scary as all hell!!!

people simply don't realize what they are doing that ends up jeopardizing themselves.

This is a great article - thank you REW. I know many of the commentators are focused on why the young man did not give all his info and of course they see it as an attempt to be the boogy man online. The pint that miss is that he is a very young man that grew up in a digital age - just becasue he does not want big brother breathing down his neck on the internet does not mean he is going to do criminal activity.

I really do despair when I read some of the comments - for instance, one commentator said that we should ask the parents of an abused child how they feel? That same poster should ask the parents of that child who abused the child? Was it some unknown internet creep? No, you and I know it was someone known to them or a family member and most likely not a person on any registry.

An excellent article.People don't realize the amount of surveillance is out there. Game boxes, smart TV & telephones that have audio/video recognition, send that data to a 3rd party which interprets it and sends the proper command back to the device. It's just an easy step to collect that information (that we freely give!)

People think Facebook is cool because they can share with friends and family but fail to add big business and government. Email is read to magically provide advertisements to you. (We now know the government has been collecting it.) Police use license plate readers keeping the data on where everybody goes for years. Police use fake cell towers to track you.

Recently a smartphone app called WAZE was being criticized by police as "Unsafe" for them because it tells you where the police are. (But it's perfectly safe for them to know where YOU are!)

A "Furby" a computer? Absolutely! We have watches that have more power than what was used to go to the moon! Coffee makers and toasters now have computers!

What if you have a new car with internet?

Yes, and I saw an article that told how for several years now certain car dealers and manufacturers have been selling cars with GPS monitors on them to track the cars - they idea is that they can repossess easier but the fact is that means they and others can track every place you go - I will say again this is NOT the country it once was - I still consider it the home of the brave (for the most part) but it is no longer the land of the free in any way, shape, or form.

Interesting, Advocate, that you bring up the post about "how the parents of the victim feel." I think these kinds of comments are very dangerous because they are communication stoppers. They are meant to emphasize individual victimization over the issues that these problems create for society as a whole. Focussing on that leaves us stuck in the victim mindset, thus, creating more and more victims as it spreads...including us!

I know I'm preaching to the choir with this, but hasn't our society had enough of the already?

I agree Peek - and the way the comment was worded sounded like they were not even the victim or the family of the victim - like you said they just threw it in there

My son has permission but he must be monitored. He's owned a laptop for months now but hasn't opened the box. The idea of no privacy is scary for him. He didn't do anything before and he's afraid they'll turn something into nothing.

I wonder if some who have permission to use the internet, yet don't have to be monitored.

Rew - thanks for posting. I met Andrew (I think Jackie met Andrew as well) at the National RSOL meeting in July 2014 in Dallas. I heard about this particular MD case a while ago.

The amount of monitoring is absolutely staggering. I do know that I have been sent bogus e-mails from undercover police officers posing as people I knew from group. I have become quite paranoid, but I'm dealing with it. :)

Nak - back when I was on probation, I was allowed to use the Internet. They didn't ask to monitor any of my equipment. I did have one PO that tried to stop me from using a smartphone, but I was able to convince her that it was job use only and that without it, I could lose my job. I voluntarily gave it to her to review. She didn't bother me after that one time.

I know that in many states Internet usage is either banned outright or heavily monitored. I agree with your son's concerns. I would feel the same way too. The scary thing is that I could not do my job if I had to be monitored. I handle multiple systems and my company's clients would never accept monitoring.

The interesting thing is that Trevor's comment in the article about the 1990's mentality of police, etc is spot on. They really don't have a clue. However, I don't like the fact that Trevor gave obsolete or false information. If you have to hide something, then you shouldn't be doing it.

Barinin.. We're going to try to go the legal route to get his 'monitoring' taken out of the equation. His release papers say 'with permission' but nothing about monitoring. So there's hope, just have to pay a lawyer to deal with it.


Would love to get my son a cell phone. He's part of my business so maybe we can take that route as well.

This is just another way to isolate the RSOs. In war Isolation is the first thing you do to your enemy. These computer restrictions, in these days where everything is internet, is unconstitutional.

Unfortunately the PO can state the terms of computer use including monitoring.

When I moved to SC I wanted to continue working as a programmer remotely but my PO in VT said only with monitoring. My company would not go along with that so I retired. After I was in SC for a year my new PO allowed computer & smartphone without monitoring.

Surprisingly FL seems to have a good system for this - once the RSO is in a program the counselor creates a plan for using the internet - then you have to get a program called Covenant Eyes (of course you have to pay for it but it is minimal) - the counselor gets a report on the RSO internet usage. You can also put it on your smart phone etc.