http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2002/02/19/scotus-sex-offender-registries.htm High court mulls legality of online sex offender lists WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to consider the constitutionality of Internet registries listing the names of convicted sex offenders who long ago completed their punishment. The ruling could affect sex offender laws in about a dozen states that publish the names, addresses or other personal information about convicted sex offenders on the Internet. The question is how far states may go in requiring previously convicted sex offenders to be included in a state registry that is available to anyone. The court accepted an appeal from Alaska, where part of the state's sex offender law was struck down last year. Alaska's sex-offender law, modeled after New Jersey's pioneering "Megan's Law," allows the public to track known sex offenders. All states have some version of a sex-offender law. In general, such laws have withstood court challenges if they were narrowly directed at improving public safety. It is unconstitutional to punish someone twice for the same crime. [...] ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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