ASSEMBLY LAW AND PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

ASSEMBLY, No. 4304

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED: November 19, 2007


The Assembly Law and Public Safety Committee reports favorably Assembly Bill No. 4304.

Assembly Bill No. 4304 requires Internet dating services offering services to New Jersey members to provide a safety awareness notice to customers and a notice disclosing whether criminal background screenings on its members have been performed. The bill makes it an unlawful practice and a violation of the Consumer Fraud Act for an Internet dating service to fail to provide the notice required by the bill or falsely indicate that it has performed criminal background screenings in accordance with the bill.

Under the bill, the Internet dating service is required to provide safety awareness notification that includes, at minimum, a list and description of safety measures reasonably designed to increase awareness of safer dating practices as determined by the service.

If an Internet dating service does not conduct criminal background screenings on its members, the service shall disclose that fact clearly and conspicuously to all New Jersey members. The disclosure is required to be in bold, capital letters in at least 12-point type.

If an Internet dating service does conduct criminal background screenings, the service shall disclose that fact and disclose whether it has a policy allowing a member who has been identified as having a criminal conviction to have access to its service to communicate with any New Jersey member. The service also must state that:

criminal background screenings are not foolproof;

they may give members a false sense of security;

they are not a perfect safety solution;

criminals may circumvent even the most sophisticated search technology;

not all criminal records are public in all states and not all databases are up to date;

only publicly available convictions are included in the screening; and

screenings do not cover other types of convictions or arrests or any convictions from foreign countries.

The bill also provides that an Internet service provider does not violate the provisions of the bill solely as a result of serving as an intermediary for the transmission of electronic messages between members of an Internet dating service.

This bill is modeled on a 2006 Florida bill creating the "Florida Internet Dating Safety Awareness Act."


As reported by the committee, this bill is identical to Senate Bill No. 1977 (1R), also reported by the committee on this same date.