1. Convicted sex offenders who are caught using the Internet will be fined up to $18,000 and sent to jail for a maximum of 18 months;
2. Those convicted of sex crimes who are caught soliciting a minor for sex on the Internet will face a mandatory five-year jail sentance; and
3. Web dating sites available to New Jersey residents would be required to state if they perform background checks on their members.

Currently there are no U.S. federal laws that enforce any of these proposals, but both Florida and Nevada have legal ramifications imposed upon sex offenders who use the Internet.

Although the Senate is to debate the proposal soon, several issues have arisen - most notably one stated by Bill Ashworth, the Director of State Government Affairs at Yahoo!, who said,

"...background checks are unreliable because of fraud and problems getting information from states with different laws on what information is available."

Additionally, AOL, eHarmony and Match.com have all expressed their concerns regarding the proposed web dating laws.

Michael Valentine, 29, hacked into his ex-girlfriend's Match.com account and contacted seventy men on her behalf without her knowledge. Some of the men showed up unannounced at the ex-girlfriend's house, expecting a date with the woman.

The former police officer was charged with one hundred and ninety-seven counts, including stalking, computer tampering and harassment. He pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor charges of unauthorized use of a computer.

Well, if you don't count the guy who tied me up without my consent the second time he met me - but I digress.

Just last week officers from a small town in Ontario, Canada, issued a release stating:

"In light of disturbing trends ... police would like to remind the public of the potential dangers when meeting an Internet acquaintance face to face."

and,

"Police would like to ensure that when using such services, both women and men remain vigilant with respect to personal safety." [quoted from Police Warn About Perils of Online Dating, CTV.ca]

You may well react in the same way I did - by asking why.

It seems that there have been a string of nasty incidents in Ontario of late with Internet predators; the kind of predators that bilk online daters out of their money and greatly reduce their feelings of safety.

For instance, late last year a 36-year old man called the "Online Cassanova" by local media was sentenced to three years for stealing $150,000 from thirteen women after meeting them on the free dating site PlentyOfFish.

Just last week another man was arrested for assaulting a woman he found hanging out with another man - a man who was at her house when the now-convicted 42-year old unexpectedly showed up at the lady's place of residence.

But the advisory quoted above came from a completely different incident: one where a young female was sexually assaulted in her vehicle after a date with a man she met online.

My intentions are not to trivialize the incidents mentioned here. In fact, they scare me. Internet dating has changed dramatically over the past decade. I used to be called derogatory names for meeting people through online means, such as geek, nerd or my personal favorite: she has a nice personality.

Now? My middle name is Stupid if I meet someone without backup.

To mitigate these kinds of issues, you probably already know what to do. Don't meet in private places, tell a friend where you are going, make a quick call from the restroom to let someone know how it's going, have a backup plan in place, and never - ever - get in their car. Still, it's hard not to break these 'rules' when you're in the heat of the moment.

I know I sure have - in the past.