The Supreme Court seems unhappy with a social-media ban for sex offenders

THE rape and murder of seven-year-old Megan Kanka in 1994 inspired a host of federal and state laws tracking sexual predators and publicising information on their crimes and whereabouts. Many states also passed laws keeping such criminals away from schools, playgrounds and parks. In 2008, in an attempt to expand this zone of protection into the virtual world, North Carolina barred registered sex offenders from “access[ing]” social networking sites where minors are “know[n]” to have accounts.

It seems the Tar Heel state may have overreached. The law did not receive a welcome greeting at the Supreme Court on February 27th when the justices heard Packingham v North Carolina, a case asking whether kicking sex offenders off wide swaths of the internet jibes with the First Amendment’s free-speech guarantee. In 2002, Lester Packingham, then 21, was convicted of “taking indecent liberties” with a 13-year-old girl. Eight years later, Mr Packingham defied what he saw as the “ridiculous” social-media ban by writing a Facebook post celebrating the dismissal of a traffic ticket. Authorities soon came across his post and prosecuted him.

Mr...Continue reading