FONDA — Lawmakers in Montgomery County are considering an agreement for new software targeting convicted sex offenders and their use of the Internet.

The county’s Probation Department is looking to enter an agreement with Internet Probation and Parole Inc., a software company that would provide 24-hour monitoring of online activity for all convicted sex offenders on probation.

“Whatever they’re seeing, we’re going to see,” Montgomery County Probation Director Lucille Sitterly said.

Software would be installed on the personal computer in the sex offender’s residence. That software would link to a server in Pennsylvania which would contact the Probation Department via e-mail when inappropriate Internet usage is detected, Sitterly said.

The county Board of Supervisors’ public safety committee approved the concept and sent it onto the full board’s meeting later this month.

The idea came from a demonstration by Federal Probation in Albany, Sitterly said.

“They get a lot of Internet sex offenders and they use it on a regular basis,” Sitterly said.

If implemented now, it would affect about 20 sex offenders currently on probation in Montgomery County.

Internet Probation and Parole Inc. would charge $25 monthly for use of the software, and that cost could be passed on to the convicted sex offender through the sentencing judge, eliminating any county cost, Sitterly said.

The software doesn’t identify exactly who is using the computer, so in the case of a family home computer, the convicted sex offender would have to take responsibility for its use, Sitterly said.

Acceptable Internet use could be spelled out as one of the terms of probation, so a convicted sex offender could be guilty of violating his probation if he looks at pornography or joins children’s chat groups.

Sitterly said some convicted sex offenders depend on having Internet access on their home computers whether for their children’s school or for their own work activities.

“It’s almost impossible to tell someone you can’t have a computer anymore,” Sitterly said.

Using the software could help prevent repeat offenses on the part of convicted sex offenders, said Amsterdam Town Supervisor Thomas DiMezza, a detective in the Amsterdam Police Department.

DiMezza said recidivism rates among sex offenders is a constant issue in law enforcement, and he said using computers to fight Internet-based crime sounds logical.

“I think it’s a great idea,” DiMezza said.

Florida Supervisor William Strevy said the idea sounds plausible, but he said it’s possible that the convicted sex offenders might not be able to pay for the software so it could ultimately lead to some cost for the county.