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| X-Rated Spammers Paying the Price, Says Wilson |
September 09, 2005 |
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Federal Rep. Recognizes Children’s Internet Safety Month
Albuquerque, NM – Congresswoman Heather Wilson today joined local companies and officials to kick off Children’s Internet Safety Month. Wilson says internet safety laws she helped author and enact are now being used to prosecute offenders.
Children`s Internet Safety Month
Heather with Carla Schultz, owner of Data Doctors, which is offering free help to protect web-surfing kids.
A local computer company, Data Doctors, is offering a free service to parents concerned about protecting their web-surfing kids. Parents concerned about their child’s Internet usage can bring their home computer to Data Doctors for a FREE private checkup & parental education session with specially-trained computer technicians. The service is available on September 9th and 10th, but the owner of Data Doctors says she’ll provide the check-ups and information for the whole month of September, and possibly beyond.
“If parents believe that their children are safe within the four walls of their home, I’m afraid they’re wrong,” says Carla Schultz, who owns Data Doctors. “The internet is a dangerous place, and we want to help parents face this challenge head on. We appreciate Congresswoman Wilson’s efforts at the federal level to provide protections for our kids. No matter what, parents need to be aware and involved. I hope our efforts make that easier for them.”
Wilson authored legislation that enacted into law as part of the CAN-SPAM Act the electronic equivalent of a “brown paper wrapper”. The provisions require a warning in the body of the message to protect children who might view sexually oriented material on the Internet and gives parents a way to prevent this type of spam from coming into their homes.
“We must protect our children from x-rated spam,” says Wilson. “This electronic flashing exposes kids and unwary Internet users to graphic sexual content, and it is unwanted, offensive, and illegal. I appreciate efforts by local business owners like Carla to help parents keep their kids safe. With a combination of federal laws and simple awareness by parents, we can protect our kids.”
The law now requires that the phrase "SEXUALLY-EXPLICIT" be included in both the subject line of any e-mail message that contains sexually oriented material, and in the electronic equivalent of a "brown paper wrapper" in the body of the message. The "brown paper wrapper" is what a recipient initially will see when opening a message containing sexually oriented material—blocking view of images until a receiver chooses to see them.
The law also requires that unsolicited commercial e-mail contain an opportunity for consumers to opt out of receiving future e-mail containing unwanted sexual content. Violations of this law carry heavy civil and criminal penalties.
Online Safety Event
Heather Wilson is pictured above at an Online Safety event in June with Sen. Orrin Hatch, left, and Rep. Mark Kennedy, center. Click the picture to read more.
Prosecutions and Enforcement
In July of this year, The U.S. Department of Justice at the request of The Federal Trade Commission charged seven companies with violating federal laws requiring warning labels on e-mail that contains sexually-explicit content. Four of the companies agreed to pay $1.159 million in civil penalties prior to going to court. The Department of Justice announced the last week of August that three people were indicted and a fourth pleaded guilty to criminal charges in the first case to be brought to trial under the CAN-SPAM law. If convicted, two of the three spammers indicted face five years in prison on the obscenity charges.
“This action by the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission sends a clear message that those who invade the homes of American families with unwanted, sexually explicit spam will be prosecuted,” says Wilson. “The “brown paper wrapper” that I authored is designed to protect children and their parents who don`t want to be exposed to random assaults of sexual material. It is the law and I am pleased that it is being enforced.”
Schultz, who welcomes Wilson’s efforts to help parents, says the statistics are startling:
89% of solicitations occur in chat rooms or Instant Messages. -Pew Study
75% of children are online four or more days per week and 72% of children spend more than 2 hours on a typical day online. -Youth Internet Survey
73% of exposures occur while children are search or surfing the Internet. -Youth and Society
43% or children exposed to inappropriate sites did not disclose it to any one. -Youth and Society
25% of children are exposed to unwanted pictures of naked people or people having sex. -Youth Internet Survey
20% of children encounter a sexual approach or solicitation online. -Youth Internet Survey
One in 17 children are threatened or harassed online. -Youth Internet Survey
One in 33 children receive an aggressive sexual solicitation from a solicitor who asks to meet them somewhere, calls on the telephone, or sends regular mail, money or gifts. -Youth Internet Survey
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