Facebook Addiction Puts Sex Offender in Prison

Facebook and Myspace addiction has earned a sex offender from Arizona 10 years in the slammer. William Hall—convicted of “attempted sexual exploitation of a minor” and “surreptitious photographing” in October 2010—was initially sentenced to 10 years' probation. One of his conditions was that he must not use or possess computer equipment, or access the Internet without written approval from a probation officer. Hall—a Web designer—needed to use the internet for work, but was closely supervised through spyware. When he was caught using Facebook and Myspace, his probation officer blocked those sites. But Hall worked around this by using a desktop he hadn't handed over. When his probation officer busted him, the court was alerted to Hall's probation violation and he was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Social media addiction has gotten a lot of attention lately, with some reports claiming sites like Facebook are just as additive as drugs, alcohol and cigarettes. Having to stay offline is becoming a common probation condition for sex offenders, to prevent them from seeking out new prey.