Press Release

CRACK DOWN ON ONLINE PREDATORS PASSES HOUSE

Washington, DC -- Two pieces of legislation cosponsored by U.S. Representative Michael A. Arcuri (D-Utica) to strengthen Internet safety and protect children from online predators passed the House of Representatives this week along with a series of bills to stop the spread of child pornography and make the Internet safer for children.

“As District Attorney, I prosecuted criminals who manipulated the Internet to mislead and even harm children and put them in danger,” said Arcuri. “The Internet is a tremendous resource, but it also gives criminals an opportunity to prey upon our children, our seniors, and even threaten our identities. In Congress, I will continue to work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to strengthen our laws to protect families.”

Arcuri is a cosponsor of the Safeguarding America’s Families by Enhancing and Reorganizing New and Efficient Technologies Act (The SAFER NET Act), H.R. 1008, which would organize and streamline a national defense against Internet crime.  He also cosponsored the Keeping the Internet Devoid of Sexual Predators (the KIDS Act of 2007), H.R. 719, which would impose harsh penalties for criminals who lie about their age online to harm young children. Both bills passed the House of Representatives by bipartisan majorities earlier this week.

Eighty-seven percent of teens use the Internet on a regular basis, and according to the Justice Department, one in five children between the ages of 10 and 17 received a sexual solicitation or approach online in the last year. 

This week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a series of bills designed that improve Internet safety, including:

• Safeguarding America’s Families by Enhancing and Reorganizing New and Efficient Technologies Act of 2007 (The SAFERNET Act), H.R. 3461, cosponsored by Arcuri
• 
  Keeping the Internet Devoid of Sexual Predators Act of 2007, H.R. 719, cosponsored by Arcuri
• 
  PROTECT Our Children Act of 2007, H.R. 3845
• 
  Effective Child Pornography Prosecution Act, H.R. 4120
• 
  Internet Crime Prevention Education Program Act, H.R. 4134
• 
  Enhancing the Effective Prosecution of Child Pornography Act of 2007, H.R. 4136

These bills increase resources to fight Internet crimes against children, authorize a new public awareness campaign to promote Internet safety, and provide tough new penalties against those people and companies who produce, view and allow others to purchase child pornography. The legislation also cracks down on sex offenders by allowing judges to require convicted sex offenders to use internet tracking and filtering software that limits offenders’ access to certain material online.

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