Sex-offender maps on Web shut down

An incomplete database has caused the designers of a Web site that mapped the addresses of registered sex offenders to shut their site down indefinitely.

Brian Olsen, who works for the company that designed the site — www.mapsexoffenders.com — said he was advised Monday by the Utah Department of Corrections, which maintains the database of registered sex offenders, that as many as two-thirds of the database's addresses may be incorrect.

"The response has been fabulous," Olsen said. "People really want to see this information. But we're concerned about the incorrect information, so we turned off our Web site."

Olsen said the site has been receiving 15,000 to 30,000 hits per day since it launched last week. He said the company had planned to launch similar sites for every state but is temporarily putting those plans on hold while it confirms the data it has collected in other states.

"We have to have the correct information," Olsen said.