Crime

Will Jeff Sessions drain the Internet swamp of crimes against children?

As the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee holds confirmation hearings for Senator Jeff Sessions to be the country’s eighty-fourth attorney general today, the committee will probe his views on law enforcement, criminal justice and a number of other legal issues.

According to the 2016 C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health, Internet safety is now the 4th most commonly identified “big problem”, up from #8 in 2014 on the list of parent’s health concerns for children.

{mosads}Sexting received the biggest change in rating this year, from #13 in 2014 to #6 in 2015; kids have had free and easy access to prosecutable Internet pornography for over two decades. Child pornographers, predators and traffickers often use anonymizing tools, the Deep Web and unregulated virtual currencies to cover their tracks. And the Internet-enabled sexual exploitation of children in travel and tourism (SECTT) has out-paced international and national efforts to curb the problem.

The endless sludge of criminal content and activity on the Internet must be drained and the rule of law upheld.  

Last summer, Donald J. Trump signed Enough Is Enough’s Children’s Internet Safety Presidential Pledge which included the commitment to appoint an Attorney General who will make the prosecution of existing federal laws to prevent the sexual exploitation of children online a top priority.

One key area that the committee must address is Trump’s Pledge to appoint an Attorney General who will make the enforcement of the federal obscenity, child pornography, sexual predation and sex trafficking laws a top priority. Every child deserves a protected age of innocence.

The government must start doing its job by vigorously enforcing the laws designed to protect vulnerable children in the digital age. Therefore, some of the questions based on the Pledge the Judiciary Committee should ask Senator Sessions include:

Today’s youth have fully integrated the Internet into their daily lives, using technology as a pervasive platform for education, communication, interaction, exploration, and self-expression. Preventing the sexual exploitation of youth online requires a shared responsibility between the public, corporations and government.  

A growing number of government commissions, task forces, scholars, and institutions have recognized the significant risks associated with unfettered Internet access by youth, and they have called upon governments, policy makers, caregivers, industry and educators to take action. The Presidential Pledge and supporting documentation, including the signed pledge by President-elect Trump can be found at http://enough.org/presidential_pledge

Donna Rice Hughes, Enough Is Enough®’s CEO & President has been an Internet safety pioneer, author, and speaker since 1994. As a media commentator, she has given thousands of interviews on Internet safety related issues. She has testified numerous times before Congress, and has served as a Child Online Protection Act (COPA) Commissioner and other national and state government task forces.


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