On July 24, the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation held a hearing on protecting children on the Internet.
While lauding the benefits of the Internet, Chair Daniel Inouye (D-HI) said, “But the power of the Internet is also a source of its peril…In addition to protecting their children from online predators, parents also struggle with the challenges of shielding their children from the significant amounts of material on the Internet that are unsuitable for children.” Sen. Inouye continued, “While filtering and monitoring technologies help parents to screen out offensive content and to monitor their child’s online activities, the use of these technologies is far from universal and may not be fool-proof in keeping kids away from adult material. In that context, we must evaluate our current efforts to combat child pornography and consider what further measures may be needed to stop the spread of such illegal material over high-speed broadband connections.”
Ranking Member Ted Stevens (R-AK) said, “Given the increasingly important role of the Internet in education and commerce, it differs from other media like TV and cable because parents cannot prevent their children from using the Internet altogether. The headlines continue to tell us of children who are victimized online. While the issues are difficult, I believe Congress has an important role to play to ensure that the protections available in other parts of our society find their way to the Internet. Since introducing the Protecting Children Online in the 21st Century Act [S. 49], my staff and I have worked with a variety of advocacy groups on this topic.”
“I believe it is time [for] government to get involved and provide mandatory education for all of our children,” said Miss America Lauren Nelson. She continued, “We need to begin educating children as quickly as possible…Kids today are growing up using computers from a very early age and using them on a daily basis. We don’t allow our children to ride their bikes without first teaching them about proper safety and we shouldn’t let them use the computer and access the Internet without taking the same precautions. I am here today to ask you to please implement mandatory education on Internet safety for all of our children. There should be a mandatory class…that teaches children about how to use the Internet, the potential dangers of the Internet, and how to avoid these dangers.”
David Finkelhor, director of the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire, used research data to challenge preconceived notions about Internet crimes against children and to argue for a different approach in protecting children on the Internet: “The public impression about this crime is that we have ‘Internet pedophiles,’ who have moved from the playgrounds into your living room through the Internet connection…But our research suggests a different reality.” Dr. Finkelhor noted that “we have found that the predominant online sex crime victims are not young children, but rather teenagers. And the predominant crime scenario does not involve violent stranger molesters posing online as other children in order to set up an abduction and an assault. Only five percent of the online sex crimes against children involved violence when meetings occurred, only three percent entailed an abduction. Nor is deception a major factor. Only five percent of offenders truly concealed the fact that they were adults from their victims and 80 percent, by contrast, were quite explicit about their sexual intentions toward these kids. These are not mostly violent sex crimes, but [are mostly] criminal seductions that take advantage of common teenage vulnerabilities…These teens are often troubled youth with histories of family turmoil and physical and sexual abuse.”
In order to prevent Internet crimes against children, Dr. Finkelhor recommended that “we…take on more awkward and complicated topics and start with an acceptance of the fact that some teens are curious about sex and looking for romance and adventure. We need to educate them about why hooking up with a 32-year-old has major drawbacks, like jail, bad press, [and] public embarrassment; and why they should be discouraging, not patronizing, sites and people who are doing offensive things online, fascinating as they may seem…We also need to make it easier for them to report the come-ons and the sexual picture requests, and we need to empower bystanders to take action.” He added that agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Programs, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children; state and local law enforcement; school officials; mental health professionals; and researchers each have separate, but equally important, roles to play in guarding against these crimes.
Ernie Allen, president and chief executive officer of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and Christine Jones, general counsel and corporate secretary for the Go Daddy Group, Inc., also testified; their testimony on Internet safety is detailed in earlier issues (see The Source , 9/22/06 and The Source, 9/29/06, respectively). Also testifying was Lan Neugent, assistant superintendent for Technology and Human Resources at the Virginia Department of Education.
