CNN recently published the article "iPhone apps help track sex offenders, spot crime." In it, CNN is cruel to a woman with mental illness.

The opening subject is Tracy Rodrigues. This poor woman is mentally ill. She is paranoid, and it's interfering with with ability to live a normal life. It's cruel of CNN to parade her mental illness in front of the world, then to lie to her and tell her and other paranoid people that they are actually healthy.

Obsessively checking every location that your children are going to for registered sex offenders provides no protection. It may cause you harm as you uselessly keep yourself away from perfectly safe locations, or erroneously believe a location is safe before there are no registered sex offenders nearby. Ms Rodrigues is letting her irrational fear seriously impact her life and the lives of her children.

What does Ms Rodrigues do with the additional information she is gathering? Does she tell her kids to be extra careful about potential assailants? Does she forbid going to areas with more sex offenders? Neither tactic helps protect her children.

There are plenty of sex offenders who haven't been caught or in some cases convicted. There are sex offenders who are visiting other places, legally or not. There are sex offenders who have illegally moved without informing the authorities. Children should learn basic rules to minimize the risk of being attacked: keep your eyes open, be wary of strangers, don't follow a stranger into their vehicle or away from public places, if someone grabs then, yell. That will protect Tracy Rodrigues's children. What she's doing now is just spreading her paranoia to her children. CNN is helping to normalize her paranoia, causing others who are paranoid like Ms Rodrigues to believe they are normal instead of seeking the help they need.