[Infowarrior] - Judge: Americans need background checks to date internationally

[Richard Forno]

US Judge Affirms IMBRA: Americans Must Have Criminal Checks Before
Contacting Foreigners on Internet

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2007/4/prweb515227.htm

A new federal law that makes it a crime for Americans to communicate with
foreigners on dating websites without criminal background checks is upheld
by a federal judge.

Washington, DC (PRWEB) April 2, 2007 -- On March 26, 2007, a new federal law
restricting Americans from contacting foreigners through internet dating
sites was upheld by a federal court after a Constitutional challenge by an
internet dating company. In European Connections v. Alberto Gonzales,
1:06-CV-0426-CC, Judge Clarence Cooper of the US District Court for the
Northern District of Georgia dismissed a lawsuit by European Connections
which claimed that the law violated the right to freedom of speech contained
in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. The plaintiff had
failed to challenge the law based on the First Amendment right to assemble.

According to Tristan Laurent, President of the advocacy group Online Dating
Rights, "We will now have to take legal action from the point of view of the
users of online dating sites. The whole idea that it is now a crime for
American men to send emails to women in other countries is so preposterous
it is beyond belief. The judge's ruling that there is no Constitutional
violation in forcing Americans to divulge all sorts of highly personal
information to a complete stranger or scammer abroad before the American can
even say hello or know to whom he is writing is only exceeded in foolishness
by Congress in making the law."

The law was originally called the International Matchmaker Regulation Act,
but it did not pass Congress in previous years by that name and it was later
named the International Marriage Broker Regulation Act (IMBRA) before it
passed on December 17th, 2005. The law, which was attached to the
reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) was apparently not
debated in public and Mr. Laurent says that no dating company or dating site
user was invited to a closed-door Senate hearing in July 2004.

IMBRA makes it a felony for an internet dating company, that primarily
focuses on introducing Americans to foreigners, to allow any American to
communicate with any person of foreign nationality without first subjecting
that American to a criminal background check, a sex offender check and
without first having the American certify any previous convictions or
arrests, any previous marriages or divorces any children and all states of
residence since 18. Match.com is excluded from the law, and the judge found
that this exception posed no challenge to the Fifth Amendment equal
protection clause because American women are supposedly not abused by
American men that they meet on the internet, and thus are not in need of
protection.

The law was sponsored by Sen. Sam Brownback, R-KS and Sen. Maria Cantwell,
D-WA and was championed by key women's groups. The law was passed after
these groups made claims that foreign women who marry American men are
subjected to higher rates of abuse than are American women. However, the
only study that addresses this issue was done by the INS in 1999 and it
found that the rate of abuse in such international marriages is one-seventh
the rate of abuse in domestic marriages. See
http://www.online-dating-rights.com/index.php?ind=downloads&op=entry_view&id
en=24

Online Dating Rights Director of Public Relations Jim Peterson said of the
judge's ruling: "It is a sad day for freedom in our country when an American
has to have a criminal background check before he can say 'Hello" to a
foreigner through the internet." He also said that "America is the only
country in the world that regulates communication between two consenting
adults seeking to communicate via internet, with the possible exceptions of
China and North Korea. Without new email technology, IMBRA could not have
been even feasible because people generally sent paper letters to each
other's home addresses just a few years ago. Is it right for the US
government to make a form of communication illegal when it was the only form
of communication possible just a few years ago?"

The law has been attacked in a bipartisan fashion by prominent feminist
Wendy McElroy 
http://www.ifeminists.net/introduction/editorials/2006/0111.html and by
men's rights supporter David Usher
http://capitolhillcoffeehouse.com/more.php?id=2444_0_1_0_M and by
immigration attorney Gary Bala
http://www.online-dating-rights.com/index.php?ind=downloads&op=entry_view&id
en=21

Mr. Laurent says that his organization has undertaken a fundraising drive to
raise $100,000 for a class-action suit against the government on behalf of
all the men who can no longer contact women in Canada, England, Germany,
Russia and the Philippines due to this law. Contributors are asked to visit
the website at www.online-dating-rights.com.

Both Mr. Laurent and Mr. Peterson are available for media interviews but
since both have to work for a living and do not receive federal taxpayer
funding, arrangements for telephone interviews should be made by email if
possible. Contact Mr. Laurent at onlinedatingrights @ yahoo.com and Mr.
Peterson at veterans @ veteransabroad.com