UK Propose Registering Screen Names with Police 282
Oxygen99 writes "In a series of kneejerk suggestions following this online rape plot, the UK Home Secretary, Dr John Reid has suggested that offenders on the Sex Offenders Register should register their online identities with the police. According to a home office spokesman this means that offenders, 'online identities would be treated in exactly the same way as their real name'. So, just how misguided is this and who's going to be the first to tell him?"
Re:actually... (Score:4, Interesting)
Golly gosh, what a surprise! (Score:3, Interesting)
Are the the US and UK only capable of passing laws that pile more restrictions and harsher punishments on sex offenders?
It's become such an easy gimmick for politicians and legislators. In the US at least, politicians can sit on their hands and do nothing for years on end as long as they push forward a few new anti-sex-offender laws right before election, and the public applauds. The laws don't even have to be effective, or even enforceable. If the public hears about any single sex-crime in a nation of 300 million people, then there is a cry for harsher punishments, more restrictions, more databases, more cops posing as 14 year old girls online, more internet surveillance, more ex post facto laws, and less freedom for us all.
Many of the laws are shamefully overbroad. Keeping some guy who got caught peeing in the bushes or leering after a 16 year old girl from living within city limits does nothing to protect the community. Effectively ending some college students life because he downloaded some naked picture of a child off of Kazaa isn't helping.
There are millions of children in the US who are without healthcare or living in severe poverty. Yet everyone is much more concerned about those scary child predators lurking on Myspace. The 24/7 attention each sexual-related case receives in the media make sex-offenses seem like a huge problem, but is it really worth all of the panic and expenditure of law enforcement resources?
Sex-offenses have turned out to be the perfect tool to distract the public from any other issues. It's just so easy to beat up on a group that no one is willing to defend.
Interesting idea (Score:2, Interesting)
Sex offenders here in the States are required to register where they live.
Some states require that they inform their employer.
If they do require this registry it may stop one rape.
The issue I have with it...
there are multiple people out there in the www that have the same screen name.
The only way I think this would work is the have the Government assign a screen name and
not allow anybody to select one.
Ok you can slap me for that comment, it was a BAD idea.
Another thing is each government body declares what a sex offender is.
Some states require registration for having sex in any position other than missionary.
Some only when violence or a child is involved.
First thing they need to do is standardize what an offense is.
There is a registered offender here in my town. His offense, sex with a minor.
His actual crime, He married a 17 year old girl, he was 17, he turned 18, she was still 17, her dad had him arrested for it. He is now branded for life as a sex offender for screwing his wife.
The need to fix what they have before they load it with more broken data
Re:Easy way to exploit this law (Score:3, Interesting)
Sign up? Way I read it, any name you use in a chatroom. So set up an IRC server on your own machine, connect, and use an IRC script to
- sequentially generate all legitimate IRC names, starting with a, then b, then eventually zzzzzzzzzz
- use
- send an email to the police informing them of your new online identity
Then start on the email addresses you have under the domain you own.
a@example.com
b@example.com
By the time you reach 999999999999999990000000zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.aaa@exa
Now start printing the email addresses in 4 point font on double-sided A4. Rent a transit van to drop off the first load at the local police station. Demand individual acknowledgement of each email address so that you know it's safe to use.
As soon as anybody tells you to stop, apply for a court order to make them follow the law, or give you immunity to prosecution.
(I suspect a court would slap an ASBO on you preventing you from using more than one email address, or some such silliness. I guess at that point firebombing the court building is about the best bet, because quite frankly, if you're getting fucked senseless by the law then you may as well fuck 'em back)
Oh, and don't forget to register jreid@parliament.gov.uk - you never know when you might use that to register with facebook...