The Washington Post reports that "The increasingly common law enforcement tactic of having adult officers pose as children in Internet chat rooms to arrest potential sex offenders came under legal attack yesterday when Maryland’s highest court ruled that the law does not allow the prosecution of people who merely believed they were dealing with children."
38 year old Richard J. Moore from Elkridge, Maryland was convicted in 2002 after allegedly engaging in explicit conversations and expressing an interest in having sex with an underage girl – who was, in fact, a Sheriff’s Deputy. The ruling was overturned by the Maryland Court of Appeals who felt Moore shouldn’t have been convicted without the existence of a "real" underage victim. More at the WashingtonPost
Meanwhile, a report to the EU Commission has proposed the creation of a .kid domain for child safe websites (perhaps a better idea than the .xxx domain approved by iCann). The French MEP who authored the report, Marielle de Sarnez, also suggested the creation of a free telephone helpline for parents seeking advice on filtering internet content and keeping their children out of chat rooms where they could be exposed to sexual propositions.
Some countries already do have such hotlines – ModeratorsNet.com has a list that parents, moderators and site owners can use to report illegal behaviour in chat rooms and other online spaces.