Transcript Internet Safety - ProtectKids.com

Chesterfield County Board of
Supervisors Public Hearing
PROTECTING LIBRARY
PATRONS FROM THE
INTERNET’S DARK SIDE
by Donna Rice Hughes
(Presentation Copyrighted)
June 20, 2001
INTERNET DANGERS
(A tool used for good or evil)
Unrestricted Internet Access:
1.Free and easy access to inappropriate and illegal
content in homes, schools,libraries, businesses:
-Pornography (child porn, obscenity, harmful to minors)
-Violence, Bomb-making, Hate speech
2. Predators have easy and anonymous access to unsuspecting
kids
THE CYBERSEX INDUSTRY

Online pornography is the first consistently
successful e-commerce product (C-net, 4/28,1999)

Forbes Magazine reports Internet porn at 1.5
billion (Forbes, 6/14/99)

Free “teasers” serve as free advertising
featured on commercial web sites
CYBER-SEX

60% of all web-site visits are sexual in nature

25 million Americans visit cyber-sex sites
between 1-10 hours per week. Another 4.7
million in excess of 11 hours per week.
MSNBC/Stanford/Duquesne Study, Washington Times 1/26/ 2000)

Sex is the #1 searched for term,
Pornography is #4 (Alexa Research Study)
STUDENTS & CYBERSEX

Students were most at risk for cybersex
compulsions (Students 16 and older could
use “adult” computers to access porn)

Due to a combination of increased access to
computers, more private leisure time, &
developmental stage characterized by
increased sexual awareness &
experimentation.

(All stats from MSNBC/Stanford/Duquesne Study, 2000)
UNINTENTIONAL ACCESS
Innocent Searches- (toys, boys, pets, etc)
•Misspelled Words- (shareware vs. sharware)
•Stealth Sites- (whitehouse.com; coffeebeansupply.com;
teenagershideout.com; http://clothingcatalog.com;
watersports.com)
•25% Misuse Brand Names (Disney, Barbie, CNN, etc)
•Unsolicited E-mail- 30% of all spam is from pornographers
Online Victimization
•
1 in 4 youth ages 10-17 had unwanted
exposure to porn in the last year 1 in 5
received sexual solicitation or approach in last
year (Sample of 1,501 youth ages 1-17 who use Internet regularly, Online
Victimization, NCMEC, June 2000)

JAMA Study-19% received unwanted sexual
solicitation
– 89% in chat rooms or instant messaging
Mainstream Internet Portals

Yahoo Clubs and GeoCities offers:
– Child pornography:


“Preteen Pics up the Wazoo”
“Complete Lolita Hookers Guide”
– Obscenity:


“Rape Photos”
“Young Virgin Slave Market”
COFFEEBEANSUPPLY.COM
Free Teaser Images in each Category

Animal; stories; gay; anal;
www.sex.com; oral;alt.sex; sex.com;
teen; pictures; gals; pics; chicks;
indian; black; with animals; fuck;
stories; interracial; pictures; hot; pics;
lesbian; group; hardcore; asian; adult;
cartoon; dog; live; phone; preteen;
teenage; etc
Predators can use the
Internet in Public Libraries
•Pedophiles & predators anonymous access to children
•Easy Access to Child Pornography
•Virtual Validation
•Virtual Molestation
•Trade Secrets & Teaching Tools
• Avoidance of law enforcement detection
•FBI reports a boom in the online exploitation of children
Law Enforcement Concerns

“It is common knowledge in the
business of pedophiles and traders of
child pornography to go to your public
library and download it because it is
there…. When there is communication
on-line, there’s an IP address. I can’t
tell you how many times we trace that
IP back to the public library…” (William Harmening
with the Illinois Attorney General’s office)
DID YOU KNOW?

There are in excess of 40,000 individual
URLs containing child pornography,
pedophilia and pro-pedophilia content.
(Safeguarding Our Children- United Mothers & CyberAngels “Our Kids
In Danger List”, 2000.)
PORNOGRAPHY- Tool used by
Pedophiles
to arouse the child,
 to lower the child’s inhibitions,
 to demonstrate to their victims what
they want them to do,
 to communicate that a particular sexual
activity is okay.

THREE PRONG SOLUTION
•A shared responsibility between the
Public- Parents, Schools, Libraries
Technology Industry
Legal Community- Law Enforcement & Public Policy
•Each provides an essential layer of protection
PUBLIC PRONG
WHAT CAN PARENTS, TEACHERS, & LIBRARIANS CAN DO?
•Awareness, education and empowerment
•Safety Rules and Software tools
•Acceptable use policies must be combined with filtering
software.
Safe Libraries
or Porn Outlets
Libraries don’t stock copies of Hustler
Magazine or X-rated videos
 Must libraries with unrestricted Internet
access add “adult bookstore” to the
library’s list of services? (CPL-Laura Morgan)
 Should tax-payers fund porn in
libraries? Congress says NO

DANGEROUS ACCESS REPORT- Uncovering
Internet Pornography in Public Libraries
-Incident Reports & Patron Complaints
#
Child Accessing Pornography
472
Adult Accessing Pornography
962
Adult Exposing Children to Pornography
106
Adult Accessing Inappropriate Material
225
Attempted Molestation
5
Child Porn Being Accessed
41
PUBLIC LIBRARIES
-Public Libraries had 82 million Internet
sessions- annual porn incident rate of
between 400,000 and 2 million (Dangerous Access, 2000)
-After incidents of pedophiles using public
libraries to download child pornography, the
pedophile monitoring group PedoWatch.org
has confirmed that on-line pedophiles are
telling each other to use public libraries to
download child pornography. (Lake Oswego, Oregon)
Acceptable Use Policies Alone
Aren’t Effective

Greenville, SC
– 50% of Internet users in one afternoon
visiting porn sites

Broward County, Fla lawsuit
– 14 incidences of masturbation,
– 2 incidences of public exposure by men
– 1 incident of man fondling woman
Acting Out

6/ 29/98 -13 year old (boy) was in the Phoenix
Burton Barr Library viewing porn on the
Internet. He followed 4 year old into the
bathroom and asked the younger boy to give
him oral sex. (Dangerous Access 2000)
Child Internet Protection
Act (CIPA)
CIPA isn’t censorship because nothing is
removed from public access
 Schools and Libraries using federal erate funds must filter:

– kids computers: child porn, obscenity and
harmful to minors material (Children ages
16 and under)
– adult terminals: child porn, obscenity
Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission



The EEOC found probable cause in case of 12
Minneapolis public librarians were subjected
to a sexually hostile work environment due to
Internet porn (bestiality to child rape)
exposure in workplace (May 24, 2001)
Violation of Title VII of Civil Rights Act of
1964
Suggested library payment of $75,000 per
librarian ($900,000)
ACLU Policy #4



ACLU Policy 4 - the ACLU opposes on First
Amendment grounds:
(1) “Laws which punish the distribution or
exposure of such material to minors” i.e.,
obscenity, pornography or indecency and
(2) “laws that restrict the production and
distribution of any printed and visual
materials even when some of the producers
of those materials are punishable under
criminal law” i.e, child pornography.
FILTERING TECHNOLOGY
Filters are customizable & sophisticated
 COPA Commission found that serverbased filters highly effective
 Librarians can override inadvertantly
blocked sites (allowed in CIPA)
 We do not demand perfection in safety
equipment before we use it to prevent
harm

Filtering in Public Libraries
3,711 Public Libraries offer filtering,
increase of 121% between 1998 and
2000
 1 in 4 Public Libraries offer filtering (National

Academy of Library Science 2000)


90% of public librarians using filters
responded “software serves its purpose
either “very well” or “somewhat well.”
(Dr. Ken Haycock)
Win Win Opportunity





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Implement filters on all computers, minimize
implementation costs
Comply with CIPA early
Avoid liability (EEOC)
Libraries that filter in good faith have
immunity under CDA (1996)
Create a safe library environment for all
patrons
Set precedent in Virginia by leadership