FAC Members Sue Florida Over Internet Identifier Law
Moments ago, The Florida Justice Institute, Inc. and the law firm of Weitzner & Jonas, P.A. filed a lawsuit in Federal Court to strike down the State of Florida’s requirement that registered citizen’s “Internet Identifiers” be reported.
In connection therewith, our attorneys plan to seek a temporary restraining order to enjoin the implementation of revisions to the law, scheduled to take effect on October 1, 2016, that would require sex offenders to register every URL used for communication.
If the new provisions of the law were to go into effect, each time the Internet is used for a communicative purpose, a registrant must first disclose the Internet Identifier and website, including every URL, to the government. For someone whose work requires internet access, this could easily amount to hundreds of reporting requirements per day. In all cases, an innocent omission could land the registrant in prison for five years.
The law applies to both those on probation and off indiscriminately and expressly includes anonymous speech. As it stands, the law already chills registered citizens’ First Amendment rights. If it’s allowed to continue it will undoubtedly cost individuals their careers and effectively ban Internet use for registered citizens in Florida.
This is the lawsuit that FAC has been pushing for and working on for over a year. Similar lawsuits have been successful in other states, including; California, Nebraska, Georgia, Utah and Michigan. We are hoping for a similar result.
A copy of the filed complaint can be viewed by clicking this link.
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Question: I have several online sights I have to use for my employment. For example Salesforce. Are you telling me that the state is going to want to know when, and how many times I visit this sight? And that coworkers and customers I communicate with on this sight will know that I am a “registered sex offender?”
Just an FYI. In response to my email to them yesterday, FDLE indicated they would be mailing guidance to all offenders at the end of this month (August) regarding how to comply with the Internet Identifier changes to the statute. I hope they don’t just send verbatim rehash of the statute text. I want something specific to show to a judge, in my defense, if ever required.
TRO Motion Filed http://floridaactioncommittee.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/motion-for-TRO.pdf
Good luck Florida!
Wow. This is awesome. Very well put together!! I don’t see how any reasonable US judge could shoot this down. But then again, this is Florida.
It’s in Federal Court.
Proud to be a part of FAC! More so, is my admiration for one’s courage to go forward and represent another after such laws have been imposed on a state and federal level and to the point of tyranny where life becomes impossible for its citizens. The attachment with this article explains not only the hardship and confusion with Internet Identifiers, but the choking hold that government has implemented on its own people.