TRENTON -- New Jersey's highest court on Tuesday threw out a state-sanctioned ban on internet use for a convicted sex offender, finding it was an arbitrary infringement on the man's rights.

In a unanimous decision, the state Supreme Court found the state Parole Board had improperly issued a "near-total" internet ban for the man, identified only by the initials J.I., who was subject to lifetime supervision after pleading guilty to charges he sexually abused his three daughters.

Calling internet access a "basic need" of modern life, the justices ruled that state authorities could only revoke it after holding a formal hearing to determine if there was a legitimate public safety reason to do so.

The justices did not rule that full-on internet bans were unconstitutional, but found additional safeguards were required to protect defendants' right to due process in such cases.

According to court papers, J.I. was released in 2009 and initially ordered by the Parole Board not to access "any social networking service or chat room."

But in 2010, authorities found the man had accessed websites "that depicted minors in the nude" and as a result banned him from using "any Internet-capable device."

He was later reprimanded by the board for visiting other "benign" websites, including ones maintained by his church and his therapist, according to court records.

After serving time for a parole violation, J.I. was released into a state program for sex offenders known as community supervision for life. In 2013, he was told by the Parole Board he could use the internet only to access the employment networking site LinkedIn in order to find a job.

J.I. appealed the blanket ban on internet access but the Parole Board denied him a hearing, citing his prior history. A state appellate court later upheld the decision.

Writing for the court, Justice Barry Albin found the board wrongly denied J.I. a hearing, violating his right to due process.

The justice wrote that the blanket internet ban went beyond what J.I. had agreed to by signing a form laying out the conditions of his lifetime supervision, which only included references to social networking sites.

Noting that the goals of the state's law requiring supervised release of sex offenders are meant not only to protect the public but to ensure offenders can reintegrate after serving their sentences, Albin wrote the ban "may undermine (J.I.'s) rehabilitation and hinder his ability to succeed as a free agent in society."

The justices sent the case back to the Parole Board to determine whether there was a public safety justification for kicking the man off the internet.

S.P. Sullivan may be reached at ssullivan@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter. Find NJ.com on Facebook.