Truemors
New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo believes "The playground is in cyberspace,"...children now head to the internet after school---followed, in some cases, by sex offenders".
However, thanks to a new law moved forward by Cuomo and signed into law, May 14th, by NYS Governor David Paterson, cyberspace is no longer a playground for sex offenders.
According to the article in the Buffalo News, reported by journalist Tom Precious (Albany Bureau), The law "...makes it a felony for sex offenders to try to keep secret their screen names, chat room names, email accounts, and other details from the state." It targets the worst offenders (Level 3 Sex Offenders) who are prohibited from "accessing social Web sites, online pornography, communicating with anyone for the purpose of promoting sexual relations with a minor and to use the Internet to communicate, with some exceptions, with anyone under the age of 18.
MySpace and Facebook, the biggest social networking sites on the Web, have agreed to obtain the list of convicted sex offenders' screen names when the information is available. The companies can, officials say, then move to keep the individuals off Web sites in which they might be able to contact children.
New York State's Sex Offender Registry can be searched here. http://criminaljustice.state.ny.us/nsor/. The public can search by last name, zip code, or County, information on all registered sex offenders (Levels 1, 2 and 3).
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