Internet Identifiers – What the California Courts Found and What it Means to Florida

In 2012, the state of California added a provision to their Sex Offender registration requirements that provided: sex offenders register “any and all Internet identifiers” within 24 hours of their use.

The change, which was contained in California’s Proposition 35, was part of the Human Trafficking Statute and the requirement was very similar to the one that went into effect last month here in Florida.

The 9th Circuit FEDERAL appeals court ruled on Tuesday that the provision violated the US CONSTITUTION’s right to free speech! The judge also ruled that it, “is too vague about what it requires, too lax about protecting the privacy of people’s Internet information, and too broad and burdensome. “There can be little doubt that requiring a narrow class of individuals to notify the government within 24 hours of engaging in online communication with a new identifier significantly burdens those individuals’ ability and willingness to speak on the internet,” Judge Jay Bybee wrote.

This is a very significant victory in light of Florida’s recent enactment of a very similar requirement. In fact; Florida’s requires registration before an identifier is used not just within 24 hours, which is much more burdensome.

This is also significant because, unlike victories in California that were found to violate their State Constitution, this was found unconstitutional under the US Constitution, which governs Florida as well.

While the victory does not set precedent or have any bearing on registrants in Florida. It is significant in that the arguments are the same and the governing law is the same.

Please contribute to FAC to help support a legal challenge.