Registering Internet Identifiers – Revised

Florida Statute 943.0435(4)(e)1 requires all registered offenders to register email addresses and internet identifiers with their local jurisdiction within 48 hours of initial use.  The internet identifiers are your username (moniker, designation, screen name, or other name used for self-identification)  and the software, website, or app that are being used. 

 

Due to the vagueness of the requirement relative to the broadness of account needs through the internet, litigation was pursued to overturn this requirement.  

 

While the language of the statute remains unchanged, the court ruling provided some clarity on what is required to register and what is not required.

 

If you are using the internet in any capacity where you will be communicating directly with another user (one on one) that account, website, app and/or software is required to be registered within 48 hours of its first use.  

 

To clarify, the Judge cited a quote from the FDLE Commissioner of the time saying “the requirement to register an internet identifier is triggered only by user to user communication.”

 

Exceptions to this requirement are commerce, banking, government, medical and like accounts.

 

If you have access to the FDLE Cyber Communication System, you can update internet identifiers regularly on that site.  

 

Questions about what should be and should not be registered arise regularly and understandably.  

An additional memo on this issue from the Florida Justice Institute has been added below in the hopes it answers some of the recurring questions appearing in the comments.

SOURCE:  

A memo from the Florida Justice Institute:

To: All Individuals Required to Register with the Florida Sexual Offender/Predator Registry.

As you probably know, the Florida sexual offender/predator registration laws require that, within 48 hours after using an “Internet identifier,” you must register that identifier with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE). “Internet identifier” is defined as “any designation, moniker, screen name, username, or other name used for self-identification to send or receive social Internet communication.”
As a result of a lawsuit, on September 21, 2018, a federal judge in the Northern District of Florida issued an Order explaining and interpreting the law, as follows:

First, the Order summarized four situations in which you do not have to register an identifier, stating: A username need not be registered based only on [1] a communication whose primary purpose is to facilitate a commercial transaction involving goods or services, or [2] a communication over a website whose primary purpose is the dissemination of news, or [3] a communication with a governmental entity. And a username need not be registered based only on [4] its use on a website or application that does not allow users to create web pages or profiles….

Second, the Order clarified that, in addition to the four above-listed exceptions, registrants only have to register Internet identifiers after they actually use an identifier to communicate over the Internet directly with another user. We interpret this to mean that you do not have to report an identifier if it is used just to browse a website, unless and until you actually use that identifier to communicate directly with another person. This is true even if your use of the identifier falls outside of the four exceptions noted above. Third, the Order prohibits the FDLE from making available to the public the identity of a registrant associated with any given email address or Internet identifier (although it can still give this information to law enforcement agencies). This means that if someone sends a public records request to the FDLE asking for all the identifiers and emails associated with a given registrant, or the identity of a registrant associated with a given email or identifier, the FDLE is not allowed to provide that  nformation. However, FDLE will still be permitted, as it has always been, to verify that an identifier is associated with a registrant (without identifying the specific registrant).

This is only a general description of the Order, which you can read in full at www.floridajusticeinstitute.org/order. There are also further requirements in the Internet identifier provisions not covered here, for which you should read Florida Statutes § 943.0435 and § 775.21 in full. If you need advice on how the statutes apply to you, you should consult your own attorney. If you are on probation, you may wish to consult with your probation officer as to whether any special conditions of probation restricting Internet use apply in your case. If you are arrested for violating the Internet identifier provisions, you are encouraged to raise the issues described in this notice with your criminal defense lawyer.

54 thoughts on “Registering Internet Identifiers – Revised

  • January 20, 2024

    I have a funny question about this, there are tons of Adult cam sites out there, that people pay to go on, I am assuming this is commerce? If someone uses these pages, must it be registered If you are a registered Citizen?

    Reply
  • January 17, 2024

    I refused to be subject to the ridiculous whims of Florida. I moved out. I understand that not everybody has the ability to move right away. Get out of Florida. Why would anyone subject themselves to more and more requirements every year.
    When I moved to Florida in 2016 it wasn’t this bad. When the cops started coming to my house at all hours and I had to sue the county for my rights, that’s when I decided to leave and never return.

    Reply
    • January 21, 2024

      My question however is even if you move out of Florida as I have they still list you on the registry with an out of state or country address. Could you still be in violation if you don’t update any new emails and accounts? It’s not clear to me am I missing something because you are still on Floridas registry

      I would like to add as I’m sure all of you know no one size fits all when it comes to Florida law depending on your jurisdiction you are required to report things that are not even required under the registry and the reality is we all can say this is illegal and this isn’t fair but you will get arrested you will spend money fighting you may or may not win you sure will pay for a attorney. I personally have had a high-level of respect for the people that have dealt with me and my county when I was on the registry they were actually nothing but proffesional but it’s not the same in nearby counties and even my attorney told me you better pray people in your local office never leave because he has after of problems with other less friendly staff that like to imply their own rules. we all know what the local office tells you may not necessarily reflect what FDL says and who is willing to take the chance of an arrest

      Reply
      • January 21, 2024

        As a non resident Florida no longer has any jurisdiction over me. I do not update anything with them. It’s non of their business anymore. The fact that I am still on their registry is troublesome since it is not legal. I am no longer in the state and will ever return.
        There have been no less than 4 attorney’s who have indicated to me that Florida has no right to keep me on their registry since they no longer have jurisdiction.
        In Massachusetts I am a free man. I can come and go as I please without having to check in t=with anybody!

        Reply
        • January 21, 2024

          I understand what you are saying and I am in same as not in Florida HOWEVER I still have a Florida Drivers License own a car and property in the state for tax purposes Florida is still my residence. When I left they told me if you’re going to be gone for more than a few months they simply take you off the registry But if I return I would have to be added back but I’m not really sure how that applies to the statue that covers the Internet identifiers because what Florida seems to do is take your address off the registry but nationally still shows under the new out of Florida address. I eventually plan on going back part time which of course then I will have to decide how much time to actually stay tonight cause further problems I find it a benefit not being reflective with the Florida address.

          Reply
          • January 23, 2024

            Ah yea, you still have an address in Florida. I sold my house, changed my drivers license and have no connections to the state whatsoever. They will never take me off the registry and that has caused my many problems. I live in Massachusetts now and are not in their public registry. So when somebody finds me on Florida’s it causes problems .

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