INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -
A federal judge said Thursday she plans to
rule within a month on the constitutionality of an Indiana law that bans
registered sex offenders from using social networking websites where
they could prey on children.
The American Civil
Liberties Union of Indiana is heading the class-action suit on behalf of
a man who served three years for child exploitation, along with other
sex offenders who are restricted by the ban even though they are no
longer on probation. Federal judges have barred similar bans in Nebraska
and Louisiana. Similar restrictions remain in effect in New York,
Illinois and North Carolina.
In a one-hour hearing at
U.S. District Court in Indianapolis, Judge Tanya Walton Pratt questioned
attorneys about convicted sex offenders' civil rights and whether the
state law is outdated in the age of Facebook, LinkedIn and dozens of
other social networking sites.
ACLU attorney Ken Falk
argued that even though the 2008 law is only intended to protect
children from online sexual predators, it also prevents sex offenders
from using social media for political, business and religious activity
such as using Facebook to follow the pope or comment on newspaper
websites, posting a profile on LinkedIn or following presidential
candidates on Twitter.
Falk said the law violates
the rights of communication, receiving information and association, all
of which the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled are guaranteed by the First
Amendment. He also argued that the ban was unnecessary because Indiana
already has a law that makes it a crime to use the Internet to contact a
child for the purposes of sexual gratification.
Indiana Deputy Attorney
General David Arthur argued that the 2008 ban is limited only to social
networking sites that allow access by children, and that Facebook,
Twitter and similar sites aren't the only forms of communication.
"We still have television.
We still have radios. And believe it or not, people still talk
face-to-face," he said. Arthur also said the ban doesn't apply to email
or Internet message boards.
Falk said social media are
almost indispensable. "It's not enough to say that the plaintiffs can
still write letters or go to meetings," he said. "These are not adequate
alternatives for instant communication."
Courts have long allowed
states to place restrictions on convicted sex offenders who have
completed their sentences, controlling where many of them live and work
and requiring them to register with police. But Falk told Pratt that the
social networking ban was far broader, restricting a wide swatch of
constitutionally protected activities.
Arthur compared the social
networking ban to laws barring sex offenders from school property and
other places frequented by kids. Only in this case, he said, the place
is virtual.
Similar social networking bans have been struck down in two other states.
In February, U.S. District
Judge Brian Jackson found that Louisiana's prohibition was too broad and
"unreasonably restricts many ordinary activities that have become
important to everyday life."
Louisiana lawmakers passed a
new law this month that more narrowly defines which sites are
prohibited. News and government sites, email services and online
shopping are excluded from the new rules, as are photo-sharing and
instant-messaging systems. The measure takes effect Aug. 1.
In Nebraska, a federal
judge in 2009 blocked part of a law that included a social networking
ban. A second legal challenge by an Omaha-area sex offender is set for
trial in July.
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2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not
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