Sex offenders: registration of Internet accounts and identifiers.

(1) Existing law, the Sex Offender Registration Act, requires persons who have been convicted of specified sex offenses to register with local law enforcement. Existing law requires that the registration include the person's address, fingerprints, current photograph, and license plate number. Existing law requires the registrant to update his or her registration annually, upon moving, or upon changing his or her name. Under existing law, failure to register is a crime. This bill would require a person required to register under the act to register his or her Internet accounts and Internet identifiers, defined to include e-mail addresses and designations used for the purposes of chatting, instant messaging, social networking, or other similar Internet communication. The bill would also require the person to update this information within 5 days of establishing an Internet account or creating or using an Internet identifier not previously disclosed, and would require that information to be forwarded by local law enforcement agencies to the Department of Justice. By expanding the scope of a crime and by increasing the duties of local agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would also require the Department of Justice to release information regarding the relevant Internet accounts and identifiers to entities that provide social networking services on the Internet in order to allow the entities to prescreen or remove from their services persons required to register pursuant to the act. (2) Existing law provides for the granting of probation or parole to specified offenders under specified circumstances. This bill would require, as conditions of probation or parole, that a person required to register as a sex offender, who has either been determined to have a high risk of offending pursuant to the State Authorized Risk Assessment Tool for Sex Offenders, or whose victim was under 18 years of age at the time of the offense, be prohibited from using the Internet to access pornographic material, to access social networking sites, to communicate with other individuals or groups for the purpose of promoting sexual relations with persons under 18 years of age, or to communicate with persons under 18 years of age, except as provided. (3) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.