Internet Leash Can Monitor Sex Offenders

Officials in Sangamon County, Ill., are using software to restrict the Internet communications of sex offenders.

Jim McIntire says he likes the computer program that monitors his every move online. "The software is great," he said, because "it keeps a real tight rope" on him.

Most people might not feel the same way about the program, called Cyber Sentinel, but most people are not sex offenders. Mr. McIntire, 33, is one of four probationers in Sangamon County, Ill., being monitored in a trial of the software. Whenever the system detects suspicious activity, it captures whatever is on the screen at the time, stores it on the user's hard drive and sends an e-mail message to the county probation office.

For years, computer safety experts have recommended that parents who worry about sexual predators online install software like Cyber Sentinel, which was designed to restrict or monitor the Internet communication of young users. What Sangamon County officials have decided to do is use the same tools on offenders' machines. The manufacturer and law enforcement officials believe that this is the first time such software is being used this way.

The county's test is "stopping the problem at the source," said Daniel E. Jude, president of Security Software Systems, the company that makes the product.

The program works by monitoring everything that crosses the computer screen and comparing the sites visited and the words appearing on the screen with a database of sexually oriented sites and phrases. The company strengthened the law enforcement version of the product by adding messages commonly used by pedophiles trying to approach children online, including "do you like older men," "does anyone else use your computer" and "I won't hurt you."

The state put a good deal of effort into writing its own code the regulations surrounding an offender's use of computers "to get the language tight enough," said Don E. Spurlin, a senior probation officer with the county. The resulting six- point form, which must be signed by anyone who takes part in the Cyber Sentinel test, requires that all computers the probationer uses be registered with the department and prohibits the use of any other computer. Using a computer in a library, or having a second laptop on the side, Mr. Spurlin said, would violate the terms of probation and could mean prison.

Michael J. Torchia, director of the county adult probation office, said the program "allows us to be in that person's home 24 hours a day, seven days a week, monitoring that person's activity."

Mr. McIntire said that in the first two weeks the system was on his computer, it sent dozens of warning messages to his probation officer, Mr. Spurlin. They turned out to be false alarms, set off by the use of four-letter words in activities like online poker games with friends, he said. He liked the human backup: Mr. Spurlin checked each computerized warning and cleared him.

"It's not that smart," Mr. Spurlin said of the software. "It's up to the further investigation skills of the probation officer to decide that a violation has occurred."

Mr. McIntire said the close scrutiny had taken some getting used to.

"At first I thought it was an invasion of my privacy," he said, but over time he changed his mind, recognizing that with the software in place, there was little chance he could stray.

Because of counseling, "my odds of offending are pretty nil to none" in any case, Mr. McIntire said. But he added that the program would help prevent crimes by more serious offenders and those prone to recidivism.

The county, which includes the state capital, Springfield, has a population of 190,000, of whom 270 are registered sex offenders, Mr. Torchia said. Seventy people are on probation for sex offenses, he said, and of those, fewer than a dozen own computers.

The four people on probation who are using the software were asked for their permission first, since the monitoring constitutes a change in the initial terms of their probation, and all agreed to it. But in the future, the county will require all convicted sex offenders put on probation to have the software installed. Probation typically runs four years.

Probation offices in other Illinois counties are watching the Sangamon County project carefully, and so are many parole offices, Mr. Spurlin said.

"There's definitely a sense that this could spread," he said. "This could really explode."

That is the hope of Mr. Jude, of Security Software Systems. His company, based in Sugar Grove, Ill., already sells its software to schools and businesses to monitor Internet use. Mr. Jude predicts that it could sell 100,000 copies of the software nationwide, at $40 a copy, over the next year.

Michael Godwin, an expert in civil liberties in the online world, said the concept of using surveillance technology for sex offenders made sense. Mr. Godwin, a policy fellow at the Center for Democracy and Technology, in Washington, said those convicted of crimes had already given up much of their right to privacy. In the past, he said, probation officers had simply refused to allow offenders to use computers.

"It strikes a more human balance than the flat prohibitions used to," Mr. Godwin said. "In order to reintegrate into society and to be a normal, functioning citizen, you're more likely than not going to have to use computers."