New Jersey has put forth a bill, the Internet Dating Safety Act.

Bill # S1977 is in the Senate and A4304 is in the house.

The bill is backed by the speaker of the senate, which is the senate leader. This is serious.

From my understanding, this bill has gone through committee after committee with approvals and is near for a full vote. The Internet Alliance, a powerful lobby, has been unable to stop it to date.

We're not trying to cry wolf here, but this is one that needs to be watched. From what we hear, the only person to stop it is a veto from NJ Governor Corzine.

The full text of the bull can be read HERE .

Marc Lesnick
Conference Organizer
Internet Dating Conference

On March 15, 2007, the NJ State Senate Bill S1977 passed in the Senate.

Just a few days ago - on January 8, 2008 - NJ State Assembly Bill A4304, known as the Internet Dating Safety Act passed the Assembly.

The bill included an introduction statement, which spelled out their intentions for the legislation. In it, they say they used the proposed Florida State Legislation as their primary reference.

The bill now goes to NJ State Governor Corzine for signature and final approval to become law.

Two important points:

1) The governor has the right to veto, and that depends much upon the lobbying.

2) I'm not sure if the NJ state legislature has an identical system to US Congress, but, if it does, then it will go through a period called 'markup.' In this stage the bill may be changed to varying degrees. Lobbying does play a role here too. Again, this is only if the NJ State system is similar to US Congress. It is also unlikely as both the Senate and Assembly bills are identical.

Sorry to report this one.

Marc Lesnick
Conference Organizer
Internet Dating Conference

True.com added their 2 cents:

True's Press Release

One of the executives in the industry mentioned to me an interesting conspiracy theory:



Interesting theory nonetheless.

Marc Lesnick
Conference Organizer
Internet Dating Conference