A New York appeals court dismissed the indictment Thursday of a one-legged sex offender who did not register his Facebook account with the state. Full Article Decision
Read MoreTag: Social Media
New lawsuit may provide access to social media
[floridaactioncommittee.org] Although the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that States cannot restrict a registered sex offender’s access to social media (Packingham v. North Carolina, 582 U.S. ___ (2017)), nothing has stopped social media companies, such as Facebook or Twitter, from restricting sex offenders from their platforms. A lawsuit filed last week may change that! Jared Taylor is the founder of the Virginia-based New Century Foundation – a white supremacist organization that was banned from Twitter because of new rules aimed at reducing abusive content. Although we don’t agree…
Read MoreKY: Committee hears sex offender’s social media bill
[ocmonitor.com] FRANKFORT, Ky. — A bill on sex offender’s use of social media was approved today by the Senate Judiciary Committee. House Bill 70 is trying to clarify and revise Kentucky’s restrictions on internet access for registered sex offenders. Sponsor Rep. Joseph M. Fischer, R-Fort Thomas, said he introduced the measure after a unanimous decision by U.S. Supreme Court in June of last year struck down a similar North Carolina ban. He explained that HB 70 is an attempt to narrowly tailor Kentucky’s statutes as to meet the new judicial…
Read MoreNotes from the Handbasket: neighborly behavior, NextDoor
[handbasketnotes.blogspot.com] NextDoor, a private social network for neighborhoods, is a popular means of letting neighbors know if you have a washer and dryer to sell or if you want to buy a camper. NextDoor lets people ask for plumber recommendations and post information about crime in the area. A handy app for the neighborly…unless your address is on the sex offender registry. No one who lives at a registered address is allowed to join NextDoor. Not the registrant, not the spouse. No one at that address. Read more
Read MoreNC: First Amendment woes in North Carolina
As most VC readers know, First Amendment law is dominated by a single question, the 800-pound constitutional gorilla that’s always in the room: What “level of scrutiny” will the court apply to the challenged government action? How much will it demand from the government by way of justification for whatever it was that it did? How high will it set the bar? … I’ve said it many times before — these sex offender cases are of the deepest importance, not because of any special concern we might have for convicted…
Read MoreNC: Supreme Court bars registered sex offenders from some social media sites
RALEIGH – The N.C. Supreme Court has upheld a state law prohibiting registered sex offenders from using Facebook or other social networking sites that minors can join. In the split opinion issued Friday, the justices reversed an N.C. Court of Appeals ruling that found the 2008 law too broad and vague, and therefore unconstitutional. Full Article
Read MoreNJ: Trying to Ban Sex Offenders from Social Media Is a Waste of Time
New Jersey has become the latest state to try to regulate how (and if) sex offenders can use social media, an increasingly tricky problem facing legislators around the country. But privacy experts say the laws are problematic, and probably unconstitutional. The proposed bill would require all sex offenders in New Jersey to disclose the fact on all of their social media accounts. A similar measure was introduced, but not passed, last year. The measure has been pre-filed for the 2014 legislative session. Donna Simon, an assemblywoman who sponsored the bill, said anyone caught violating the law,…
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