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NEWS: New York State Prohibits Sex Offenders From Playing Pokémon Go


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Kadmos1



Joined: 08 May 2014
Posts: 13541
Location: In Phoenix but has an 85308 ZIP
PostPosted: Mon Aug 01, 2016 11:53 pm Reply with quote
Of those 3000 sex offenders, how many were wrongfully convicted but still had to register as sex offenders? Just saying.
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AnimeLordLuis



Joined: 27 Jan 2015
Posts: 1626
Location: The Borderlands of Pandora
PostPosted: Tue Aug 02, 2016 12:17 am Reply with quote
Well it's good that the DOJ is cracking down on registered sex offenders but isn't this a little extreme? I mean the odds are astronomical that someone would use Pokémon Go to kidnap a child and it's not like Niantic doesn't have enough problems on their hands and with even more bad publicity to add to the ever growing list pretty soon it'll be illegal to play Pokémon Go all together. Shocked
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Stuart Smith



Joined: 13 Jan 2013
Posts: 1298
PostPosted: Tue Aug 02, 2016 12:33 am Reply with quote
Kadmos1 wrote:
Of those 3000 sex offenders, how many were wrongfully convicted but still had to register as sex offenders? Just saying.


It's not even an issue of wrongful conviction. You can be forced to register if you pee in a bush on the side of the road and someone complained (indescent exposure). And of course, most cases of child molestation are done by family members or friends of the victim, with very few being the fearmongering 'stranger lurking in a school playground'.

Though 80% of the people playing Go are adults anyway according to that one chart.

-Stuart Smith
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Dessa



Joined: 14 Jul 2004
Posts: 4438
PostPosted: Tue Aug 02, 2016 1:11 am Reply with quote
How can you retroactively change the terms of someone's parole? And trying to force Niantic to police it is ridiculous.

They've done their time. Yes, they're still being monitored, but to deny them the right to play a game is ridiculous.
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luisedgarf



Joined: 02 Oct 2004
Posts: 656
Location: Guadalajara, Mexico
PostPosted: Tue Aug 02, 2016 1:24 am Reply with quote
Dessa wrote:

They've done their time. Yes, they're still being monitored, but to deny them the right to play a game is ridiculous.


Welcome to the U.S., when the country can decide which human rights can be applied to you or not.
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Eisenmann V



Joined: 06 Nov 2013
Posts: 212
PostPosted: Tue Aug 02, 2016 1:39 am Reply with quote
Stuart Smith wrote:
Kadmos1 wrote:
Of those 3000 sex offenders, how many were wrongfully convicted but still had to register as sex offenders? Just saying.


It's not even an issue of wrongful conviction. You can be forced to register if you pee in a bush on the side of the road and someone complained (indescent exposure). And of course, most cases of child molestation are done by family members or friends of the victim, with very few being the fearmongering 'stranger lurking in a school playground'.

Though 80% of the people playing Go are adults anyway according to that one chart.

-Stuart Smith


The key here is the term "sex offender". There's a pretty low bar of entry to that list, and it classifies everything from "violent child rapist" to "public urinator" to "teenage statutory rapist" as the same thing.
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Hameyadea



Joined: 23 Jun 2014
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 02, 2016 1:42 am Reply with quote
Aside from creating a buzz (re-election coming or something?), what are the other reasons to single that app, and to retroactively apply it to any and all offenders, regardless of their crime?
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TarsTarkas



Joined: 20 Dec 2007
Posts: 5821
Location: Virginia, United States
PostPosted: Tue Aug 02, 2016 1:44 am Reply with quote
Pokeman Go is already being used by criminals to lure victims to unsafe areas so that they can be robbed or worse. So it is not inconceivable for it to be used in the way that New York state is afraid of.

Though I think it would require a lot of work and money for the developer to do as requested by the State of New York. When you create and make a game you don't plan and lay the software groundwork to be able to ban users with criminal backgrounds.

If it is easy to do then yeah, go ahead and do it. But if it isn't, then the State of New York should fund the effort.
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VanGosroth



Joined: 24 Mar 2006
Posts: 299
PostPosted: Tue Aug 02, 2016 1:50 am Reply with quote
luisedgarf wrote:
Dessa wrote:

They've done their time. Yes, they're still being monitored, but to deny them the right to play a game is ridiculous.


Welcome to the U.S., when the country can decide which human rights can be applied to you or not.


It's more that people in the US have some irrational fear of EVERYTHING. When I was 12 my mom gave me a bunch of cash and told me to go explore the city of Chicago for a day. My friend and I were dropped off at the train station and made it back home that night without being robbed, shot, or kidnapped. There was an article a few years back where a mom named Lenore Skenazy let her 9 year old son ride the NY subway by himself. She was bombarded by comments about how her son could have been murdered or some other nonsense from fearful parents.

Essentially what's happening here is Pokemon is general considered a kids game (regardless of what the demographics may show this is the general perception of the game). Somewhere in that fool Cuomo's head he's envisioning some dark alley where a registered sex offender and a child playing the game happen to meet. Obviously the only outcome is the kidnapping/rape/and or murder of that child Rolling Eyes Rolling Eyes Rolling Eyes.

If it applied only to aggravated rapists I'd be fine with the idea but the sex offender laws are so broken that you can be put on one for pissing in a bush or a variety of other reasons.
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kazenoyume



Joined: 18 Apr 2006
Posts: 425
PostPosted: Tue Aug 02, 2016 2:18 am Reply with quote
No sympathy for rapists. No sympathy for sex offenders. I don't give a crap that they can't play a mobile game. For the better, honestly. There are plenty of kids playing it, and there have already been crimes committed via it.

It's really rare for sex offenders to be wrongfully convicted. Ugh. Rolling Eyes
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leafy sea dragon



Joined: 27 Oct 2009
Posts: 7163
Location: Another Kingdom
PostPosted: Tue Aug 02, 2016 2:30 am Reply with quote
Do you have to confirm your true identity when playing Pokémon GO? I was sure you could make an anonymous account. If you do, then that renders this proposal unenforceable.
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garlogan78



Joined: 01 Mar 2014
Posts: 171
PostPosted: Tue Aug 02, 2016 3:32 am Reply with quote
kazenoyume wrote:
No sympathy for rapists. No sympathy for sex offenders. I don't give a crap that they can't play a mobile game. For the better, honestly. There are plenty of kids playing it, and there have already been crimes committed via it.

It's really rare for sex offenders to be wrongfully convicted. Ugh. Rolling Eyes


I don't think people were arguing that there were many wrongful convictions. It is that a wide range of crimes all end up under the same label, some horrific like child rape and others just technicalities, like an 18 year old sleeping with his girlfriend who is one year younger and not yet the age of consent in that state, or something. Or a couple having sex on the beach, or like someone said, peeing in a bush on the side of the road.

Edit: Just realized earlier posts did use the phrase "wrongful conviction" lol.
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kazenoyume



Joined: 18 Apr 2006
Posts: 425
PostPosted: Tue Aug 02, 2016 5:27 am Reply with quote
garlogan78 wrote:

I don't think people were arguing that there were many wrongful convictions. It is that a wide range of crimes all end up under the same label, some horrific like child rape and others just technicalities, like an 18 year old sleeping with his girlfriend who is one year younger and not yet the age of consent in that state, or something. Or a couple having sex on the beach, or like someone said, peeing in a bush on the side of the road.

Edit: Just realized earlier posts did use the phrase "wrongful conviction" lol.


Would that kind of stuff really get you on the registered sex offender list? I thought you had to reach a certain level to get on it? Or at the very least, you're removed from it after a period of time if it's a low level crime like that.
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TarsTarkas



Joined: 20 Dec 2007
Posts: 5821
Location: Virginia, United States
PostPosted: Tue Aug 02, 2016 5:57 am Reply with quote
Each state is different. Up to the prosecutor and the judge on what punishment you get. Don't think sex offender status expires, but I could be wrong. Posting naked baby pictures on Facebook can get you arrested too and punished. Really depends on the local prosecutor. That is where the real problem lies. Common sense will not protect you in the Nanny state.
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SaitoHajime101



Joined: 31 Mar 2013
Posts: 280
PostPosted: Tue Aug 02, 2016 6:55 am Reply with quote
kazenoyume wrote:
Would that kind of stuff really get you on the registered sex offender list? I thought you had to reach a certain level to get on it? Or at the very least, you're removed from it after a period of time if it's a low level crime like that.


There's actually 3 levels associated to Sex Offenders, ranging from least likely to re-offend to most likely. It's usually based on several different factors including the severity of the crime itself. The issue is that no one takes the levels, or the crime committed, into account when determining whether to associate or not with said person. The moment one hears Sex Offender, regardless of level, it's over.

TarsTarkas wrote:
Each state is different. Up to the prosecutor and the judge on what punishment you get. Don't think sex offender status expires, but I could be wrong.


It doesn't expire from what I know, however there are some laws that allow registered offenders to get the registration removed. Some states offer programs that allow, upon successful completion of the program, to drop sex registration status. Other states, depending on the crime, will allow the criminal in question to petition the court to drop the registration upon so many years of being a normal law abiding citizen.
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