by Cyrus Farivar
Starting August 1, a new Louisiana state law will require sex offenders to disclose their status on social networks. But in theory, that shouldn't be necessary: Facebook and other social networks’ existing policies already forbid registered sex offenders from creating accounts.
"I don't want to leave in the hands of social network or Facebook administrators, 'Gee, I hope someone is telling the truth,'" State Rep. Jeff Thompson told CNN Tuesday. "This is another tool for prosecutors."
The new bill, formally known as Act 385, was signed into law by Gov. Bobby Jindal earlier this month.
“[A sex offender] shall include in his profile for the networking website an indication that he is a sex offender or child predator and shall include notice of the crime for which he was convicted, the jurisdiction of conviction, a description of his physical characteristics as required by this Section, and his residential address,” the law states.
“The person shall ensure that this information is displayed in his profile for the networking website and that such information is visible to, or is able to be viewed by, other users and visitors of the networking website.”
But if actual sex offenders do follow this law, it seems that they’d be asking Facebook to pull down their accounts pretty quickly. The new law comes on the heels of an overbroad state law that was struck down, and aimed to forbid sex offenders from using social media entirely.
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Louisiana sex offenders must identify themselves on Facebook
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1 comment:
Excluding sex offenders from social media sites, a preliminary step to excluding them from the entire internet, only makes it increasingly difficult for them to re-integrate into society. And this is AFTER they've paid their debt. If you want to guarantee they can never be a productive citizen again, this is certainly the path to take.
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