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Friday, December 29, 2006

Measures would target Internet predators, ID theft


SAFE122906
Last update: December 28, 2006 – 9:10 PM
Measures would target Internet predators, ID theft
The incoming attorney general's proposals to fight crime will be heard sympathetically in the new DFL-controlled state House.
By Conrad Defiebre, Star Tribune
With leaders of the incoming DFL state House majority voicing approval, Attorney General-elect Lori Swanson called Thursday for new laws to protect Minnesotans from Internet predators, harassers and identity thieves.
Among the measures Swanson wants is a felony penalty for an adult convicted of engaging in sexually explicit communications with a child, a proposal prompted by the scandal involving former Florida U.S. Rep. Mark Foley's e-mails to young congressional pages.
"We need to update 20th century laws to fight 21st century crimes," Swanson said at a State Capitol news conference. While the initiatives might not fill Minnesota prisons with newly defined felons, she said they "will give prosecutors more tools" and "better correlate the consequences of certain criminal behavior with the risk to society."
Swanson's proposals stand a better chance of passage by the Legislature than those of her predecessor, fellow DFLer Mike Hatch, whose two terms as the state's top legal officer coincided with eight years of Republican control of the House.
"We will be hearing bills coming out of the AG's office, not letting them slip away," said Rep. Joe Mullery, DFL-Minneapolis, incoming chairman of the House Public Safety/Civil Justice Committee.
Swanson also urged several measures unrelated to the Internet: a felony for domestic abusers who violate no-contact orders three times in 10 years, extended curbs on the business use of Social Security numbers and more state funding for local police.
The police proposal drew an immediate endorsement from Mullery, who said a recent surge in violent crime in Minneapolis followed state aid cuts to the city that led to deep cuts in its police force. "Hearings will be held on that," he said.
Here are Swanson's other initiatives, to be formally introduced after she takes office on Tuesday:
• Victimizing children. The Foley provision would expand current laws that prohibit the sale of sexually explicit materials to children and the sexual solicitation of children over the Internet to also outlaw explicit communications intended for sexual gratification that may be aimed at grooming children for future exploitation. Swanson proposed a felony punishable by up to three years in prison.
• Cyber-bullying. A 2005 law requires state school districts to adopt written policies on bullying. Swanson proposed extending the law to include e-mail and Web harassment that an advocacy group says has victimized 13 million school-age children nationwide. Some districts, including St. Paul's, already have such policies, but others do not, Swanson said.
• Identity theft. Swanson urged felony penalties of up to five years in prison and a $20,000 fine for posing as another person on the Internet with the intent to harass or defame another. She also would allow courts to direct websites to remove such postings.
• Data theft. State laws do not recognize the value of personal information stored on stolen computers in determining the seriousness of the crime, and many computer units rapidly depreciate below the $500 threshold for felony charges. Swanson proposed making personal data theft a felony punishable by up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine, regardless of the computer's value.
Conrad deFiebre • 651-222-1673 • cdefiebre@startribune.com
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