FL- Internet crime can prompt virtually impossible ban

7-12-2008 Florida:

Judges have long put restrictions on defendants' rights while they await trial. Some people are forbidden from having guns in their homes. Others can't drive. Some can't have contact with children or estranged spouses.

Now, as law-enforcement agencies are turning more frequently to the Internet to catch sexual predators and other criminals, judges across Central Florida are barring defendants from logging on to the World Wide Web, and in some instances, denying them any computer use.

The orders are intended to keep those awaiting trial or serving probation from using the tool that could enable them to commit a crime similar to the one they are accused of.

But can such bans realistically be enforced?

"Obviously we expect people to follow our orders," Orange County Circuit Judge Lisa Munyon said. "Like any other order, it is not foolproof. People can always find a way around it if they want to break the law."

Court officials, law-enforcement officers and cyber-crime experts say the restrictions, if broken, can lead to additional legal consequences. Most often, bail would be revoked and offenders would end up in jail.


Relying on threat

But the Internet is too vast to patrol effectively.

"Obviously no one's standing guard over someone 24-7," said Julia Lynch, chief of the sex-crimes and child-abuse division for the State Attorney's Office in Brevard County.

So they hope the threat of jail time is enough to encourage offenders to follow the rules. Local court officials could only think of a handful of instances in which someone was caught violating the rules and rearrested.

In 2003, a probationer and registered sex offender who had been living in Winter Park, was barred from using the Internet while on probation. He was arrested after being caught accessing the Internet in a Massachusetts hotel room.

His probation officer was suspicious and requested a copy of his hotel bill, which showed the offender had been online.

In Orange County, the majority of people free from jail awaiting trial do not receive regular home visits by county corrections staff.

For those who do -- which are estimated at fewer than 400 people -- the visits can be limited to once a week for about 15 minutes.

"How do we enforce 'Don't use the Internet' specifically when we're only there occasionally?" said Don Bjoring, a professional services manager for Orange County Corrections. "We make it real clear to them . . . what a huge risk they would be taking if they were to do something."

Florida law requires sexual offenders and predators to report their e-mail addresses and instant-message names to law enforcement. New Jersey and Nevada have similar rules.

After years of pressure from lawmakers, MySpace agreed to provide attorneys general across the nation with user names and accounts belonging to suspected sexual predators on their social-networking site.

The Florida Attorney General's Office has received about 1,600 account names from MySpace since 2007, an agency spokeswoman said.

"MySpace has provided us with accounts associated with people on the sex-offender registry," said Attorney General's Office spokeswoman Sandi Copes. "At this point, we have not been able to report anybody to their probation officers."


Turned in by loved ones

While the legal system can't keep an eye on defendants every moment of the day, David Finkelhor, director of the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire, said family members and friends are "sometimes the whistle blowers."

In the handful of Internet or computer-related violations Polk County prosecutor Brad Copley can recall, officials have been tipped off to the use by a family member or person the defendant was communicating with.

"The families may not be real happy with them at the time because of the nature of the offenses," he said. ..News Source.. by Amy L. Edwards and Walter Pacheco | Sentinel Staff Writers