PA - Pennsylvania's Megan's Law mandate unfairly punishes offenders, court rules

Original Article

10/14/2014

By Peter Hall

Some of Pennsylvania's latest sex offender registration requirements run afoul of a constitutional ban on laws that create new penalties for people who have already paid for their crimes, the Commonwealth Court has ruled.

The panel of seven Commonwealth Court judges also found, however, that requiring sex offenders to reveal their email addresses and other online aliases is not a violation of the First Amendment right to anonymous speech.

_____, convicted in 2001 of sexual assault, had already served his prison sentence and probation when the fourth revision of Pennsylvania's version of Megan's Law, named the Sexual Offender Registration and Notification Act, took effect in 2012.

_____ argued that the revisions to Megan's Law were so much more punitive than the earlier version of the law that they violated provisions in the state and federal constitutions that prevent states from imposing tougher penalties for crimes than were in place when they were committed.

He also argued that the new requirement to provide information about his online identities violated his right to anonymous online speech because his crime did not involve a minor on the Internet.

_____, 63, was convicted in Montgomery County Court of drugging and sexually assaulting a woman at a suburban Philadelphia restaurant. His attorney, Burton A. Rose of Philadelphia, had not read the decision and declined to comment. State police officials were unavailable to comment.

In an opinion for the unanimous panel, Judge Renee Cohn Jubelirer rejected _____'s claims with regard to a majority of the new registration requirements, including mandates to appear in person to register four times a year and to provide extensive personal information, palm prints and DNA samples, plus advance notice of international travel.

Jubelirer wrote that each of those requirements is related to public safety and not intended as a punishment.

Failure to comply with the requirements is a felony punishable by a five-year prison sentence, according to the opinion.

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MO - Making money off sex offender information

Original Article

10/05/2014

By Garrett Bergquist

NEW BLOOMFIELD - How much money would you pay to know if any sex offenders live in your area?

Santa Barbara, Calif.-based Kids Live Safe charges its subscribers $29.97 per month, or $59.88 per year, to tell them where registered sex offenders live in relation to their houses, schools or other places they frequent. Users can set up email alerts for up to four addresses, install filters to monitor their children's online activity, and create profiles of their children to give to law enforcement if their children ever disappear.

Here's the catch: The sex offender information Kids Live Safe provides at cost can be accessed for free through the Missouri State Highway Patrol's website.

Detective Tom O'Sullivan, of the Boone County Sheriff's Department, said state and federal law require anyone who commits a sex crime to register as a sex offender. The registry includes a description of the person and their vehicle, where they live and work and what crime they committed. Missouri law requires the Highway Patrol to make such information available through its website at no cost.

Kids Live Safe representatives turned down multiple requests to speak on the record for this story. A company representative reached by phone said the subscription pays for tools government-run online databases cannot provide, such as the email alerts and filtering software.

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FL - Child porn suspect arrested after tip from Google in court

Original Article

See the video at the link above. The video below is from a different reporter but is about the same story.

02/12/2014

By Chris McGrath

WEST PALM BEACH - A Boynton Beach man made his first appearance in court, days after police arrested him on child porn charges on a tip from Google.

_____, 47, is accused of possessing more than 50 images of explicit child pornography of underage boys engaged in sexual activity.

Police said the initial tip came from Google after _____ sent pictures in an email.

_____' attorney, Michael Salnick, declined to comment specifically on the case, including the role Google played in his client's arrest.

Critics argue it is an invasion of privacy.

Palm Beach County state attorney Dave Aronberg told WPBF 25 News that websites like Google and Yahoo are critical crime-fighting tools.

"We work with Internet providers, within the law, to get the information to make sure we're protecting children on the Internet," Aronberg said.

Aronberg's office has a team dedicated to prosecuting cases involving online sex abuse.

"This isn't the first case and won't be the last case where we work with Google, Yahoo (and) Internet service providers to catch predators before they accomplish their mission," Aronberg said.