It has a small deterrent effect on first time offenders. However, the study also notes that it does not significantly affect repeat offenders, there's little di

It has a small deterrent effect on first time offenders. However, the study also notes that it does not significantly affect repeat offenders, there's little difference in how "dangerous" (likely to reoffend) registered offenders are vs ones who forget/refuse to be registered, putting the list online had little effect. It also notes that in terms of community safety, it may be harmful because it encourages offenders to plea to non-sexual charges and the courts to allow them to due to the scarlet letter nature of the registry. Systems like we are discussing can and do exist, I just don't see them as a necessary or particularly effective solution...especially when compared with the necessary trade-offs. Look at AOL, which during it's hey-day was basically this sort of walled garden. You needed a phone #, name, address, payment combination to register. Many chatrooms were patrolled by moderators...there were even investigations and "stings" of trouble-makers. If you got TOS'd too many times you were permanently banned. However trolling, illegal activity, pornography, etc thrived pretty well regardless. It was easy to evade the bans and there was a steady flow of new trolls. I think the best solution in terms of respect for privacy and effectiveness is a combination of crowd-sourced moderation and intelligent detection of likely "trolling" and problem posters by software.