NY sex offenders to be shut out of online games

[[SS]Chief]

Is this why Cuervo hasn’t been online? OOOOoooooo....Snip-Snap!

Just kidding dude.

ALBANY – Teams of players who have never met each other were on "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3," at the Pastime Legends Video Store Thursday.

Video store manager Andrew Falkenhainer showed NewsChannel 13 how there's no way to know if they are legitimate players or predators trying to meet children.

"I think there should be screening honestly for sexual predators who are trying to get online to play games, no matter what," he said.

State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman took steps to force predators off video gaming platforms as part of the initiative "Operation Game Over," announcing an agreement with major gam creators to purge the accounts of more than 3500 of New York's registered sex offenders.

"This initiative protects the most vulnerable segment of our population from the most dangerous segment of our population," Schneiderman said.

Schneiderman added that parents may not be aware of conversations going on by text or audio chats while the game is being played. But one Albany parent said he stays on top of who his eight-year-old is playing with.

"I just check his friend list and I contact all his friends and make sure they are children and not adults and I do have parental controls on certain games," said Richard Morales.

But the New York Civil Liberties Union said parents shouldn't let their guard down, just because big companies like Sony, Microsoft, and Apple agree to shut out sex offenders.

"It's going to be very difficult for them to track the predators because they know how to manipulate the Internet and get to children. So the only plausible solution is for parents to educate their children to use the Internet safely," said NYCLU spokesperson Melanie Trimble.

Schneiderman said under State law, convicted sex offenders must register their email addresses, screen names and other internet identifiers, or risk a felony charge.

He said "Operation: Game Over" isn't a complete solution, but it's a step in right direction to keep predators from preying on children online.

[[SS]Shooter]

"Video store manager Andrew Falkenhainer showed NewsChannel 13 how there's no way to know if they are legitimate players or predators trying to meet children."

It's not an either/or situation. You can be both.

[[SS]Chief]

Ha ha......you have waaaayyyyy to much time on your hands Shooter...

[[SS]Shooter]

That's the old picture of you and Tuffy from the thread when he put up a picture of him as a kid and I said he looked like the little kid in the Road Warrior. And someone said you were old enough to be his dad or something...

It has been sitting in my Photobucket for years but now I broke it out!