Legislation Needed to Close Apparent Loophole

February 9, 2010

BOSTON— Representative Vinny deMacedo, along with his Republican colleagues, is co-sponsoring legislation that would provide greater protection to minors.

An Act to Prohibit the Electronic Transmission of Harmful Material to Minors was drafted in response to the Supreme Judicial Court’s ruling last Friday.  The SJC ruled in favor of a child predator who had been sending sexually explicit content through online communications.

The legislation would expand the statute by prohibiting the dissemination of harmful material to a minor via instant messaging or other online communications.

Representative deMacedo said he was particularly concerned that the state’s statute under which the defendant was convicted had not been updated to reflect society’s current electronic age.

After an examination of the statute and its legislative history, the Court stated that the Legislature must take action if it wanted to ensure that our children are protected from predators seeking to electronically disseminate obscene material to minors.  “It is imperative that we do all that we can to keep up with the ever increasing ways in which cyber-crime is committed.  We can’t allow individuals to fall through the cracks and leave even one child at-risk.”

The bill is already garnering bipartisan support as more than a dozen lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have already signed on to co-sponsor the bill.