Texas Bill Requires Sex Offenders to Register Gamertags
A thousand yards away means from VIRTUAL high schools too buddy.
The Texas House of Representatives is considering a bill that could force sex offenders to register their online gaming names with authorities. This comes in the wake of a dramatic increase in arrests of adults attempting (and succeeding) to meet minors over services such as Xbox Live.
“As HB 22 is currently written, the measure would seem to encompass online gaming venues such as Xbox Live, PlayStation Home and Second Life. However, no specific reference to online gaming appears in the bill, which has cleared committee but has not yet been taken up on the House floor.
In fact, a stricter interpretation of HB22 might preclude sex offenders from places like XBL and SL entirely. That’s because the bill bars sex offenders from using the Internet to access commercial social networking sites. Such a prohibition which might reasonably be extended to encompass the increasingly prominent social aspects of online gaming venues.”
It’s interesting to note that this bill might actually be able to bar offenders from these communities permanently. With Facebook and MySpace already purging sex offenders from their books, logic does follow that communities like Second Life and Xbox Live might be next.
[via GamePolitics]
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Interesting turn of events here, Paul. As a crime and justice journalist I watch with fascination how lawmakers try to keep up with sex offenders and their ever increasing use of the internet as a hunting ground. I’ll be interested to know if this bill in Texas actually passes.
The biggest problem with trying to track EVERYONE on a sex registry list is that there are lots of people on those lists who don’t really belong. Included, a lot of young people who had to register after having sex with another teen, mentally ill who are coaxed into one time sex with underage prostitutes and ex-spouses who were falsely accused of abusing their kids during ugly divorces.
I fear that not until we get that much needed sex registry in order will we stop spinning our wheels on all the other stuff!
Yeah you’re right on about the sex offender registry. A buddy of mine got on it because he drunkenly peed in a bush at some house he was passing by and the cops saw him. And I’ve heard tons of those stories about the sixteen year old guy having sex with his fifteen and nine months year old girlfriend and ending up facing felony charges.
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