If you have a registered email address (or several), today you likely received an updated notification flier from the FDLE.
Most obviously, the flier instructs registrants to insert their “internet identifiers” as Instant Messengers – Other.
A copy of the flier can be seen here:
http://floridaactioncommittee.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/2014-Registrant-Email-Flier.pdf
I’m engaged to a man who is a registered sex offender Here in Hillsborough County. His crime was a long time ago and he’s paid his dues. We have 2 young children together and are just trying to raise a family and be normal like everyone else in America. He doesn’t drive my car. It’s not titled to him. What if I want to take my kids to the park and someone runs my plates? Or when our kids get cars when they’re 16 and have the cars up at a school? This is completely unconstitutional. And now he could face jail time if he doesn’t comply. Then I would be left with just my income to support our family. It is not fair for the state to punish the 3 of us for a crime we didn’t commit. Law enforcement has no reason or right to catalogue my personal property. Please I am a mother who is terrified of losing the father of her children over something that happened a long time ago.
Cara – please send your info to [email protected] and we will be in touch.
I’m really not even sure how to begin guess I’ll start with the misconception that this is about public safety. Here’s a blunt example. If I enact a law knowing full well the collateral consequences will result in the death of the person adjudicated guilty of violating that law, my intent must be for that person to die. Even more chilling, if I enact the law without knowing that the collateral consequence is death and once I discover that fact continue to modify that law never removing the collateral consequence then it is my intent to put to death anyone adjudicated guilty of that law. What other motive could there be?
This is not about public safety this is about jobs, revenue and politics. The days have passed that legislators can say they are naïve to the collateral consequences of these draconian laws. They’re very aware of the collateral consequences at least some of them. That’s why they don’t want any of their family members on the list. Proven by the actions of Governor Deval Patrick who not only fought to keep his brother-in-law off the list fired the top board member who opposed his views and put the second on administrative leave (I do believe the person should have been fired because of their intimidation tactics.)
You can read the story here.
http://www.registrationx.net/Blog/governor-deval-patrick-ousts-two-of-the-sex-offender-registry-board
The second element is knee-jerk reactions to over sensationalized media stories. The public demands some type of closure which generally comes in the form of new laws to pacify the naïve, uninformed and dare I say in many cases unintelligent public. That brings us to our newest round of legislation. It is obvious that one of two things took place. Either this was done out of total naïveté or a legislative mastermind. I believe the former not the latter is the truth. The problem is simply this. Whenever new laws are created those that enforce the law i.e. prosecutors find out ways to leverage the new laws to their maximum potential. With this new legislation the potential for overreach and rapid abuse is immeasurable.
Once you accept the fact that legislators couldn’t care less about the well-being of a registrant, a registrant’s family, or a registrant’s friends, only then will you begin to understand why legislation follows the path that it does. They do care about how the situation can be leveraged to their advantage this always comes as a disadvantage to the registrant.
Again! This is about jobs, revenue and politics. Part of the political component very much like the gladiator arenas of Rome is to satisfy the public’s bloodlust and hate for people required to register. Whether the designation of sex offender (sex offender being in the present tense) is justified or not is of no consequence.
Welcome to the Arena.
http://www.registrationx.net
I moved to Florida four and a half years ago to.help care for my aging parents. My father owns a vehicle. What happens to ME if HE refuses to register HIS vehicle? What right does ANYONE have to make HIM do so? HE has done nothing and there is no way they can legally require HIM to register his vehicle because I live here. Welcome to W Germany, 1942ish…..
That’s a really good point ! Its like what I have been saying about Halloween what if you rent a room in a house You don’t own. How can you make the owner ” who ‘s family loves Halloween” put a sign on the front door that says no trick or treat as you just rent a room in the house?
The law changes go far beyond just updating identifiers. Now, anyone also having a car at your residence (family members, roommates) vehicle must also be listed with LE. Nice chilling effect, wouldn’t you say?
If you rent a car, you must notify LE. And exactly how will this happen if you travel, say to the National RSOL conference and rent a car? Now it is a 3rd Class Felony if you don’t register your car that you will be driving. I saw no notice of how to do this, just that it must be done. Do I report to DMV? do I put it up in the FDLE CyberCommunications system as if it’s a IM identifier? A legal requirement that leaves no real way to comply, so it sound more like more entrapment, based on just living life.
Also, the ex-post facto implications, and not to mention the restrictions of liberty without due process.
And then we can have everyone associated with our reseidence be suspected as sn SO for their next traffic stop.
What’s next? making all registrants place an app on their smart phones that then reports their GPS location, so everyone with a smartphone can pull up a real time map and show sex offenders in thier presense?
When will it end and how will these new requirements do anything other than further isolate the SOs from “normal” people?
I received the “flyer” in my registered e-mail account today. It seems FDLE has toned down the rhetoric a notch on both “identifiers” and their definition of “owned” (concerning vehicles).
As a layman with some exposure to our so-called “justice” system, my interpretation of which identifiers need to be reported should be restricted to the types FDLE has listed on the flyer. The caveat to that is the gray area encompassed by what their definitions of “computer apps” and “Similar Names used for Internet communication” are. Further, if any identifier is not associated with communication on the Internet, there seems to be no requirement to divulge that identifier.
The language, “prior to use” is also on the last page of the flyer. I suppose FDLE doesn’t realize that some registered persons may already be using the Internet! I watched the hearings on these bills on television and I was appalled at the naiveté of our lawmakers concerning the Internet. You don’t have an identifier prior to use, so how can you register something you don’t have? Also, they ignored the fact that registered persons were already using identifiers on a daily basis. There should be no penalty for reporting identifiers already in use because they were allowed before this ridiculous requirement passed. The state has no problem trampling its own or the US Constitution in violating ex-post facto, by grandfathering new sex offender legislation, so it should not punish registered citizens more concerning existing identifiers.
As I mentioned in a recent post, who can remember all their identifiers? Why are registered citizens expected to do something the lawmakers who passed these draconian measures can’t do? Anybody who has used the Internet has had to provide usernames for almost every website they visit. So we are expected to magically recall hundreds of identifiers all at once?
This brings me to a larger issue. If the registry is not punitive, why is it a third degree felony to omit information that you may not be able to recall on demand? Why is it, if the registry is not punitive, if your name is on the registry, you have a difficult time finding a place to live and it’s a near-impossibility to find a job? I sometimes wonder if any registered citizens have jobs. But, I digress.
As far as “owned” is concerned, once again, my layman’s interpretation is that if the person does not live with you, the vehicle does not have to be registered with FDLE., even if you “own” it. I arrive at this conclusion by the long run-on sentence on the flyer which ends with, “by a person or persons residing at your permanent residence for 5 or more consecutive days.” This was a particular concern of mine since I have a family member not living with me whose car I insure, but do not have title to. Now, about renting a car, there has to be more guidance from FDLE as to duration of rental. Otherwise, if you rent a car for a day, you must spend half the day driving to the registration office and waiting to provide them the information, then returning the next day to tell them you no longer have the rental car.
Lastly, I applaud Gail and her inner circle who do some much for FAC! I only wish the ACLU would get more involved in repealing Florida’s sex offender laws as well as the National Registry, which are prima facie unconstitutional . The 2003 Supreme Court decision declaring the registry was not a punishment needs to be overturned. Who better to lead that charge than the ACLU? The last 11 years since that decision has seen an explosion of punitive legislation against registered citizens, especially here in Florida, the most draconian of all states. The only thing the registry accomplishes is breaking up families and driving them to poverty.
Thank you for this comment!
As far as vehicles; the way the law (and this flier) is written, if you rent a car you must register it within 48 hours. You must register the year, make, model, vehicle identification number, etc.
So if you travel to Miami for business, rent a car for the day, drive to your meeting, drive back to the airport, return the car, within 48 hours you have to register that rental because you rented it and the law says you have to. The chance of you ever renting the same car is like winning the lottery, but that car will likely be re-rented to about 50 people after you, who will all be flagged by police as potential sex offenders.
Even if you are able to “un-register” the car what’s the point of originally registering it within 48 hours? Would the Sheriff require a second trip to the SPOT office or can you just register and unregister in the same trip? Reality is (1) that if a crime was committed using that car the police can simply go to the rental company and find out who rented it, and (2) if an individual actually did rent a car and committed a crime, chances are the last thing they are going to do is register it.
The “internet identifier” thing is even more ridiculous. The way it’s written is so vague and so inclusive that any of your online accounts, from banking to business, that require logins have to be disclosed. You are right in wondering ‘who is going to remember all these?’ but even if they start the clock on 10/1 and you have to live the rest of your life stopping what you are doing to add another site to an ever growing list BEFORE you can chat with a tech-support agent or request an account balance, how burdensome and easy to miss is that?
Here’s a good example: When one goes to the FDLE site to register their “internet identifiers”, they use their username to the FDLE site to communicate the “internet identifiers”, so technically that username has to be registered as well. How can you register your FDLE internet identifier on the FDLE site if it has to be registered PRIOR TO USE?!?!? I actually didn’t think of that catch-22 until just now, but technically everyone who used the FDLE site to register their FDLE username committed a third degree felony!
That’s how easy it is to unknowingly and unintentionally violate such a vague and unduly burdensome law. I’ll bet some people reading this comment are now thinking “oh crap, I have to register my FDLE username”, I forgot that one! Who knows if you have to? It’s so subjective, but different people have different opinions and I’m sure there are some prosecutors out there who will say you do.
The reality of life is that most everything is done online nowadays and most every online business uses some “identifier”, whether it’s a self-reported username or cookie to identify their site visitors for re-marketing purposes. Your IP address is an “internet identifier” but how many people know that? Most convicted of CP were tracked by their IP but who knows if that’s considered? The bottom line is the potential exposure to innocently violate this law is scary.
Should we go back to old-school paper bills and mailing in a check? Is it no more online shopping for holiday gifts? Should we suppress our opinions because our comments on this very site can be traced back to us? At what point does this law become “more burdensome and punitive” than necessary to serve the objective of the law, or worse, at what point does the law infringe on our constitutionally protected right to anonymous speech (see: First Amendment to the US Constitution).
Speaking of more burdensome and punitive… not all “sex offenders” used the internet to lure a child, yet this law includes them. Also, the recidivism rate amongst sex offenders is low to begin with. Factor those two variables in and you’re burdening the 99% of former offenders, under the threat of felony conviction, who are using the internet for perfectly innocent purposes incident to normal daily life. Besides, anyone who is intent on using the internet to lure a child would probably not register their identifier before doing so anyhow – for the same reason that bank robbers don’t wear name tags.