Banned MySpace Sex Offender: Why Me?

"Carl H.", a registered sex offender, writes in after being locked out by MySpace:

First of all, I am a registered sex offender myself, and have been offense free (by the grace of God. Yes, He really does help people, even sex offenders!) for the last nine years of my life.

I had, up until this afternoon, a MySpace account. Certainly, I had a few minors as friends, simply because I'm in an online Gaming Clan, which has both adults and minors playing together. None -- I repeat in caps, NONE -- of my conversations with any of them, which are few and far between, have ever even come close to the border of inappropriate.
I have never discussed sex at all with any of them, nor do I make any innuendos or allude to any desire for them -- namely because I have none.

I am devoted to my fully adult girlfriend, and have no desire for minors: female or male. Yet, in an act that completely throws fairness and justice to the wind, I have been banned from the site ... due to the fact that some sex offenders have used the site for wicked intentions. How is this fair? Or, more importantly, how is this right? ...

I use (MySpace) for the most part to find good music bands to listen to, as well as more buddies to game with.

Are we so choked by fear as a country that we've forgotten or denied the ability of persons to change? Change, contrary to popular thought, is POSSIBLE. I have not committed another sex crime in the nine years since my conviction. And I'm not alone in such a claim.

I asked Carl H. to provide his name and contact information so I could verify his story, and I agreed not to identify him. He checks out. His entry in the Megan's Law site for his state provides no details on the nature of his offense, except that it was non-violent. In a telephone interview, he says his victim was an adult, and the offense was "like touching inappropriately an adult. Making unwanted sexual advances."

He says he understands why people might feel better with a MySpace sex offender ban. "In a sense I can understand why they do that ... But why not (also) do it for identity theft convictions, drug dealing conviction, murder convictions? Because criminals use MySpace for these things as well."

He says he thinks MySpace should monitor its site and kick off pedophiles, while leaving ex-offenders alone.

"If they have snippets of conversations where they're saying, 'Hey, what are you wearing?' Anything close to inappropriate, then do something about that. But if there's somebody out there who's just minding their own business and using it, as they say in the title, as 'A Place for Friends,' I don't see anything wrong."

Carl H. tried getting a new account under different names, but with his same birth date, and was blocked each time. His girlfriend loaned him her account, though, and he was able to log in with that, he says.