Vision 20/20 offers a free web based mashup of sex offender data and Windows Live Maps.
Users simply add their address, city and/ or zip code to the Vision 20/20 site, and then the locations of sex offenders in the immediate vicinity are displayed over a map. Clicking on each sex offender leads to a profile which includes the name, address, and crimes of the sex offender, as well as a mug shot.
It does seem like a rather logical use for a maps mashup, and it functions well. According to Vision 20/20’s publicity there is 650,000 registered sex offenders in the United States, now everyone can find out where they live.
Thanks for the link. My state has a sex offender website, but it’s not nearly as useful.
Cool idea, and the functionality is all there, but…
I don’t need this to tell me that this guy is a sex offender: http://locator....n%5C8882130.jpg
Hes smiling at least lol
dfg
LMFAO!!! XD
Im scared to look at my address but it is nice to see mashups with maps that arent made by google.
Thanks for the link–paranoia’s just a mashup away!
Not sure how these folks are going to make money — especially since my state duplicates the effort.
Another way to get the word out though — and you can’t have too much of that — in this case.
the little mustaches are a nice touch for the bad folks.
This should easily be acquired by the govt. very well done.
Doesn’t appear to work in Mac OS X/Safari. All kinds of errors when trying to use the locator. It might work if it used google maps instead of Microsoft’s crappy system.
OK, it works in Firefox on Mac OS X. Happily, no offenders located within the 20 mile radius allowed.
I still like Google maps better. It’s far more intuitive and natural.
Yikes, there are 12 offenders within a 5-mile radius of where my young adolescent son lives
“I still like Google maps better. It’s far more intuitive and natural.”
Thats a complete troll. They are virtually identical. Its a MAP.
i didn’t realize there were so many, after typing in my address.
11 offenders within a mile radius!
they should be dragged out of their homes and beaten to a pulp.
this site is a real eye-opener – disgusting, to say the least
There’s one living down the road. That’s comforting.
thanks for link
but as Nameless say i think google map better than it
If they are truly guilty I’ll be first in line to dish out the beating. But I wouldn’t be so quick to call them out. You’re assuming they are really guilty. Do you know anyone who got screwed because his wife was trying to gain leverage in a divorce proceeding? There are lots of those cases. I know one guy. He was convicted based only on the testimony of his estranged wife who was about to lose custody of the kids in the divorce. You don’t know the evils of the courts or Child Protection Services until you’ve seen it happen to someone.
Ok, that was off topic. The mashup is kinda cool from the technical point of view.
I wonder about the timeliness and reliability of this data coming from a third-party provider. Since all local governments in the states around me offer a similar service, it seems to me that going straight to the source would make more sense.
monetizing is easy: allow parents to buy premium accounts with a monthly fee which will notify them by email whenever a new sex offender is added in their area.
With all parents scared shitless by the media, this would be an easy million dollar a month idea
and advertising is easy, just take out ads in magazines that target mothers
This was done several years ago with Google maps by a guy on a whim ( I think he knocked it together over the course of an evening. After some discussion with the community at large he removed the service. The discussion surrounding his reason to remove what many viewed as a valuable resource is worth reading and can be found at this link:
http://www.naff...s.com/somapper/
It’s thoughtful reading material…
What’s wrong with all these people? I’m shocked to see so many child molesters in what I thought to be a peaceful small town
Holy shit. I have a sex offender next street
(. I have two young daughters. I think I just lost my sleep.
@21 actually those would be prime targets…think about it…everyone trusts everyone. Parents are working to afford the house. Kids are dropped off miles away from their house and walk home alone.
This is not the first one. My wife showed me one the other day – she will try to send me the link so I can post it. Also when I just asked her, she also mentioned that there are a bunch with the same map functionality.
http://www.familywatchdog.us – this is the one my wife showed me. Also, it has more complete data although it is not as pretty
Im not sure I entirely agree with this. While I can understand that many ppl want to know this information, it opens all these fellons to victimization which is not entirely right.
While there is a % chance that they will reoffend again, it still begs the question whether knowing this information will help stop these people ? All its going to do is get people to commit hate crimes against these guys which is unfair if they have done nothing wrong (and is unfair even if they have, but thats life)
So I’m not sure this website is entirely ethical.
My 2 cents….
Tcruncher2 clearly doesn’t have kids, nor has he heard of Megan’s law. which, btw, has had this information on their site for a few years before vision 20/20 came along.
I wonder if Uncle Pete is on here.
Posting from outside the US, I find this rather disturbing. If someone’s committed a crime and served their time, can they not have the opportunity to be rehabilitated into society rather than ostracised in this manner? If they re-offend, then throw the book at them. But if they’re making a real effort to build up a normal life, then why jeopardise that by posting their details and photos for all to see on some map mashup?
Personally, I don’t care if I’m living next door to a serial killer. If my government’s decided it’s safe for them to be out and about in the community, that’s good enough for me. I’d be more concerned to be living next to the sort of person who’d use this website to find people to victimise…
I tried to buy the tracking system for my kids and dog and all the links are dead.
Cool site though.
Something’s not right with the data they get from the Seattle area. Only two offenders within a 20mi radius of Mercer Island?
Which brings up the real issue with sites like these: yeah, cool graphics and map mashups make it easy to read, but unless they have 100% coverage (especially in YOUR neighborhood), it’s at best useless and at worst dangerous if it gives you a false sense of security.
Judging from the picture, Sir Les Patterson is alive and well in San Francisco! Keep a good look out for rustling shrubs near your kids school!
this sick. isn’t the law supposed to keep an eye on it? not you.
when ur done with the usual blah blah (i want to save my kids…),
use ur brain!
besides giving you a total false sense of (in)security, you also
do vigilante justice. and vigilante justice makes you no better.
I think I am going to launch what will surely be a massive Web 2.o success story for the ages. Maybe launch a site that list the names of anyone who bounced a check in the past 2 years or were late for their mortgage payment , credit card bills, telephone bill. I will add ral value to it by adding a list of all automobile reposessions nation wide. Next will be to list everyone who has had a traffic ticket in the past year. Oh yeah, how about a list on people I know who tried to hook up on line when they’re married or have a b/f or g/f. Hmm, maybe a list of teachers in public schools who drink or do a little weed from time to time. Or even better, I put the names of a couple of TC posters on this Blog who are on Megans List, or Bloggers who try to hook up with people who post comments on their blog. Damn, come to think of if, I could become King of America with this; nooooooooo, wait, I could actually become GOD ALMIGHTY. Damn, this sounds good. This way anyone listed on the site can’t live a normal life………ever. Face it folks, this Web20. is worse than BIG BROTHER can ever be. What a sick f*cking country we live in.
it’s very cool.
Hey! You can see my house from here. Uh oh…
I find it interesting that a post about a company offering a service (and the relative morality of that service) actually has people commenting on the use of the map system! I haven’t seen a single comment on what web server, database or programming language was used. I guess it’s just a sign of the times – anything that pits Microsoft and Google (and their fanboyz) against each other must be highlighted. Well – to that end, here’s to the “crappy Microsoft system” and the responder who said it’s “nice to see a mashup not using Google Maps”!
http://www.pcwo...&zoomIdx=4#
Sexist icons. I searched my neighborhood, and even though 4 of the 20 found were female, each was indicated by the same mustache and beanie wearing icon. Especially shameful since the sex of the offender is available in the data.
Update to above, I should specify by neighborhood, I meant “town”, and it brought up a 25 square mile image. My neighborhood isn’t that bad! Also, only one was female, but still, same male icon.
Terrific! now let’s apply the same technology to other “offensive” groups…
nose-pickers in the neighbourhood, people who haven’t paid their parking tickets, fundamentalist Christians with their heads up their asses, politicians with IQs lower than room temperature (oops.. that’s all of them and I’m measuring in Celsius!), owners of gas-guzzling SUVs, people who actually voted for George Bush, etc etc.
I’m sure the KKK could use a “niggers within nine miles” map.
Witch-hunters of the world, you now have the technology you need!!!!!!!!!
Why on earth are all of the sex offender avatars Mexican? (Yes, I’m Mexican. No, I don’t have a chip on my shoulder.)
I’m gonna hunt down a few of my neighbors. Anything to keep my boo-boo safe!
Patently offensive. At least they list the offender’s crimes, so that people in the registry for public urination can get at least somewhat of a fair shake. Of course, teens convicted of sex with another minor are fubared, because it will just show up as sex with a minor.
Next up, let’s put a mashup with the addresses of doctors who perform abortions. And after that, let’s tie in the government’s database of dangerous brown people who might be trying to harm us. If we could just get a copy of the “no fly” list, we’d be set. Cuz everyone knows that federal data is accurate.
A mashup like this – as you choose not to go into details of technology – reported just for the use of “now you can see …”
Duncan, I am surprised to see that comment of yours as “now everybody can see where they live” – at least add to this the information for the international user what sex offender means in the states.
Which can be anything from urinating in public or flashing your boobs up to real serious stuff.
If at all this belongs in the category of dangerous in the false hand reports, because information which needs to be interpreted (sic) gets into an easy format. This mashup is boulevard style and simplifying – not for a society I want to live in.
(Not that I really think I want to live in the states anyhow, but that is a different issue)
This information has been publically available for years. I think even the state of california’s website has it.
People who do sex crimes against minors are the lowest of the low. Why do u think they try to conceal their crimes in prison to avoid getting the crap kicked out of them? Even murderers think these guys are despicable. Anyone who tries to compare these people to nose pickers is just plain stupid. If you don’t want your face and address shown on a site like this, think twice about fondling your 10-year-old neighbor next time.
Sure there may be a few dolphins caught in the tuna net on the site, but overall a good public service is being done here.
Actually I doubt that a “service” like this would be legal in Germany. Hopefully. And: I completely agree with Nicole Simon.
This thread is a pretty good indication of the hysteria that attaches itself to the term “sex offender.” Just consider the numbers. 650,000 registered sex offenders? Does anyone really believe that the proportion of “child molesters” in the U.S. adult population could be so high? Someone else on the thread reports that 4 of the 20 “sex offenders” in his neighborhood are female. Again, do people really suppose that 20% of child molesters are women?
Of course not. The reason these numbers are so goofy is that the legal status of sex offender is widely overapplied. By far the most egregious abuse of the term is when minors are tagged with the label for having sex with other minors. That’s right, 17-year-olds who have sex with other 17-year-olds can wind up in this “child molester” database.
So, yes, this gross violation of privacy is basically due to yahoos like Slick Rick spinning paranoid fantasies about “fondling your 10-year-old neighbor.” It’s a shame it’s being promoted here.
And we can’t find Osama?
Why are all the sex offenders members of the Village People?
Also, while these are some very unpleasant people who, if I had children, would leave me lying awake at night, I completely agree with the posters above who raise ethical issues. What’s interesting is the apparent split between US residents and non-US residents in the opinions raised; this isn’t the place for political commentary, but I’m not sure Megan’s Law would have fared very well in many other places.
I was working at a college, and a young man was a registered sex affender. W hen the public found out of his STATIS HE, WAS HARRASSED AND HAD TO LEAVE SCHOOL. He had sex with a girl less than two years younger and her parents freaked out, causing this unfair situation and legal problem for him. the gerneral public only knew of the offense and not the cercomstance. I knew him and met his family and was vary up set that this young man has to go thu this incounter and register as a offender for normsl sex with his then girl friend. They were both monors and parents should not be able to do this to other peoples children.
The information was leaked through the regisration at the sherrif department, the spouse work at the college and the information was spread. posters and flyedr were put up annoucing sex affender in your classes an dormatory. A few people knew the truth and were simpathetic to all this but the gossip and wild fire distorded the young mans education, and he left because, of all the termoil, this was four years later.
This was a shame and should close the file on minor offense. real sex offeses should follow the people who comitt them. normal sex as among cosenting teenagers, should not be included as sex offense.