Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/16pdf/15-1194_08l1.pdf
Page Number: 19.0

6 

PACKINGHAM v. NORTH CAROLINA 

ALITO, J., concurring in judgment 

mation  about  the  user,  and  links  to  other  personal  Web 
pages  on  the  commercial  social  networking  Web  site  of 
friends  or  associates  of  the  user  that  may  be  accessed  by 
other  users  or  visitors  to  the  Web  site.”    §14–202.5(b)(3) 
(emphasis  added).    This  definition  covers  websites  that 
allow  users  to  create  anything  that  can  be  called  a  “per-
sonal  profile,”  i.e.,  a  short  description  of  the  user.4    Con-
trary  to  the  argument  of  the  State,  Brief  for  Respondent
26–27,  everything  that  follows  the  phrase  “such  as”  is  an
illustration of features that a covered website or personal 
profile may (but need not) include.

Fourth, in order to fit within the statute, a website must 
“[p]rovid[e] users or visitors . . . mechanisms to communi-
cate with other users, such as a message board, chat room,
electronic  mail,  or  instant  messenger.”  §14–202.5(b)(4) 
(emphasis added).  This requirement seems to demand no 
more  than  that  a  website  allow  back-and-forth  comments 
between users.  And since a comment function is undoubt-
edly  a  “mechanis[m]  to  communicate  with  other  users,” 
ibid.,  it  appears  to  follow  that  any  website  with  such  a 
function satisfies this requirement. 

2 
The  fatal  problem  for  §14–202.5  is  that  its  wide  sweep
precludes  access  to  a  large  number  of  websites  that  are 
most  unlikely  to  facilitate  the  commission  of  a  sex  crime 
against  a  child.  A  handful  of  examples  illustrates  this 
point.

Take,  for  example,  the  popular  retail  website  Ama-
zon.com,  which  allows  minors  to  use  its  services5  and 

—————— 

4 See New Oxford American Dictionary 1394 (3d ed. 2010); Webster’s 
Third  New  International  Dictionary  1811  (2002);  12  Oxford  English
Dictionary 576 (2d ed. 1989). 

5 See Amazon, Conditions of Use (June 21, 2016), https://www.amazon.
com / gp / help /customer/display.html/ref=help_search_1-2?ie=UTF8& 
nodeId=201909000&qid=1490898710&sr=1-2.