaded her then hubby to tie her up and later used the bondage as a means of proving that the sex had not been consensual. Her sister came forward and informed the court of the plot against the man, but there was another twist in the story.

Although the man was acquitted on the rape charge, the man was sentenced to five years in jail for having performed oral sex on the woman. He had admitted to that during the course of the case and so he was charged and sentenced under Georgia law.

Source [sfsu.edu]

From the same article:

• Places where oral sex is illegal: Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Georgia, North and South Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, Utah, Virginia and Washington D.C.
• An erection that shows through a man's clothing is illegal in: Arizona, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Washington D.C. and Wisconsin.
• In Georgia those charged and convicted for either oral or anal sex can be sentenced to no less than one year and no more than 20 years imprisonment.
• In Missouri sexually deviant behavior between people of the same sex is classified as a class A misdemeanor.
• In Harrisburg, Pennsylvania it is against the law to have sex with a truck driver in a tollbooth.
• In Nevada it is illegal to have sex without a condom.
• In Willowdale, Oregon it is against the law for a husband to talk to dirty in his wife's ear during sex.
• In Clinton, Oklahoma it is illegal to masturbate while watching two people have sex in a car.
• In Washington State there is a law against having sex with a virgin under any circumstances (including the wedding night!).
• In Newcastle, Wyoming it is illegal to have sex in a butcher shop's meat freezer.
• In Washington D.C. there is a law against having sex in any position other than face to face.

Re:Call me an idiot...

[boingo82]

Actually, in a fairly recent Utah case [denverpost.com], a 12 year old boy and a 13 year old girl had consentual (not legally consentual, but both of them did it deliberately) sex, and the girl became pregnant.

They were BOTH charged with "Sexual abuse of a child". Both are considered simultaneous victims and perpetrators.

Re:Call me an idiot...

[CastrTroy]

The best one I've heard is getting charged with having sex with a minor, even when you yourself are a minor. I remember a story a few months back when a couple of 16?17?whatver year olds were charge on child pornography laws for sending pictures of themselves to eachother. I've also heard of people being charged for having sex with someone the same age as them because the laws were written such that it didn't matter how old the offender was, so a 15 year old having sex with another 15 year old was charged with having sex with a minor even though they themselves were a minor.

Re:Call me an idiot...

[daeg]

I put "sex offender" in quotes for that exact reason. There are many things that can get someone on that list, many of them completely petty. I think very few people want to be lenient on child predators or offenders, on the contrary, they need serious help from the government.

There is one awesome case in Florida. I can't find the links at the moment, but it was a high school couple, one over 18, one slightly under. They someone got caught swapping naked pics of themselves through their cell phone. Neither wanted to charge the other, but both got charged with possessing/distributing child pornography. So two lives are in effect ruined because they were horny and stupid.

False charges like your example are devestating not only emotionally and financially, but they ruin lives. Our country has long abandoned the innocent-until-proven-guilty. Sure, you can be found innocent (different than not guilty!) at trial but still be held as guilty in the realm of public opinion.

Re:Call me an idiot...

[TapeCutter]

"political success"

I belive the list is indeed political and intended to drag in as many people as possible. There is no distinction between rape and pissing on a tree, IMHO the real aim of the list is to make the term "sex offender" meaningless.

If you doubt this then remember the guy who "farthered" the legislation was caught soliciting congressional page boys.

Re:witch hunts not helpful

[aicrules]

Your example of the boy marrying the woman after her release is pretty lame. You could easily say he was psychologically damaged by the sexual acts committed against him where no consent was possible. Minors are deemed in general to not have the ability to consent to such things because they "don't know any better."

I don't get why so many /.ers are rising up against this. Show me a list of people who have been wrongly labeled sex offender. All I see are claims that it could be so horribly misused. Any law and enforcement of that law can be misused. I'm going to err on the side of protecting children. There are legal methods for getting sex offender label reversed if wrongly done. Until someone proves that the label is being applied en masse incorrectly, I don't see a problem. MySpace complying with supplying data does not erode anyone's rights.

As long as due process is given, it all fits within the constitution perfectly. You infringe on someone else's life or liberty and you should expect to lose yours in some way. How about sex crime = death like in some less civilized places? Then you wouldn't have to worry your pretty little heads that some sick fuck is having a hard time finding an acceptible location for his home. Waah waah boo hoo.

Re:Call me an idiot...

[lena_10326]

However, with that said, I do think the laws need to be tweaked a little. For example, there shouldn't be some silly age limit like say, I am 18 and my GF is 16. Her daddy finds out we "did it" and gets me nailed-to-the-cross.

You should look at this. http://crime.about.com/od/sex/ig/female_pedophiles /Heather-Shelton.htm [about.com]

Heather Shelton, a 22-year-old teacher's assistant at a North Carolina high school was charged with sexual activity with a 19-year-old student.

Only in America can sex between two consenting adults be construed as pedophilic rape and molestation. I also recall a 16 year old boy serving a 10 year sentence for sex with a 14 year old. Both were under the age of consent. I don't have a url for that one, but it was on night-time news. There are real victims being created by these insane laws.

Re:Call me an idiot...

[vuffi_raa]

absolutely- I had a friend when I was younger that was dating a girl less than a year younger than him and her parents didn't like him- they had out since they were 13 and 14 . a week after his 18th birthday he was picked up for statutory rape- even though the 2 of them had been together for 4 years and were only about 10 months apart in age. So after he served 4 of his 10 year sentence for statutory rape and was let out on good behavior he is now a registered sex offender for the rest of his life. He can't get a job, can't live anywhere- so what does he do- he sells drugs and floats around. he sells a lot of drugs. He can't really do anything else now so instead of an honor student going to college and being a very productive person in society, now he is a big time drug trafficker. I think of this whenever I hear about "cracking down on sex offenders".

Re:Call me an idiot...

[D-Cypell]

MHO the real aim of the list is to make the term "sex offender" meaningless.

I read a quote here once, one that was so thought-provoking that I posted it onto my blog. Now it seems relevant again so I thought I would paste it back... what goes around, comes around right?

Did you really think that we want those laws to be observed?" said Dr. Ferris. "We want them broken. You'd better get it straight that it's not a bunch of boy scouts you're up against - then you'll know that this is not the age for beautiful gestures. We're after power and we mean it. You fellows were pikers, but we know the real trick, and you'd better get wise to it. There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens' What's there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced nor objectively interpreted - and you create a nation of law-breakers - and then you cash in on guilt. Now that's the system, Mr. Rearden, that's the game, and once you understand it, you'll be much easier to deal with."

- Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged, 1957.

Re:Call me an idiot...

[aussie_a]

Here in Florida, most communities are enacting completely unconstitutional laws barring exactly where "sex offenders" can live.

Isn't any restriction unconstitutional? The constitution allows for criminals serving a sentence to have their freedoms restricted, but why are people who have served their time still having those freedoms restricted?

Re:Call me an idiot...

[kalirion]

Violent sex offenders deserve the death penalty, period. I don't want to pay to incarcerate someone who molested a 5 year old (or an infant, yes it happens). First we need to put some close-in-age exceptions into our laws so two teenagers who have sex are not charged as sex offenders, but once that is done, warm up the electric chair, hypodermic needle, etc.

And then 15 years later it comes out that there was no crime, that the psychologist merely convinced little Jenny that she'll be able to see your father again if she says he touched her in the naughty place. And everybody says, "Oops, oh well. We did it for the children."

The problem with the death penalty is that there is no going back.

And you still have to define "violent sex offender." Does a perv who pushes a woman to the ground, rips off her bathing suit top, and runs away laughing deserve death?

Re:Call me an idiot...

[KDR_11k]

I don't even see why there's a list specifically for sex offenders. Is some skinhead who beat up a black less dangerous than a guy who raped a woman because he couldn't get laid? I'd say the skinhead is even more likely to repeat his offense than the rapist but noone cares what the skinhead does after he's out of prison again.

But I guess those lists depend on what the particular country has issues with. Here in Germany we have a list for violent football fans, they aren't even allowed to leave the country if there's a world cup going on elsewhere and I think are even required to report to the police to show that they're at home when a game is going on nearby. Just as much overkill.