Home
Though the preceding tale is related on a number of web sites as a true
story, it's not. Written by two Christians concerned about the danger
unwittingly presented by young people giving out too much personal
information online, this cautionary tale first surfaced on the Internet
in January 1998.
Protecting
Children from Virtual Porn Predators
(Washington AP - April
19, 2002)
The National
Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) gives high
praise to the Congressional Missing & Exploited Children's
Caucus for announcing that they will introduce new legislation to
address the Supreme Court's concerns regarding the 1996 Child
Pornography Prevention Act.
This action
comes on the heels of the Supreme Court's decision last Tuesday
(4/16) to strike down a federal ban on computer-generated "virtual"
child pornography therefore putting every child in America at risk
to be preyed upon by sexual predators.
In an emergency
meeting convened on Capitol Hill Thursday, the Co-Chairs of the
Caucus including: Congressmen Nick Lampson (D-Texas) and Mark Foley
(R-Fla.) pledged to act swiftly regarding the Court's devastating
decision.
"We believe that
this decision puts children in danger of exploitation," stated
Congressman Nick Lampson. "We talked about the development of
legislation that will meet the muster of the Supreme Court and
protect children at the same time."
Rep. Mark Foley
declared that the meeting was another step in the fight to right an
egregious wrong, "The Supreme Court ruled in favor of pedophiles
over children, and we need to change that before it's too late.
"
While Caucus
Co-Chairman Bud Cramer (D-Ala.) was not able to attend the meeting
due to a conflicting hearing, he re-enforced his colleagues comments
by saying, "It is crucial that we address the parts of the 1996 law
that keep our nation's children from getting all of the protection
they deserve. There should never be any barriers to the enforcement
of child pornography laws and I hope we can address these issues
with new legislation quickly. "
The Caucus
expressed appreciation to the National Center for Missing &
Exploited Children for helping in this new battle to protect
children from child pornographers calling their assistance "An
invaluable asset throughout this process."
The National
Center President and CEO Ernie Allen attended Thursday's meeting in
support of the Caucus and emphasized the organization's commitment
to assist in any way in this vital effort. "We are deeply grateful
for the vision and leadership of the Caucus to join with the US
Department of Justice in crafting a new law that will meet
constitutional standards and protect our nation's children," said
Allen. "Since 1983 child pornography has not been protected speech.
To require law enforcement to demonstrate that an actual child is
being victimized in any child pornography image is to ensure that
thousands of cases will not be prosecutable and provides a license
for pedophiles and child pornographers."
NCMEC was highly
disappointed with the Court's ruling. It strongly believes the
language and the legislative history of the CPPA clearly demonstrate
Congress' intent to extend the definition of child pornography to
computer-generated representations that are virtually
indistinguishable from images of actual children.
In 1987, NCMEC
was given the responsibility for operating the National Child
Pornography Tipline. Ten years later in response to growing concern,
NCMEC created the Exploited Child Unit (ECU), which is responsible
for receipt, processing, initial analysis and referral to law
enforcement of information on extra-familial child sexual
exploitation. In 1998, at the request of Congress, the ECU launched
the CyberTipline, http://www.cybertipline.com/, to serve as the
national online clearinghouse for investigative leads and tips
concerning child pornography, child sexual molestation, child sex
tourism, child prostitution, and enticement of children for sexual
acts.
To date, NCMEC
has received and processed more than 68,000 leads through the
CyberTipline leading to numerous investigations and arrests of child
predators. NCMEC reports that 85 percent of these leads are child
pornography.
NCMEC, a
private, 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, works in cooperation with
the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and
Delinquency Prevention. It is the national resource center and
clearinghouse on missing and exploited child cases. For more
information please call NCMEC's toll-free hotline at 800-843-5678 or
visit http://www.missingkids.com/
