NYC Prosecutors Endorse Ban On Sex Predators

New York City district attorneys from all five boroughs endorsed New York state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s "E-Stop" legislation aimed at protecting minors from online sexual predators.

The Electronic Security and Targeting of Online Predators Act (e-Stop), is the nations most comprehensive legislation dealing with sexual predators and creates the country’s first mandatory ban on sexual predators from social networking sites like Facebook or MySpace.

Attorney General Cuomo said, "Existing laws protecting children from sexual predators have not kept pace with rapid advances in technology."

"Government’s primary responsibility is to protect its citizens, and e-Stop will be effective at helping prevent sexual predators from using the Internet to victimize our children."

The passage of e-Stop would prohibit sexual predators from accessing social networking sites and restrict their Internet usage. It would require sex offenders to register all of their instant message screen names and any other online identifiers. That information would be shared with social networking sites. Social networks would be able to screen and block access by convicted sex offenders.

Both MySpace and Facebook have taken major steps to protect their users and supported efforts to create new laws to protect Internet users from sexual predators. Both companies agreed the new registry information would help them be better at blocking sex offenders from their sites.