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Sex register 'to include e-mail' Plan to list paedophile web names
(about 7 hours later)
Sex offenders could be forced to register their e-mail addresses to prevent them approaching children on the internet, the government says. Sex offenders could be forced to register their e-mail addresses and chatroom names, the government says.
Home Secretary John Reid said he was also considering making paedophiles add their chatroom names to their other details on the Sex Offenders Register. Home Secretary John Reid said he was considering making paedophiles include details of their online identities on the Sex Offenders Register.
The move comes a day after three men were jailed for using a chatroom to plot the rape of two young girls. Mechanisms would be set up to "flag up" approaches by them to sites popular among youngsters, he told the BBC.
Failure to divulge all the information required could lead to a jail term of up to five years.
Mr Reid said: "We already have probably the toughest regime in Europe for identifying sex offenders.
Broader
"But although we are strong, we have to keep ahead of the game and I want to bring in stronger, broader powers to protect our children."
He told the BBC: "If we did that we would then be able to set up mechanisms that would flag up anyone using those addresses or those identities to make approaches and contacts through some of the very popular internet spaces which are used by kids."
The announcement coincides with European Safer Internet Day.The announcement coincides with European Safer Internet Day.
With as many as two-thirds of British teenagers now using social networking sites such as MySpace, many parents, teachers and politicians fear this opens up new dangers for children. Child internet safety expert John Carr, of children's charity NCH, said: "This is a very welcome move.
The Safer Internet campaign will see websites and child safety experts discuss ways of safeguarding children from online threats. "It will mean that we can extend the Sex Offenders Register regime into cyberspace and that will be a great comfort to many people."
The Sex Offenders Register contains the details of all those convicted of a sexual crime in England and Wales. Under present rules, sex offenders must list their name and address on the Sex Offenders Register for a period of years after conviction or even for the rest of their lives.
Figures from the Home Office for 2005/06 showed there were nearly 30,000 registered sex offenders in England and Wales. Alert
The 1997 Sex Offenders Act made it obligatory for people convicted of a range of sexual crimes to register with the police within 14 days of their release from prison, which was amended to 72 hours in 2003. The latest proposal means their online identities would be treated in exactly the same way as their real name, a Home Office spokesman said.
"The home secretary also wants to look at whether it is technologically feasible to set up a system where if someone enters a chatroom with an identity that was already listed on the register, it would `ping' an alert on the relevant people's computers, enabling them to take appropriate action," he added.
The move comes a day after three men were jailed for using a chatroom to plot the rape of two young girls.