Social networks to stamp out sex offenders

Registered child sex offenders could soon be legally obliged to supply local police with their email address to be passed on to social networking websites to stop them using the sites.

If Home Office plans come to fruition, registered offenders who fail to supply an email address or supply a false one could face up to five years in jail.

The UK Social Networking Guidance published today offers advice to the internet industry and parents to help keep kids safe online.

The guidance has been put together by a taskforce which includes the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre and the NSPCC.

In a statement, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said: "We are working together with police, industry and charities to create a hostile environment for sex offenders on the internet and are determined to make it as hard as possible for predators to strike, as in the real world."

Speaking at the unveiling of the plans, Home Office minister Vernon Coker said: "We want to ensure that as far as possible people enjoy the internet in the safest possible environment. We need to work with the industry, we need to work with law enforcement."

CEO of the CEOP Centre, Jim Gamble, said the plans have, "real potential to accelerate online child protection".

But it's not clear how effective the measures could be. Speaking to silicon.com, Simon Briskman, a partner at law firm Field Fisher Waterhouse, said: "I applaud efforts to help police these activities more effectively but I can see there's going to be a few hurdles along the way."

He said: "There's nothing to stop somebody setting up a range of email addresses or aliases, nor to stop them using computers from a variety of locations on different networks. So it seems very difficult to understand how it will work."

Briskman added it is unlikely police will have the investigative resources to check whether registered child sex offenders were using multiple email addresses.

He said another effective measure would be to bring in tighter codes of practice for ISPs around people signing up for email addresses in first place.

Privacy concerns about passing on the email addresses are likely to be easily surmountable, however. "If you're doing it because you're trying to prevent criminal offences and the action is proportionate, then the government should be able to do this," said Briskman.