U.K. Wants To Ban Pedophiles From Facebook

(AP)  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.

[ajaxtheleast]

Give them "BUTTBOOK" and a pair of

ORAL SOCKS that will sense when he strays

from the BUTTBAND BROADBAND and will warn

the pedophile that if he doesn''t return to

the BUTTBAND BROADBAND THAT ORAL SOCKS has

the capability of reporting him to the law.

Then we will know where they are.

[ranger1948]

What would stop them from using someone elses computer and their name. They should pass a law banning them from computer use completely. The right punishment would be a death sentence but they do not have that in the U.K.

[michellem99-2009]

Yes UK..They who prey on children,the seniors,handicapped..NEED TO BE STOPPED. It is hard to stop but can be done. There has to be a way to block/flag them nasty sites in America and UK. I HATE PREDITORS..mark them *** sites in away we are aware of. I an legally blind. I an the sole user on computer in the home and I pay for my isp.

[rf35]

Sounds like a good idea on the surface, but it''s unenforceable. Like loublain said, you can get an e-mail address in about 2 minutes if your connection is slow and once you complete registration on the "social networking" site, shut it down.

[bgwinnett]

Like banning them is going to stop them. Hang em high!

[loublain]

the thought may be noble but the understanding of the internet is idiotic. the universal accessibility of throw away e-mail addresses, anonymizing (masking) software, public wifi hotspots, and hdsd memory chips that hold 8GB in a postage stamp sized container, make home searches and computer searches meaningless. lots of police tape and gents in uniform are real crowd pleasers, but parents asking why my kid is sitting in front of a computer a 2am might save more kids. put your home computer in your family room. no adult present no computer

[godseyesore-2009]

US should do so too.