offender

An Indiana law banning sex offenders from Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks is unconstitutional, a federal appeals court ruled today.

The U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals tossed out a state law that made it a misdemeanor -- and, in some cases, a felony -- for registered sex offenders to use a "social networking Web site."

"The Indiana law targets substantially more activity than the evil it seeks to redress," the three-judge panel unanimously concluded in an opinion (PDF) written by Joel Flaum.

The U.S. Constitution's First Amendment, which restricts the government … Read more

Louisiana lawmakers are known for being tough on sex offenders. Today, a new bill was passed that requires all registered sex offenders to note their criminal status on all of their social network accounts -- like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn -- similar to how state registration requirements work, according to CNN.

"It provides the same notice to persons in whose home you are injecting yourself via the Internet," Louisiana State Rep. Jeff Thompson said, according to CNN. "I challenge you today to walk down the street to see how many people and children are checking Pinterest, Instagram, … Read more

Tens of thousands of registered sex offenders have been purged from social networks like Facebook and MySpace over the past several years -- banned by state laws prohibiting them from using chat rooms, social networks, or instant messaging.

However, some of these registered sex offenders are now trying to turn the tables in state courts. Legal battles over the right to use social networks have ensued across the U.S., from Indiana to Nebraska to Louisiana, according to the Associated Press.

The position of the registered sex offenders and civil liberties groups is that the state bans violate free speech … Read more

New York sex offenders hoping to hide behind an online video game avatar are now out of luck. State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced today that New York has partnered with several tech companies to purge thousands of registered sex offenders from online gaming networks in what he dubbed "Operation: Game Over."

"We must ensure online video game systems do not become a digital playground for dangerous predators," Schneiderman said in a statement today. "That means doing everything possible to block sex offenders from using gaming networks as a vehicle to prey on underage victims.&… Read more

Over the past few years, many people have asked whether sex offenders should be able to use social-media sites like Facebook and MySpace.

This week, a federal judge decided to throw out a Louisiana state law that prohibited sex offenders from joining or even looking at Facebook and other social-networking sites. U.S. District Judge Brian Jackson, based in Baton Rouge, said the law was unreasonable and unconstitutional, according to the Associated Press.

The law in question went into effect in Louisiana last August. It deemed that anyone convicted of a sex offense against a minor or of video voyeurism … Read more

A woman who sued Match.com claiming she was sexually assaulted on a date has settled her lawsuit after seeing proof that the site now screens its members for sexual predators, according to the Associated Press.

Carole Markin had sued the online dating site in April following the reported assault after learning that her date had previously been convicted of sexual battery. Rather than seeking financial damages, Markin's lawsuit asked that Match.com start reviewing its membership for signs of sexual predators.

Shortly after the suit was filed, the dating service announced a new policy whereby it would check its members against a national sex offenders registry. … Read more

Match.com will start checking its members against a national sex offenders registry.

The company expects to start the new policy in 60 to 90 days, Match.com told CNET this morning, and confirmed that the policy will affect both new and existing members.

Match.com has been considering the option for a while, but yesterday's decision was hastened as a result of the attention brought on by a lawsuit filed last week, spokesman Matthew Traub told the Associated Press yesterday.

A woman in California has sued Match.com, claiming she was sexually assaulted by a man that she … Read more

Jay, Josh, and Danny from BeenVerified are back in The 404 studio to show off their brand new sex offender locator app for the Android and iPhone! For some reason, it keeps going off during the show...

BeenVerified is an online service that makes it easy to do quick, thorough background checks on people, and it's a lot easier than simply Googling someone's name. The instant search not only gives public access to legal databases for criminal records and phone numbers; it's also an excellent source for monitoring sex offenders in your neighborhood.

Their latest Sex Offender Tracker App uses augmented reality to display graphical overlays on your phone that help you locate registered sex offenders in your area, and can you believe it? They got ANTOINE DODSON to be their spokesperson in the commercial!

Keep listening if you're unaware of Mr. Dodson, but with a successful single that has gotten 35,000 YouTube hits so far and his own Halloween costume, you should really know this guy already.

The Sex Offender Tracker app is available for the iPhone and Android for $1.99, and 5 percent of all proceeds will be donated to the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network (Rainn), an anti-sexual-assault organization.

The guys stick around after the break for the following batch of video voicemails:

DeeJay shows us how an 8-bit beat is made with a simple drum machine!

Mass from Phil the Mailguy hopes we have a wonderful day!

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has spearheaded the creation of a database of "digital fingerprints" to flag child pornography and keep it off social networks, his office announced Thursday.

With the hash values of over 8,000 known child-porn images stored in the database, Cuomo said that he hopes its intended clients--social-networking, file-sharing, and photo-storage sites--will start to use it "immediately."

Facebook and MySpace have already signed on as partners in the new initiative, and Cuomo's office has sent letters to BlackPlanet, Buzznet, eCrush, Yahoo's Flickr, Flixster, Fotolog, Friendster, Hi5, LiveJournal, MyLife (the … Read more