Indiana AG Pushes Sex Offender Web Ban

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Plan Aims To Keep Offenders Off Certain Sites

INDIANAPOLIS -- Convicted sex offenders' access to certain types of Web sites would be regulated under a plan brought forth Friday by Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter.

Legislators and Carter are crafting legislation that would ban sex offenders from using social networking sites, chat rooms or instant messaging programs that also allow minors on their sites.

Proactive enforcement of such a regulation would likely be difficult, given the relative anonymity of the Internet, but if the proposal becomes law, it could be used to mount additional charges against anyone arrested in an Internet-related child sex crime.

"The Internet is a powerful communication tool that is being exploited by convicted sex offenders who have found cyberspace a convenient avenue for hiding their identity from young people," Carter said in a release. "Indiana must be proactive in establishing laws that address this type of deceitful behavior by convicted felons."

The proposal would make it a Class D felony for a convicted sex offender to use social networking sites, chat rooms or instant messaging programs frequented by minors.

The offense would be a Class C felony if the offender contacted a child or was previously convicted.

A survey conducted by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children indicated that as many as one in seven people between the ages of 10 and 17 has gotten unwanted sexual solicitations online in which contact was attempted in person, over the phone or through the mail.

As many as a third of children with Internet access has been exposed to unwanted sexual material on the Web, the survey concluded.

Carter's office said four states already have laws regulating sex offenders' access to social networking sites.

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