Aug 13, 2009 1:57 pm US/Central
No Social Web Site Use For Illinois Sex Offenders
New Law Makes It A Felony
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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(FIle Photo)
NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images
Registered sex offenders are now forbidden from using social networking sites, under a new Illinois state law approved earlier this week.
The law, signed by Gov. Pat Quinn on Tuesday, makes it a Class 4 felony for a registered sex offender to "access or use a social networking website during the period for which the sex offender is required to register under that Act."
The law was spurred by repeated cases in which social networking sites are used by predators to lure victims,
state lawmakers told the Chicago Tribune.
The bill did not specify which social networking Web sites were affected by the law.
Because of this vagueness,
on the Web site HackerJournalist.com, blogger Brian Boyer questioned whether the law might go too far.
While agreeing that sex offenders on MySpace could pose a threat, Boyer wrote: "Is it offensive to the public interest if a sex offender shares an article on TimesPeople? What about LinkedIn? Do sex offenders not deserve a place to post their resume?"
Added Boyer, "Sex criminals have rights too, and this law effectively bans them from the Web."
Also this week, Quinn signed a law that creates a new state offense known as grooming, in which a predator coaxes a minor victim a period of time to meet for sexual activity, the Tribune reported.
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