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08/15/2011
By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana sued Monday to block enforcement of a new state law that limits sex offenders' access to social networking websites and other online forums, claiming the restrictions are overly broad and unconstitutional.
Gov. Bobby Jindal, who is named as a defendant in the federal suit, said he will "fight this with everything I have."
"If these people want to search the Internet for new victims, they can do it somewhere else," Jindal said in a statement.
- Hey idiot, not all ex-sex offenders are trolling for victims. You are just pandering. Are you running for president or something? God forbid!
The suit, filed in Baton Rouge, says the law may have targeted sites like Facebook and MySpace but also blocks access to newspaper sites, job databases and other websites that allow users to communicate.
Marjorie Esman, the group's executive director, said the state has a legitimate interest in preventing sex offenders from using the Internet in ways that can harm children.
- You already have laws against contacting children and discussing sexual issues, so why do you need more draconian laws? No amount of laws will prevent a true predator from creating an email address in a matter of minutes, then going online, if that is their intent.
"This goes way beyond that. This blocks (their) access to probably any Internet at all," she added. "It needs to be narrowly tailored to actually accomplish the goal."
The ACLU is asking a federal judge to immediately block enforcement of the law pending the outcome of a judicial review
Jindal, who signed the measure into law in June, said the lawsuit is "a disturbing break from reality, even for the ACLU."
- And you are blatantly ignoring the Constitution which you sworn to uphold.
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| Bobby Jindal, the exorcist |
- If you want to see a monster, just look in the mirror.
Louisiana Attorney General James "Buddy" Caldwell also is named as a defendant in the suit. A spokeswoman for Caldwell's office said they hadn't seen the suit and couldn't comment on it.
State Rep. Ledricka Thierry, an Opelousas Democrat who sponsored the legislation in the House, didn't immediately return a call seeking comment.
The anonymous plaintiff is a registered sex offender, living in East Baton Rouge Parish, who was convicted of possessing child pornography and served four years in prison. He has worked as a computer repair technician since his 2006 release but will be unable to perform his job under the law's restrictions, the suit says.
His "efforts to remain a productive, contributing member of society will be severely hampered," the suit adds.
The law prohibits "unlawful use or access of social media" by convicted sex offenders whose victim was a child. Probation, parole officers and judges can make exceptions, but the ACLU says the law doesn't specify any procedures for obtaining permission.
The ACLU also argues that the law's definition of a social networking website could be interpreted to include "most of the Internet."
"Just about every website in existence incorporates a 'mechanism for communication' among users, whether that mechanism is as simple as a 'comments' section or as complicated as a web-based email service, such as Yahoo or Gmail," the group wrote in a court filing.
A first conviction for violating the law carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. A second conviction is punishable by at least five years and up to 20 years in prison.
