ALBANY - In a major crackdown on Internet predators, more than 3,500 convicted New York sex fiends have been booted from two online social networking sites, sources told the Daily News.
The pervs were kicked off Facebook and MySpace in the first sweep of registered sex offenders under the Electronic Security and Targeting of Online Predators Act (e-STOP), a 2008 law Attorney General Andrew Cuomo aggressively pushed.
"This should really be a wake up call for everybody, whether it's parents watching what their kids do online, and all the law enforcement groups and authorities, and the sites themselves," one source familiar of the mass Facebook and MySpace purges said.
Laura Ahearn, executive director of Parents for Megan's Law and the Crime Victims Center, said the fact thousands of offenders were dumped proves the law is working.
The names of those booted have been sent to the state Division of Parole, which will determine if any of the offenders violated their early release provisions by being on the social networking sites, the sources said.
Out of the nearly 30,000 registered sex offenders in the state, 8,106 have supplied their e-mail addresses and other online information, the state Division of Criminal Justice Services said.
The rest either are back in prison, homeless, don't have computer access, or didn't respond, a DCJS spokesman said.
Sex offenders have 10 days to notify the state after creating new online profiles or face prosecution for a new felony.
Cuomo's office wouldn't comment yesterday, but last year, after the legislation was signed into law, Cuomo noted that "the playground of today is not just on the streetcorner . . . the playground of today is cyberspace."
GOOD!!!
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