GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION 2009
SESSION LAW 2009-272
HOUSE BILL 1267
AN ACT to amend the law regarding liability of a commercial social networking site to provide that the web site shall not be held civilly liable for damages arising out of communications on the web site if the web site makes a good-faith attempt to screen out users who are in the statewide sex offender registry.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1. G.S. 14-202.5A reads as rewritten:
"§ 14-202.5A. Liability of commercial social networking sites.
(a) Notwithstanding
the provisions of G.S. 14-208.15A(f), a commercial social networking site,
as defined in G.S. 14-202.5, may be held civilly liable for damages for
failing to make reasonable efforts to prevent a sex offender who is registered
in accordance with Article 27A of Chapter 14 of the General Statutes to access
its Web site.A commercial social networking site, as defined in
G.S. 14-202.5, that complies with G.S. 14-208.15A or makes other
reasonable efforts to prevent a sex offender who is registered in accordance
with Article 27A of Chapter 14 of the General Statutes from accessing its Web
site shall not be held civilly liable for damages arising out of a person's
communications on the social networking site's system or network regardless of
that person's status as a registered sex offender in North Carolina or any
other jurisdiction.
(b) For the purposes of this section, "access" is defined as allowing the sex offender to do any of the activities or actions described in G.S. 14-202.5(b)(2) through G.S. 14-202.5(b)(4) by utilizing the Web site."
SECTION 2. G.S. 14-208.15A(d) reads as rewritten:
"(d) The Division shall
develop criteria and adopt rules standards regarding the release
and use of online identifier information. The criteria standards shall
include a requirement that the information obtained from the statewide registry
shall not be disclosed for any purpose other than for prescreening its users or
comparing the database of registered users of the entity against the list of
online identifiers of persons in the statewide registry."
SECTION 3. This act becomes effective May 1, 2009.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 8th day of July, 2009.
s/ Walter H. Dalton
President of the Senate
s/ Joe Hackney
Speaker of the House of Representatives
s/ Beverly E. Perdue
Governor
Approved 10:40 a.m. this 10th day of July, 2009