Government bid to ban sex offenders from Facebook falters

Plans which the government proposed to ban sex offenders from social networking sites have been shelved due to fears they contravene human rights laws.

The government proposal, which was aired earlier this year in April, would have seen registered sex offenders personal details shared with social networking sites so they could enforce the ban.

However, the concern is that such a breach of privacy rights might be open to legal challenge, culminating in the potential measure being shelved for now.

“We’re seeking leave to appeal this decision to the Supreme Court,” the Guardian reported a Home Office spokesman as saying.

A recent report from the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (or CEOP) cited a worrying increase in the usage of social networking sites for grooming.