Social networks have been in the precarious position of having to deal with sex offenders since their early days, but as a result of new laws being passed around the country, several local governments now also play a role in keeping predators off the likes of Facebook and MySpace.
Today, New York state reports that a registry they set up that requires convicted sex offenders to provide social networking details to the state has resulted in 3,500 people losing their Facebook and MySpace accounts.
According to a statement from the state’s attorney general’s office, “The law sets mandatory restrictions on a sex offender's access to the Internet where the offender's victim was a minor, the Internet was used to commit the offense or they are among the highest-level offenders.” While MySpace and Facebook are the focus of today’s report, the AG says they are encouraging 17 other social networking sites to start using its database as well.
Earlier this year, the state of Illinois passed similar legislation that bans sex offenders from using social sites. Although, as we have noted in the past, there is some controversy over these laws. The definition of a “social networking site” is open to interpretation, and because lesser crimes (like urinating in public) are also classified as sex offenses in many states, minor offenders could also be subject to such laws.