NY State Gets Thousands of Sex Offenders Kicked Off Online Gaming Sites

More than 2,100 additional accounts of registered sex offenders have been purged from online gaming platforms as part of “Operation: Game Over,” an initiative to protect children from predators on online gaming networks, according to New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman

Five additional companies, including Gaia Online, NCSOFT Corporation, FunCon and THQ, Inc., have agreed to participate. Schneiderman said the latest action builds upon an agreement earlier this year that led to more than 3,500 accounts of registered sex offenders being purged from other major online gaming companies including Microsoft, Apple, Blizzard Entertainment, Electronic Arts, Disney Interactive Media Group, Warner Brothers and Sony.

“The Internet is the crime scene of the 21st century, and we must ensure that online video game platforms do not become a digital playground for dangerous predators," Schneiderman said. "That means doing everything possible to block sex offenders from using gaming systems as a vehicle to prey on underage victims. I applaud the online gaming companies that have purged registered sex offenders from their networks in time for the holiday season. Together, we are making the online community a safer place for the children of New York.”

Under New York State’s Electronic Securing and Targeting of Online Predators Act (e-STOP) law, convicted sex offenders must register all of their e-mail addresses, screen names, and other Internet identifiers with the state. That information is then made available to certain websites so they can purge potential predators from their online worlds. Operation: Game Over is the first time e-STOP has been applied to online gaming platforms. 

Schneiderman said many online video game platforms allow users to access the Internet and send messages to other players anonymously. Parents often do not realize that gaming consoles have these capabilities, or that parental controls exist for these systems, he said.

According to the Pew Research Center, 97% of teens (12-17) play computer, web, portable, or console games and 27% of teens (12-17) play games with people they don’t know online.

More than 2,100 additional accounts of New York state sex offenders have been purged from the gaming platforms of additional companies including Gaia Online, NCSOFT Corporation, FunCon and THQ, Inc. The additional accounts include those from Sony, which had agreed to participate in the first phase of Operation: Game Over but was unable to complete the identification process by the announcement deadline, Schneiderman said. 

Operation: Game Over coincides with recent incidents of sexual predators using voice and text chat functions in online gaming services to lure underage victims across the country, Schneiderman said. In 2011, a 19-year-old man in Monroe County, NY, was indicted on sexual abuse charges after allegedly meeting a 12-year-old boy on the popular online video game system Xbox Live.

Schneiderman said the man gained the boy’s trust over a period of three months, then invited the boy over to his house where the abuse occurred.

“I applaud Attorney General Schneiderman for continuing this bold action to protect New York’s children from becoming victims," said Laura A. Ahearn, L.M.S.W., executive director of Parents for Megan’s Law and the Crime Victims Center. "This is a groundbreaking effort that keeps the online community safer for our children, and sends a strong message that sexual predators can’t hide behind anonymous profiles online to prey on victims anymore.

New York State has more than 34,000 registered sex offenders: 13,260 are level 1 registered offenders (lowest risk of repeat offense); 12,342 are level 2 registered offenders (moderate risk of repeat offense); 8,596 are level 3 registered sex offenders (high risk of repeat offense and a threat to public safety exists), according to the state Division of Criminal Justice Services.

There are a total of approximately 750,000 registered sex offenders in the United States.

Schneiderman says parents can take steps to protect children from sexual predators from online video game networks:

• Choose games appropriate for your child’s age and maturity level;
• Use your game console’s parental controls (control which games can be played, for how long, and whether they can play online;
• Keep computer or game console in a public area of the home; and
• Talk to your kids about how to protect identifying information, and to avoid and report conversations that make them uncomfortable.

Coordination between the Attorney General’s office, DCJS and the gaming companies is being handled by the Internet Bureau, under the supervision of Senior Advisor & Counselor to the Attorney General Gregory M. Krakower, Assistant Attorney General Clark Russell and Executive Deputy Attorney General for Economic Justice Karla G. Sanchez.