I have charged an individual with Online who communicates in a sexually explicit manner to my undercover via Google Voice. Anyone familiar with Google Voice and how it works? AlsoDo you really think our legislature intended to prohibit individuals from talking in a sexually explict manner to minors via the internet or text messaging but not over a good old fashion phone line (whether or not a land line or cell phone)??? Any thoughts?

Google Voice is a VOIP service (Voice Over Internet Protocol). That seems to intuitively fit with "over the Internet" and to distinguish it from an actual wired phone line.

-L.

I don't know anything about Google Voice specifically, but a VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) is nothing more than a phone line run over the internet. I use the MagicJack at home which is a VOIP as my regular phone line. It is just hooked to my computer. Again, I don't know the law in this area, but it is definately(I am somewhat of a computer geek)both a phone line and over the internet from a non-legal perspective.

mmiller@forensicdnaexperts.com
www.forensicdnaexperts.com

Dr. Monte Miller
mmiller@forensicdnaexperts.com
www.forensicdnaexperts.com

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Originally posted by Frazierj:
Do you really think our legislature intended to prohibit individuals from talking in a sexually explict manner to minors via the internet or text messaging but not over a good old fashion phone line (whether or not a land line or cell phone)???

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I don't think the Legislature considered it one way or the other. PC Sec. 33.021 passed in 2005, and I don't think VoIP lines became popular until after that date. But that does not control whether the statute applies or not.

BTW, I use Vonage at home. When my internet goes out (which is rare), so does the VoIP phone service, so it is clearly "over the Internet"!