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Sex Offender E-Mail Registry Signed Into Law
As noted in Wired yesterday, tragedy in chaos writes, "Senator and Presidential-hopeful John McCain has managed to get a new bill signed into law, in the hope of ridding online social networks of the sexual predation of children. The 'Keeping the Internet Devoid of Sexual Predators Act of 2008,' as it is called, calls for a database to be made in which all registered sexual offenders must also register their e-mail addresses so that MySpace, Facebook, etc. can run current and hopeful users through it, and eliminate access to the offenders. Though a noble goal, this is not very well thought out in methodology. They are asking known criminals to be honest, and are expecting them not to utilize any of the free and readily available e-mail services that exist so as to circumvent the system. There is also a potential for the crafty sex offender to possibly cause false positives by just registering an address that does not belong to them, thereby drawing in innocent bystanders."
As the honest ones who never meant any harm will stay honest, and will be flagged as outcasts. The ones who do mean harm though, will just ignore the request to be honest and register a gmail account.
They should make a new domain for sex offender e-mail addresses. Make every sex offender get an e-mail address at this domain and restrict their access to other free e-mail services. The domain can be called. hotmail.com
I smoked pot once. But I DID NOT inhale. Will you hire me?
"Your new account could not be created because your email address is on the US Federal Sex Offender List."
YOU GOT SEXROLL'D!
Colin Dean Go a year without DRM
Yes, it's a South Park reference.
Physics is nothing like religion. If it was, we'd have an easier time trying to raise money!
It passes the Cutsey Acronym So You Know It's A Good Law test.
Keeping the Internet Devoid of Sexual Predators Act of 2008
It's for the KIDS, afterall.
Any law to help protect innocent children from online predators is a step in the right direction.
Seriously? Anyone else think that's a bad name?
If your a sex offender, you are only allowed to register one e-mail address so you can't have seperate boxes for your personal and work related activities. Yes, this system will work out to be a live safer! Parents can now let their children meet their online friends with peace of mind.
can we?
It takes all of seconds to get another email address. Why in the world would anyone use the email they were forced to 'register'.
There's no way.
Eschew Obfuscation
... it's just stupid.
Myspace: Sorry, you can't create an account, you are a pervert.
Pervert: hmmmm, Eureka! I've Got It!
Hotmail: here, have an email account.
Myspace: I see you aren't a pervert now, welcome!
Well one would hope that the law would have registration requirement, so that offenders would be required to register each new address.
Also, one would hope that the law would make it a crime to falsely register an address.
They are asking known criminals to be honest, and are expecting them not to utilize any of the free and readily available e-mail services that exist so as to circumvent the system.
Gun laws do not prevent felons from using guns to commit crimes. They do, however, mean that felons who use guns to commit further crimes get to stay in prison for much longer because of having violated those gun laws in addition to whatever crime they committed with the gun. That's what this law is about. It won't keep some perv from using mailnator to set up a myspace page, but if they get caught trolling myspace with it, the fact that they didn't register their e-mail address means that they get a longer prison sentence. That's the whole point.
There is also a potential for the crafty sex offender to possibly cause false positives by just registering an address that does not belong to them, thereby drawing in innocent bystanders.
1. Cui bono? Why would they bother to do this, except just to be a dick?
2. I rather suspect that the penalty for supplying false information will be comparably stiff to not supplying it at all, which would seem to be sufficient deterrent.
What if someone accidentally registered info@johnmccain.com?
[It's the go-to direct address for McCain's contact page]
You are bringing the practice of law making into disrepute and deserve to be punched in the cock.
Wow, if this puppy is retroactive it will only be a matter of time before dishonest people start running politician's emails through it.I suppose you have enough of them denied a myspace or facebook campaign site because they are on a sex offender list and it eventually will have an appeal process... Hope that trickles down to us little people too.
Sure that web-site has content.. But so does a garbage can!
Can't imagine spending my life with that albatross around my neck when I wasn't the one to shoot it.
it is amazing how idiotic our 'leaders' are.
1) Pee in bushes
2) Get on sex offender list
3) Threaten to sign up others' email addresses
4) Collect blackmail $
Well, step #4 is tricky. It's probably more likely to be used for revenge or random abuse than profit.
perhaps that is going a bit to far to have them banned from social networking sites and who knows what else in the future simply monitoring there actions when registered minors is involved is probably best. I'm not in support of child molesters but if they have served there time they deserve the same rights and freedoms as the rest of us including the ability to socialize online with there legitimate friends, perhaps even dating sites.. (adult dating sites ;)
Once again the politicians, with solemn faces, intone "Save the Children!" and pass a law the only demonstrable purpose of which is to make them look caring to constituents too ignorant to see it's flaws.
As the owner of a domain, I possess a countably infinite number of email addresses. All of them are mine, and I can use them when I feel like it. If I ever were to appear on this list, I suspect the USA government will run out of disk space before I run out of email addresses.
The same holds for anyone with a gmail account, by the way, with the *+username@gmail.com addressing scheme and all.
The lesson here is that a sufficiently large corporation is indistinguishable from government. --ultranova
I'm kind of wondering though if this list may end up being used to just spam them into the next century.
"Yeah, Uncle Sam likes it when you get spam faster than you can delete it. Click away dirty boy, click away..."
I would be surprised if this law prevented even a single case of contact between a known offender and a child.
The only thing it will ever be used for is to tack another charge onto the sentences of repeat offenders if they are found to have not registered. (Which is a good thing, but is a side-effect...)
The same result could be obtained by simply increasing the punishment for sexual offenses. This would cost less are possibly deter more (since it could be across the board, and not just for reoffenders who got caught and then discovered to be in non-compliance) Of course, it wouldn't allow MySpace to slap a happy "sex-offender free zone!" sticker on their website, and wouldn't let McCain play the "See, I know about the Internet... kinda... and I protect children! Yea me!" card.
I suppose it will also be fun to see how this is spun as a groundbreaking wonderful thing in tonight's debate.
Someone please tag this 'youhavegottobekiddingme'!
Do these politicians even run this drivel past their kids. Surely a 10 year old could point out the flaws in these bills...
This is a ship full of fail they've created here.
It seems like these days Congress believes they're experts at everything. Legislation on the internet? We don't need to hear from engineers or computer scientists or anyone else with credentials in the field cause, goddamn, getting a juris doctor gives you a doctorate in everything.
I think this is happening more and more, especially in the sciences, as laymen try and insinuate that scientists actually don't know any more than them. Just 30 years ago a scientific opinion would have been worth much more.
I'm not sure what's responsible for this change in attitudes (perhaps the general anti-intellectual culture in the United States) but it's very discouraging that its become so prevalent in legislation. To be sure there are some Congressmen that still respect the opinions of the experts but I am disheartened at the amount of clearly poorly thought out technical legislation that has come out of both parties. Unlike many though, I'm not going to play the cynical middle ground and say both parties are equally horrible. The Republican Party has of late, especially with evolution, portrayed an absolutely disgusting portrait of some of America's brightest scientists and their work.
Still, slap a "protect the children tag" on it and I'm sure that a number of pathetic pandering Democrats will jump on it like always.
Right now no one will revise the law, but we must 'Protect the children!' but it seems that more and more the ones being caught in these laws aren't the ones we care about.
Right now there is no difference (to you, the one that reads the 'sex offender list' when someone moves onto your block) between the creepy older man that molested dozens of children and the 18 year old that had a 17 year old boyfriend/girlfriend in High School.
How about the 16 year old couple that got child pornography charges for keeping private photos of each other?
How about the 15 year old girl that could be forced to register as a sex offender for the next 20 years?
Yes, those dangerously disturbed should be kept away from the innocent, but you really want this kind of signal to noise? Do you really want your law enforcement to waste their time arresting High Schoolers with like-aged significant others?
http://www.chaotickingdoms.com
they have an anti-child predator act and they call it KID SPA? really?
IANAL, but the idea with these kind of laws is usually to create a lesser charge that can be used as leverage to prevent a greater crime for occurring. In this case, a sex offender can be taken offline for having their email address on a kid's forum, without having to wait for them to start a relationship with a minor. It's important to be very cautious about these kinds of laws, but in this case, I have to cautiously agree.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
Prior to this bill no crime was committed by registering a free e-mail account when you are a sex offender. Now when Joe Sex Offender gets caught on a social network site using an illegal e-mail account he can be charged with at least one crime. Which is enough to throw him in prison for a longer time so the authorities can hold him while they investigate other crimes that he may have committed.
Then at trial he's being charged with multiple crimes and faces a much harsher punishment.
It will deter the "honest" sex offenders from using social networking sites thereby keeping them away from at least one source of temptation. The "dishonest" sex offenders will be more likely to be taken off the street if they're caught.
So this bill is a no-lose proposition. If a sex offender doesn't obey the law they're just as difficult to catch as before but they are slammed in sentencing if they do get caught. As worst it only makes things more difficult for the sex offender when they're caught. At best it keeps them off the social networking sites.
Work Safe Porn
Keeping the Internet Devoid of Sexual Predators Act of 2008
So... when did the "Getting rid of the sexual predators and deviants already on the internet act" get passed?
This can't be real, can it? Did he threaten to clog their tubes if they didn't comply?
Sigh.
Maybe not
Who cares that these sex offenders have served their time and returned to society? They have no rights and shouldn't expect to be able to get jobs or engage in normal social activities again. How DARE they expect to be able to register on something like MySpace and talk to friends! They don't deserve friends. They're scum!
The "Do Not Fly List" is for people who are considered not too dangerous to be arrested for (whatever action), but are considered too dangerous to fly.
Here you have another kind of these lists.
Resolve the problem by the roots, take computers away from children :-)
bash$
I can't believe they couldn't find a catchy acronym this time, like with the PATRIOT Act back in 2001!
C'mon guys, use some imagination! How about the Keeping the Internet Devoid of Dirty Icky Erotomaniac Pedophiles, Offenders, Rapists and Nazis Act" : the KIDDIEPORN Act. Brilliant, right?
Oh, wait...
Hello! I'm a disaster waiting to happen!
There isn't much they can actually do, but there's lots of reasons to try. Make people feel safe, make themselves look good, etc. That said, I'd wouldn't be surprised if it did help catch the odd crazy, but at the cost of lots of wasted time effort, money, and lots of false positives.
Sorry McCain, but parents and kids already have the email addresses they need to be worried about. Seeing as most sex crimes are performed by family members they just need to check their own address books.
Not only is this law full of problems but it will be overall ineffective against preventing sex crimes.
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s110-431
Sponsor: Sen. Charles Schumer [D-NY]
Co-Sponsors:
Cosponsors [as of 2008-10-15]
Sen. Ted Stevens [R-AK]
Sen. John McCain [R-AZ]
Sen. John Kerry [D-MA]
Sen. Dianne Feinstein [D-CA]
Sen. Hillary Clinton [D-NY]
Sen. Barack Obama [D-IL]
Sen. Jon Kyl [R-AZ]
Sen. Joseph Lieberman [I-CT]
Sen. Olympia Snowe [R-ME]
Sen. Michael Crapo [R-ID]
Sen. Arlen Specter [R-PA]
Sen. Tim Johnson [D-SD]
Sen. Mary Landrieu [D-LA]
Sen. Amy Klobuchar [D-MN]
Sen. Charles Grassley [R-IA]
Sen. Kay Hutchison [R-TX]
Sen. John Cornyn [R-TX]
Sen. Patrick Leahy [D-VT]
Sen. David Vitter [R-LA]
Sen. Benjamin Cardin [D-MD]
Any reason you feel like mentioning McCain but not Hillary, or the fact that they were merely co-sponsors? Or the fact that the vote was in fact, unanimous?
---- Liquid was a patriot ----
Where's the URL? There's a bunch of email addresses I'd like to submit. Say benedictxvi@vatican.va...
The 'Keeping the Internet Devoid of Sexual Predators Act of 2008
It's called KID SPA?
Those who believe the Internet is private,
find their privates are on the Internet.
I don't see what prevents McCain's email account becoming the first entry in the register, but probably he would not notice because he doesn't know how to use a social site.
If we register everyone who voted for the bill, would that get them to think it out a bit more?
As it is, a life sentence (registration requirements and not being allowed to choose where to live) on sex offenders may not be Constitutional. Being able to brand any random person this way (wouldn't it be a delight if a spammer database registered its millions of eddresses?) is most certainly not in the spirit of the rule of law and the right to a trial.
anti-spam crusaders were often victims of the "joe job", where spammers would use their email address to send spam, so that the anti-spam crusaders would suffer the effects of their own crusade
under this anti-predator law, the email address of chris hansen would instantly become the most potent sexual predator email address in existence. in other words, the law is bullshit and belies a lack of understanding of how the internet works
which, when it comes to lawmakers, is not that shocking, and even expected. all it seems lawmakers are able to do when it comes to policy and laws concerning the internet is make how laughably out of touch they are woefully obvious
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
...possibly cause false positives by just registering an address that does not belong to them, thereby drawing in innocent bystanders.
I'm sure that the COS folks are already planning to use it.
"Kittens give Morbo gas!"
Parents are responsible for their kids, if they can't be, they are unfit and should be removed from their parents. Unplug the computer, monitor their access, install filters, easy solution. If this problem is this great we should just ban the internet.
Second, with COPPA and the FTC rulings, and now this law, it is expensive to start an internet company in the US, my new projects reside on a server outside the US, upon launch the corporation will be outside the US, and I'll pay myself just enough money to be comfortable, otherwise my assets will never enter the US, because I will have no assets, they belong to the corporation.
Most of the companies the US is targeting are dinosaurs. New companies simply won't establish operations in a hostile business environment. The DOW just dropped 733 points, you may want to think about attracting business so you can feed the children in 10 years rather than protecting them from imaginary boogey men.
We should also force all children to travel in Faraday cages with properly grounded lightening rods in the event lightening should strike them.
he admitted himself that he can't even use a computer! He has to ask his wife for help!
YouTube Video
If you're not familiar with the way policies of seizure / confiscation have perverted certain aspects of law enforcement, I leave it to you to google and decide for yourself.
What about those convicted of online copyright violation? Or ordering products which are not legally importable but are nonetheless widely available? With thinking-of-children hats wedged in place (which isn't necessarily on top of their heads), busybody, unctuous lawmakers can justify all kinds "shouldn't we oughtta" measures like this.
Hmmm. What gives you the right use email *without* running it past the government first? Realize, that's the mindset at work here.
timothy
jrnl: http://tinyurl.com/c2l8yr / foes: http://tinyurl.com/ckjno5
Now they have more to charge someone with!
What the hell is the matter with Congress? Are they afraid that they are going to become irrelevant? What is with passing stupid legislation that just does nothing but inconvenience the masses and makes someone's "think of the children" speech sound better? This will totally be abused and the system will be cheated. Email is NOT like having a phone number, it cannot be accurately attached to a person in the same way. Right now I can get a russian email address (mail.ru) and claim my official email address is at gmail. Plus like the summary says, what if Johnny dickhead decides to get Joe slapstick in trouble by registering his email address with the authorities. If people can forge whole identities with much more permanent identity, what makes anyone think this will be safe.
Now look at this in the view of criminal abuse. A sex offender who sends his email to this registry gets viewed by someone who wants to make this guy's life a living hell, maybe just for kicks. He gets his tech friend to forge an email to a minor. What about if a cop really has it in for someone, a trouble maker of the political sort. He pulls a favor and gets this guy's email address on the registry, has the guy arrested on suspicion of sending an email to a minor and you have a ruined reputation.
This is a stupid idea and further shows where the Senate and especially where John McCain's head is at.
Time to gather all your boss's email addresses.
You have that backwards. It is username+*@gmail.com. (Although technically * is an allowed character in an email address, as well.)
But, your point still stands. Are they going to allow people to register the 71^64 or so addresses?
And, what if they don't allow !#$%&'*+-/=?^_`{|}~.!#$%&'*+-/=?^_`{|}~..!#$%&'*+-/=?^_`{|}~!!!! (at) abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdefghijk.com?
If I have nothing to hide, don't search me
After the list is made, it will be leaked to everyone. Spammers will get it and use it because they know that the addresses are valid. Sex offenders will be spammed with porn and viagra emails. People will be kicked from boards, forums, newsgroups just for being on the list. Someone, somewhere will send a virus to all of those on the list. Someone will use the list and try to everything they can to set them up, ruin them financially, send threats to the president. Someone wil sign them up to all kinds of mailing lists, newsletters. Anything to protect the children.
I understand hypocrisy, but I still get surprised by it from time to time. Government officials circumvent exactly these kinds of laws (use only known emails) all the time, yet somehow expect sex offenders not to do likewise?
Have the criminals turn in each other!
Enlightenment is the elimination of that which is unnecessary.
I can just see it now on the news, that a sex offender HACKED into MySpace.com by using his eleet HACKING skills to steal free email services from hotmail.com!
--
My parents went to Slashdot and all I got was this lousy sig.
Look in some large city phone book for "McCain, John *". How many of those have a criminal record? Are any of those about sex crimes?
After reading the pdf of the law that Wired links to I found that in Section 3 part B number 5 reads:
(5) a description of policies and procedures to ensure thatâ"
(A) any individual who is denied access to that website on the basis of information obtained through the system is promptly notified of the basis for the denial and has the ability to challenge the denial of access; and
(B) if the social networking website finds that information is inaccurate, incomplete, or cannot be verified, the site immediately notifies the appropriate State registry and the Department of Justice, so that they may delete or correct that information in the respective State and national databases;
however it also includes these gems further on in Section 3:
(4) PAYMENTOFFEE.â"A social networking website
approved to use the system shall pay any fee established by
the Attorney General for use of the system.
(5) LIMITATION ON LIABILITY.â"
(A) IN GENERAL.â"A civil claim against a social networking website, including any director, officer, employee, parent, contractor, or agent of that social networking website, arising from the use by such website of the National Sex Offender Registry, may not be brought in any Federal or State court.
(B) INTENTIONAL, RECKLESS, OR OTHER MISCONDUCT.â"
Subparagraph (A) does not apply to a claim if the social networking website, or a director, officer, employee, parent, contractor, or agent of that social networking websiteâ"
(i) engaged in intentional misconduct; or
(ii) acted, or failed to actâ"
(I) with actual malice;
(II) with reckless disregard to a substantial
risk of causing injury without legal justification;
or
(III) for a purpose unrelated to the perform-
ance of any responsibility or function described
in paragraph (3).
Kinda says "don't worry you won't be prosecuted, unless if we decide to."
They of course have the gumption to stick this in at the end of Section 3:
(6) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION .â"Nothing in this section shall be construed to require any Internet website, including a social networking website, to use the system, and no Federal or State liability, or any other actionable adverse consequence, shall be imposed on such website based on its decision not
to do so.
Another example of the government saying, "You don't have to sign up... unless if you want to be labeled a bastion for child molesters and be shut down by us."
The most interesting part to me of any law though is what is added that seems irrelevant. For instance Section 4 deals with REMOVING part of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act. Specifically it makes it no longer a requirement that the tracking devices for registered offenders contain "cellular technology" nor be in a "single unit". It also does away with the requirement that tracking devices have, "two- and three-way voice communication". I am not sure if this is considered "streamlining" or not. I guess we have to wait and see who gets the grant for the new tracking devices and how much they contribute to McCain's campaign.
Sure that web-site has content.. But so does a garbage can!
As a general rule, any act that has a "cute" or "fancy" nickname is instantly a very bad one, passed only to increase one's chances of re-election or up the approval rating. They likely spend more time thinking of the bill's acronym rather than the actual bill.
This act is no different. "Ah, but what's KIDSP?" you ask. I wondered that myself, and then I saw it:
Keeping the Internet Devoid of Sexual Predators Act of 2008
KIDS' Predators Act (Apostrophe mine)
Aw, how cute. I bet they spent an hour trying to figure out how to get the apostrophe in there.
Remember, folks: A->B does not mean that !A->!B. An act can still be bad without a nice acronym, but the congresscritters make it easier to spot bad bills by adding them in.
...yet another law written by people that really don't understand the environment that the law is applicable to.
To create an ever expanding list of things that are not criminal unless you've already committed a crime.
So, you're out from something that got you on the sex offender list. You've served five years and have no inclination toward recidivism. You accidentally send an email to your mom from a friend's account extolling the virtues of Rhubarb and suddenly you're hit with twenty-years' backup time, plus a new charge adding an additional ten years for using an unregistered email address.
A friend of mine didn't get the notice a court fee didn't post and his license was suspended. So, driving four miles per hour under the limit, he got stopped and they informed him of the suspension. Welcome to fifteen years backup plus another one... for a paperwork mistake.
These laws aren't meant to keep people who truly are dangerous off the streets. They're designed to hold a de facto life sentence over anyone convicted of any crime and ensure that Corrections Corp. of America experiences perpetual "market expansion."
Myspace: Oh, by the way, are you a pervert?
Pervert: Yes.
Pervert: Wait! I meant no! No!
Myspace: Sorry.
Pervert: GOD-DAMNIT!
Bow-ties are cool.
The more stipulations that you place on sex offenders, the more incentive there is for the sex offender to simply not keep up with their registration. Individual states vary, but as far as I know, it is still up to the sex offender to provide their photo, their current address, place of employment, etc. Many simply move to another state and risk the arrest for not complying with offender registry laws. I don't think that anyone would ever stand up against more rules for sex offenders, and I think thats the point here; pick an easy target to make your enemy. But, I am unsure whether this bill would provide more or less public safety. Also, "sexual offenders" and "sexual predators" are two different things. The terms are not interchangeable.
Speaking as someone who has years of experience dealing with "the sex offender issue," I can tell you that this law (like many others proposed at the state level) will be counterproductive. Some states and the Federal Government currently have the ability to keep dangerous individuals locked up indefinitely. It's called civil commitment.
Recently, in Missouri, several state senators have begun speaking up about more intelligent legislation regarding sex offenders. The unintended consequence of having harsher laws is that they further remove an individual from society. It is that removal and isolation that prompts them to delve deeper into deviancy.
We need laws that allow for tracking, but that do not create further punishment where no more criminal acts are involved. Also, about 4-5% of "sex offenders" are the really heinous ones we hear about on the news. The other 95% are unlikely to commit another sex crime.
For more accurate information, see the article "Misunderstood Crimes" by Hal Arkowitz and Scott O. Lilienfeld, featured in Scientific American Mind, April/May 2008, page 78-9.
That the logical absurdity of the law's intention is neatly summed up in its name.
Which reminds me, how is the good old War on Terror going? Is it time to start the War on Greed yet? What about the War on Absurdity?
you had me at #!
"Keeping the Internet Devoid of Sexual Predators"
Given the description of an internet sexual predator, it will be like trying to get a fart out of a gymnasium. Is it too much to ask of some geezers making the laws to start using the tubes and pipes and internets, so as to understand what they are. Parents are the only line of defense on the internet. Email filters are a joke and may contribute to irresponsible parenting by encouraging a false sense of security.
You just can't make this stuff up.
I think this law was pushed forward by the internet spammers' lobby. I'm sure they cannot imagine a better marketing list for all their sexually deviant emails. i wonder what mccain gets out of it? perhaps a sorely needed supply of viagra?
<RADICAL-FEMINIST>
All men are rapists, and all women are innocent victims. All heterosexual sex is rape.
Didn't you get the memo?
</RADICAL-FEMINIST>
The real irony in many ways is that Niccolò Macchiavelli was actually very much a republican (as in, one who favors the republic as a form of governance :), but one who understood that the republic can falter. The New Yorker posted an interesting (and long) look at his life last month, which is worth the read for anyone interested. Machiavelli's possibly most well-known work, Il Principe , can indeed come across as archetypically "machiavellian" (as we use the term today), but reading it more closely brings to light advice to would-be rulers that they cannot be callous, ruthless bastards and expect to hold onto their jobs for very long. Some choice quotes, courtesy the linked article:
Ultimately, the current strategy in the US of criminalizing broad swaths of otherwise harmless behaviour and locking up everyone who disagrees with the movers and shakers is pretty far from Machiavelli's advice to would-be rulers, given the mounting discontent this generates. Machiavelli actually comes across a bit as an old-school Taoist (in terms of Lao-zi, not Zhuang-zi) -- keep the people fat, happy, and dumb, and they will be easy to rule. Pissing them off and depriving them of common liberties left and right just isn't a smart move.
Cheers,
"What in the name of Fats Waller is that?"
"A four-foot prune."
I would pay sex offenders to register certain e-mail addresses as their own.
It is the perfect way to take revenge against people, destroy their social networking and establish a link between their e-mail address and sex offender.
Change is certain; progress is not obligatory.
So why not work with ISPs, log their IP Addresses, and prohibit them to visit web proxy sites? Sure there are work around like going to Starbucks and using their internet, but it seems like a more solid plan than the honor system.
From a Press Release on McCain's senate.gov website
Don't forget that the Democrats are the majority in congress.
This couldn't have passed without some donkeys signing off on this.
Does it also imply that a registered sex offender who does not have an email address is required to get one so he can register?
I wonder how many .gov addresses will be listed?
... for every site I sign up to. What if a convicted sex-offender did the same thing?
now we need to go OSS in diesel cars
... that gets CmdrTaco's email address added?
now we need to go OSS in diesel cars
So the registered sex-offender just gives them " *@hotsexydaddylovingyou.com " or " anyname@hotsexydaddylovingyou.com ". But given that the law requires a zero knowledge exchange, they might end up using SHA1 checksums of the email addresses. They would have to understand and know about this possibility as part of the protocol so that the site doing the lookup provides the checksum of the whole email, as well as the checksum of just the domain name. The latter would match if the pedo gave one of the forms recognized as any user name in the domain. But what if all they own is a pattern? The case of "+" as a separator in Gmail is one example. But other mail servers and provider, if they offer that, might be using some other character instead. My server is configured to use "-" for that (not "+"). Others might be doing it differently. And what about subdomains? What about " freecandy@themost.hostsexydaddylovingyou.com " being used? They are going to need to have someone really smart about this at the AG's office to make sure this system works right. Do you really think people that wear ties for a living can accomplish that?
And that's assuming the pedos are going to be both honest and thorough.
now we need to go OSS in diesel cars
Am I missing something here? It's not like they can't just open a new webmail address to circumvent the law. Just ask Sarah Palin.
Fortunately, that cop didn't give me a ticket for pissing in the bushes at college, so I won't have to register by 100+ email addresses.
Basically, I setup a new alias for every company that I deal with ... Zero spam to my personal account, but I was surprised how much spam my microcenter.com alias got. At the first SPAM, I comment out the alias and never see any spam again AND I know which company didn't protect my private information.
Another trick is to use aliases with "SPAM" in the real name. Spammers seem to search for this and remove it ... causing whatever msgs they send to bounce.
No, I don't need viagra guys.
An obvious technical solution is to define a set of variants that must be searched for e-mail addresses. If someone registering owns a whole domain, they should be required to register the domain. If someone signs up as "joe+one@example.com", the social networking site could then be obligated to check for:
joe+one@example.com
joe@example.com
example.com
Problem "solved".
The legislation, introduced by Senators Schumer and McCain, would require convicted sex offenders to register their email addresses and Internet information with law enforcement, enabling web sites to actively track and expel child predators from their sites.
Notice that it doesn't say it was exclusively sponsored by Schumer and McCain.
Hmmm. On the one hand, pedo's having to post their email address - any question that the registry won't be picked up for spamming?
On the other hand, a database of known child rapers? How long until child porn operations target them? Three seconds? Two? One?
On the gripping hand, let's look at who is a "sex offender". People that urinate in public (EG: side of the road in the bushes) are rated as a "Sex Offender" in Texas. Gee, go in the bushes, and get tagged as a "Sex Offender".
Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.
Wait...that's introduce, not sponsor. Nevermind.
The sort of person who has demonstrated at least once that they're willing to assault someone with a deadly weapon not in self defense is a violent sort of person who could well do it again. Yet, assault with a deadly weapon isn't an automatic life sentence without parole, and so some potentially dangerous people are released, and yes, some of these people subsequently assault another person. We make tradeoffs between protecting society and locking everyone up all the time.
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
anyone notice that the bill is called: KIDSPA
awesome.
Let's examine the last part of this shall we?
What is so special about computers and pornography?
How about we also include other entries to vilify baselessly through connection with child abuse.
Public roads used: yes
Oh you use the interstate? *whisper*it's probably one of those perverts, you know the ones, get steph up to her room*whisper*
Late Model Automobile used: yes
Briefcase used: Yes
Designer Suit used: yes
Perscription eyeglasses used: yes
Now instead of vilifying computer geeks, suddenly every corporate executive, doctor, and lawyer will be eyed as a potential threat to the innocence of your child.
For another, quite realistic example:
Cross used: Yes
Collar used: Yes
Communion wafers used: Yes
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Well one would hope that the law would have registration requirement, so that offenders would be required to register each new address.
Also, one would hope that the law would make it a crime to falsely register an address.
I have yet to read the law, but this is exactly what I thought when I saw this headline.
If it's not in the bill already, it will be passed later when enough famous people and government officials end up on this list.
Then, you can say goodbye to those pesky email leaks which continuously stymie the corrupt efforts of: wall street officials, lobbying firms, the alphabet organizations, congressmen, and many, many more!
With the baby, they're also tossing out a puppy too: the numerous small, independent domains used by individual web publishers and small-scale boutique email providers.
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In game theory this is sometimes referred to as the "asking the drunk whether he's drunk" strategy. It works about as well as could be expected.
decades of "get tough" cheap politics have done little to make people safer, have run up huge bills
They aren't losing money. It's cheap prison slave labor. They're just exploiting the loophole in the 13th Amendment. Why do you think the US has far and away the largest prison population in the world? It isn't accidental.
"The problem with sex offenders is that no matter what kind of rehab/psych treatments the offender gets, they do not change their sexual preferences"
1) Not all sex offenders are what you are thinking of (others have pointed it out)
2) So but do they reoffend? This is a nerd site, let's have some evidence.
Not a reliable source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_offender#Recidivism_rates
But even if they reoffend, robbers and violent people reoffend too (arguably at higher rates), they're not locked up forever.
You still give them another chance. Even if they keep doing it again.
I'd rather live in a society that's civilized enough to give people another chance, rather than lock them up forever, or execute them.
If rehabilitation doesn't work (maybe the rehab methods are broken? Fix them then) and they keep proving themselves dangerous then lock them up longer (you don't have to torture them - just lock them up), rather than put them on stupid lists.
3) So what if they don't change their sexual preferences?
The last I checked not every guy rapes girls they are attracted to, not every guy has consensual sex with another man's wife/girlfriend just because they are attracted to each other.
What are you going to do? Jail them for thought crime?
They're already jailing people for possessing child porn.
In some places adultery is illegal (I'm sure that includes parts of the USA), so maybe they should start jailing people for having movies of that AND get turned on by watching it.
Maybe they'll jail you one day and put you on a sex offender list because you were undressing a woman with your eyes, against her will.
Or jail and list your son because he had this silly app on his phone that fakes "undressing a woman" given a photo.
I interpreted that as person used computer to contact child, and also had underage pornagraphy. I suppose noting person tried to screw a stranger instead of a family member is kind of relevant.
I interpreted that as person used computer to contact child, and also had underage pornagraphy. I suppose noting person tried to screw a stranger instead of a family member is kind of relevant.
The fact that he used a car could be relevant too.
This would indicate whether he operates close to home, or whether your child is not at any risk at all because he doesn't feel comfortable operating there.
Clearly he'd want a late model. Any chance of breaking down with a kidnapped child would be rather calamitous, right?
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http://www.sltrib.com/News/ci_10592897
http://www.4shared.com/dir/9534755/19d8052b/sharing.html
Read this case Decided weeks prior to the KIDS Act being signed into law, addressing the State of Utah's version of the law. It is UNCONSTITUTIONAL!!!! It will be fought, just the same as it was in the State of Utah...
You cannot search through someone's personal papers or communications without a warrant, issued by a judge, or "unmask" their identity in anonymous internet speech with proof that a crime has been committed or is being commited by a certain INDIVIDUAL.
Additionally, according to the decision of the Federal Judge in Utah sex offenders do not forfiet thier rights to protected anonymous online speech as a result of thier convictions, PERIOD!!!
Well this sounds like a great idea and I am all for keeping people safe from sexual predators but I do not believe this system can function properly unless all of those who must register will be honest and do so. Unfortunately as someone mentioned there is nothing to prevent someone from registering their email address in the registry and then turning around and getting a free email account with a false name. Probably these online sexual predators are using false names anyway. I think that in addition to such a registry, this country needs to fight this problem by discussing the dangers of online social networking in classrooms and demonstrating to the children what kinds of scenarios take place, in much the same way that educational movies on television show how a potential kidnapper says he needs help finding his dog or your mom asked me to pick you up from school so that children will recognize these ploys and learn to stay away from them. Kids think the online social programs are all fun and games and "everyone" is on there and doing that but popular as it is, it is a very bad idea to get mixed up with people you do not know personally. I do not have anything against those sites and they have many good uses. There are many people I know who I am staying in touch with through those sites and I would have lost touch a long time ago if they did not exist so they are good sites. But like anything good there can be a bad side to it and crazy people victimizing our children are ruining it for everybody. That is why the problem needs to be fought through the education system and by teaching the children how to avoid becoming victims. Being that this country spends the most on education in the world and ranks in the toilet in terms of our students' test scores, I think some of that money should be taken away from wherever it goes right now and instead they should invest a little bit of it to teach the kids about the dangers of going on to the online social networking sites and talking to weird strangers over there, as it were. I am putting together this new website and this last sentence will be a shameless plug for it. Right now it is about the upcoming election but I think this subject of social networking and the dangers of it should be documented over there too, as it were. The page is at this location over here. Thanks for reading my long rant. See sometimes the government tries to solve a problem with the best of intentions but they are not the best qualified to solve the problem. See sexual predators will sign up their email to the registry and then get a free email to work around it. Solution? Regulate free email. That will cause some new problem. Solution? Regulate that too. Sooner or later there will be so many regulations that we won't be able to fart without breaking a law somewhere. Instead sure keep the registry it's a good idea but also teach the children through education how to avoid becoming victims. Education and knowledge are the best power.
Hey folks, you know what's really funny? Is that a 12 people can be convinced that someone is guilty of a sex offense simply on the basis of an accusation. Why do I say this? Oh gee, could that really happen? YES! It happened to me and yes I am "registered".
I dated a girl for a few weeks and dumped her for a girl who used to be her best friend. To make a long story short, the girl was so jealous and pissed off about the whole thing first she tried to ruin the relationship. When that didn't work, she went to the to the cops and told them some fucked up cock and bull story and claimed that I tried to rape her when she was wasted (a year prior to her report of the alleged crime!!!). When they asked her about her "delay" she said she was "confused" because "we were friends".
Well my friends (as that cock sucker McCain likes to say), that's all it took. From the word go, the cops and the court treated me like a drooling pervert who was hiding in the bushes ready to jump on prepubescent children (though the alleged "victim" was of consensual age).
I didn't have a chance in hell of being found innocent despite the fact that I truly was. I was simply railroaded. I was charged in late 1999, went to trial (while on bond) in 2000, found guilty, spent 18 months of a 3 year mandatory miniumum (out of a possible 15 year maximum) and my conviction was overturned pending further investigation and I was released from prison. I then spent 22 months on GPS monitored house arrest. The courts found unfavorably in my appellate matter (because they didn't want to set a precedent to actually give a defendant accused of a sexual crime his due process rights and presumed innocence)and sent me back to prison and I ended up doing 2 more years. As a result of the so called "justice" system I lost a promising career as a network administrator and IT project manager.
When I was paroled from prison I was barred from computer use and could not have an verbal or physical contact with children and not allowed to use a computer for 2 years despite the fact the allegation involved neither a child or a computer.
All of you motherfuckers who have this "hang em high" mentality are the same type of mental midgets who sent this innocent man to prison. I lost EVERYTHING I ever worked for and I'll never get it back, and it's all because fools like McCain and all of these other sensless idiots are so god damn gung ho to "hang em high" with no facts to support their agendas. The truth of the matter is, NONE of these laws against "sex offenders" work. If someone has made up their mind that they want to act out criminally no law is going to stop them from doing it.
I am sick the fuck to death of these idiots in congress and the "justice" system coming up with more and more ways to effectively change the sentence I was already given and DONE serving (FOR A CRIME THAT NEVER OCCURRED IN THE FIRST PLACE).
The lawmakers and "justice" system continuously look for new ways to disenfranchise those who are registered. And believe me my friends, these actions do not foster warm fuzzy feelings in a "registered" individual. These actions push these people further to the fringes of society and make them more crazy than they'd ever be if they were just left alone. What incentive is there for these individuals to change or seek help when society sends them the message that they are worthless outcasts, and 3rd class citizens with no rights? Or continuously diminishing rights?
The bottom line is, if these motherfuckers are so dangerous, why in the fuck would you ever let them out of jail or prison in the first fucking place?!?!?!?! If these bastards really want to do something about REAL sex offenders (who's crimes can actually be PROVEN FACTUALLY) why don't they INCREASE the penalties to keep them off the streets (instead of coming up with USELESS garbage legislation like this).
Signed,
"Registered and Fed Up"
I saw a TV program recently that suggested monogamy is actually a sexual perversion in the animal kingdom (it's rare).
I wonder how much justification there is for the idea that it's natural for some (not me anway) men to want to rape or be promiscuous (moreso than women, say).
If some men are rape-prone, then perhaps our justice system(s) can be seen as a eugenics program.
Are we sure this was supported by Senator J. McCain and not Senator R. Kelly?
... but how many of them can afford staff to do it for them and also have a heap of other stuff to do they regard as more important (like being a senator and presidential candidate)?
I'm no McCain fan, but the "can't use email" thing isn't much of a criticism. The reality is that he doesn't need to.
http://marriedmansexlife.com/
one of the questionsyou had to answer on a form before entering the US:
"Do you have any intentions to make any terrorist acts while on US soil?"
That really helped stopping alot of terrorists, didn't it? Yeah lets use that again...
Why is that a crime when you shouldn't have been arrested in the first place?
If you aren't in court for the act they arrested you for, resisting arrest shouldn't be there.
"I'm not trying to defend child molesters here; that is probably one of the worst crimes imaginable. I'm just saying that just because you're a registered sex offender, it does not always mean you're a kiddy porn hungry pervert."
It is also ridiculous to assume that people who view child pornography always molest children. The only study which found a significant correlation was withdrawn from peer review; the researchers admitted that a sample bias prevented the study from being applicable to the general population of child pornography viewers.
Most people who view child pornography are likely to have a sexual preference for children, whereas most child molesters do not have a sexual preference for children*. Suggesting that someone is automatically a danger to children for using child pornography, especially if they have not encouraged further production by paying or trading, is absurd.
* Occurrence of Paedophilia in Contact Child Sex Offenders
"To the future or to the past, to a time when thought is free" ~ Nineteen Eighty-Four
You are only supposed to register AFTER being convicted of being a sex offender. So they already did harm (wether the setup works is another discussion).
So basically you want to sell to the public that this will harm honest child rapists. Hmmm, good luck. Send me a note when you are going to pitch this idea on the streets. I want to be on a different continent when that shit hits the fan.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
I think most sensible people agree that a child rapist has only one right. A last meal. End of story.
Clearly this person is a sex offender. Sadly the label has been applied to WAY to many offenses that are not as serious.
Rape is the insertion of a penis into a vagina against either person's will. So anal sex does NOT count. Neither does female on female rape. Male on male rape. Oral rape.
Peeing in public (it is not pissing against a building that gets you labelled) could be considered camoflage for exposing yourself. Most normal people would go into the bushes and I never been hassled over that even with police on foot passing by. Going against buildings is just jucky and I suggest the police taser people who do that. In an exposed body part to ensure the darts hit skin.
But to be serious, the problem with this type of discussion is that there are two elements to it. What do you label as a sex offender and then what do wish to be done to them. A child rapist obviously deserves anything they get, someone who took a naked picture of themselves for their own use doesn't deserve the same fate.
But you can't discuss the punishment of crime X unless you make clear what crime X exactly is. Sadly, few politicians seem willing to hold both discussions at once.
Ideally we should get rid of the term sex offender and just label people with exactly the crime they committed. If you are going down for peeing against a building you get labelled for that. Nothing more, nothing less. No sex offender list, just a criminal offender list with every crime listed and action taken that is needed for each crime.
For instance a person who exposes himself to kids and that is all and a shrink is willing to bet his life on it can be let into society, just be barred from being near kids un-supervised. A child rapist is kept locked up, comfortably but forever. No "one size fits all" lists or solutions. Deal with each case on its own. But of course it would make it harder to make catchy headlines from an act called "label each crime seperately and create unique measures to deal with the criminals of each crime to ensure the right and correct punishement and future prevention of said crime being repeated."
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
There is no hope in hell of enforcing a law like this. 'nuff said!
Ruby Neural Evolution of Augmenting Topologies
If you think cheap asian labour is a threat, how would you compete against slaves? Just hope they don't move into the same line of business as you.
We've had outsourcing and offshoring, what would that be - inmatesourcing?
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
"recidivism rates"
There are lies, there are damn lies and then there are statistics. recidivism rates is a statistic even the devil himself would be loathe to utter. It is the ULTIMATE lie.
We know that the majority of crime goes UNSOLVED, worse for sex crimes most even go UNREPORTED.
Yet what does "recidivism rates" measure, the number of times one of the rarely REPORTED and CAUGHT and CONVICTED offenders if REPORTED and CAUGHT and CONVICTED again WITHIN a LIMITED period of time in the SAME JURISDICTION and THE SAME DATABASE!
recidivism rates is actually pretty damn high, depending on who you believe. The majority of criminals do NOT re-offend. They are CAUGHT re-offending, CONVICTED for it and then this act is RECORDED and COUNTED.
If you know anything about the legal system and the database systems they use you know why "recidivism rates" are such a joke.
Roughly speaking, it is like concluding that if I catch you once in London and then ten years later I look in the same street and don't see you, you are in a space colony on mars.
There is one very important thing to remember when looking at recidivism rates. Who reports them? People involved in the BILLION DOLLAR industry of "curing" criminals. This industry is GIGANTIC. Yet they have no proof their methods work because you can't proof innocence. All that person who has been released who isn't RECONVICTED shows is that they haven't been re-convicted. NOT that they haven't committed any crimes.
The politcians don't help either, crime prevention is expensive. Just shoving them out of the door is a lot less expensive, well in the short-term anyway.
Robert Martinson committed suicide after claiming "nothing works" on the subject of rehabbilitation. This is not a popular theory but so far no real evidence has been shown to counter his conclusion.
The simple fact is that if you travel a lot you see different systems. I am familiar with the very light Dutch system and we got organised crime. The japanese got a very strict but 'fair' system and they got organised crime. The americans got a very hard system and they got organised crime. The chinese shoot anyone who crosses the line and they got organised crime.
Racial tensions? France, holland, england, america, russia. Different countries with different attitudes and all had race riots.
The simple fact might be that yes, a child rapists and many other types of offenders might indeed not be safe to ever release. Good luck with that. The left can't accept the idea that some people are just not for to be in society and the right won't want to pay the taxes to deal with this.
Much easier to just release them on the street, in poor areas were nobody votes anyway. Note how NO half-way houses are EVER constructed in well to do areas.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
Since I run my own mail server, if I were subject to this, I would write a script that generates 20 million email addresses, and register them all at once:
xzcve546dc@[mydomain]
hjghjedf43@[mydomain]
.
.
.
nbmbttyrtt@[mydomain]
I would do this for each and every domain name I own. The registry would have 100 million registered email addresses for me alone. Hell, I would register a few extra domains just out of spite (they're cheap).
Just another indication that McCain is not ready for the national spotlight. Keeping the Internet Devoid of Sexual Predators Act of 2008? KIDSPA ?
Just what sort of mixed message does that send?
Real Republican leaders produce acts with clear acronyms, like PATRIOT. Something ain't right with McCain.
Phiwum's law: anyone that names an obvious law after himself and then puts it in his own sig is just pathetic.
Funny too the political pundits on here are already blaming McCain or someone for this. It's everyone in there people. Has nothing at all to do with party affiliation unless you are looking to find out Who voted this in.
Funny too as Congress just doesn't get it. Stupids. All the perps have to do is open another anonymous email account somewhere and go right in to facebook and where ever. Sheesh. When are these politicians going to grow up??
All content in this message is copyright (c) 2008. All rights reserved. RIAA is prohibited here.
Oh yeah,
It would need an exception for anonymous emailing directed at adults.
I've been in development for 20yrs, and I love busted ideas from the C-level.
They come so fraught with issues.
And the dance continues,
Perhaps the best legislation would be to allow hunting licenses to bag a certain amount of predators a month.
The importance of raising our posterity to maturity unmolested far outweighs the rights of predators to draw breath. It isn't like we'd be killing humans anyway, only a mutant strain that pretend humanity. Kind of like weeding a garden.
I kinda like the idea of having heads mounted over my fireplace with placards noting their offenses toward humans. There could even be entertaining hunting shows; " Today on Ped hunting,Ted Nugent hunts Child predators in the greater Detroit area with a 12 gauge".
*Repent!Quit Your Job!Slack Off!The World Ends Tomorrow and You May Die!
that after someone has served their time, they shouldn't go on being punished for it.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
As the kids would say, sounds like "epic lulz" for Anonymous, if there's no control against adding email addresses to such lists.
"To pass through the jungle; silence, courtesy, ferocity, as the occasion demands." -- Kamau, "Proper Passage"
You make it sound like that was an unintended side effect rather than one of the main points.
Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.
.
So you will simply go on believing what you want to believe?
Each entry on the New York State registry includes a detailed summary of the offender's record and an assessment of the risk he presents.
The database can be searched by county and zip code. Why not open up a page and put your theory to the test?