August 26, 2009, Introduced by Rep. Haveman and referred to the Committee on Judiciary.
A bill to amend 1994 PA 295, entitled
"Sex offenders registration act,"
(MCL 28.721 to 28.736) by adding section 37.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
Sec. 37. (1) An individual who was convicted of a listed
offense in which the victim or intended victim was a minor, or was
believed by the individual to be a minor, and the offense involved
the use of a computer shall not access a commercial social
networking website when the individual knows or has reason to know
that the commercial social networking website permits minor
children to become members or create or maintain a personal webpage
on a commercial social networking website.
(2) An individual who violates subsection (1) is guilty of a
felony punishable by imprisonment for not more than 5 years or a
fine of not more than $5,000.00, or both.
(3) A violation or attempted violation of this section may be
prosecuted in any jurisdiction in which the communication that is
the basis of the violation originated or terminated.
(4) As used in this section:
(a) "Commercial social networking website" means a website
that is all of the following:
(i) Operated by a person who derives revenue from membership
fees, advertising, or other sources related to the operation of the
website.
(ii) Facilitates the social introduction between 2 or more
individuals for the purpose of friendship, meeting other
individuals, or information exchange.
(iii) Allows users to create posts, webpages, or personal
profiles that contain or facilitate the exchange of information,
including, but not limited to, the user's name or nickname,
photographs placed on the user's personal webpage, personal
information about the user, and links to other personal webpages on
the internet website of the user's friends or associates that may
be accessed by the other user or a visitor to the website.
(iv) Provides a user or a visitor to the internet website with
a mechanism to communicate with other users, including, but not
limited to, a message board, chat room, electronic mail, or instant
message services.
(v) Permits registered users to create an online journal and
to share that journal with other users, but not necessarily with
all users.
(b) "Internet" means that term as defined in section 230 of
the communications act of 1934, 47 USC 230.
(c) "Journal" means a record of events, thoughts, expressions,
or statements provided, directly or indirectly, by a registered
user.
(d) "Profile" means data or other information entered by a
registered user that is stored and made available by the commercial
social networking website in a restricted or unrestricted manner.
Enacting section 1. This amendatory act takes effect on the
first day of the third month after it is enacted into law.