The British government wants to bar convicted
pedophiles from using social networking Web sites such as Facebook,
the Home Office said Friday.
The plan involves forcing sex offenders to give any e-mail
address they use to police, who will then ask the Web sites to
block their access, said Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, whose
department is in charge of law enforcement.
Smith said the proposal is aimed at sending out the message that
the Internet is "not a no-go area when it comes to law
enforcement."
"We are changing the law ... so that we have got better control
over the way in which child sex offenders are able to use the
Internet," Smith said on GMTV.
The government wants to prevent pedophiles from using social
networking Web sites to groom children to be sexual abuse victims,
according to the Home Office.
Under the proposed legislation, it would be a crime punishable
by up to five years in prison for a convicted child sex offender to
use an e-mail address that has not been registered with police, a
Home Office spokesman said on condition of anonymity in line with
government policy.
However, the government acknowledges it has yet to work out the
details of how the plan would work.
The proposal faces many hurdles, including the fact that anyone
can instantly create a new e-mail address online and that Facebook,
MySpace and most other popular social networking sites are based
outside Britain.
In addition to the new proposal, British police already have a
range of means to monitor and assess the threat convicted sex
offenders pose over the Internet, including obtaining warrants to
search convicted pedophiles' home to make a risk assessment, the
spokesman said.
The legislation is expected to be put before parliament by the
end of the year and will apply to the more than 30,000 sex
offenders already on the register as well as any convicted later,
the Home Office said.
Fonte: AP US & WorldFriday
