News Release

WASHINGTON – This week, U.S. Rep. John Spratt (D-SC) joined an overwhelming bipartisan majority in the House of Representatives to back legislation that will crack down on online predators, stop the spread of child pornography and help make the Internet safer for children.

“The Internet is a tremendous resource, but we must take care to protect our children from those who would do them harm,” said Spratt. “I was proud to back legislation that will protect our kids from online predators and help make the information superhighway a safer place for our children.”

This week, the House passed a series of bills designed that improve Internet safety. The bills include:

• H.R. 3845 - PROTECT Our Children Act of 2007
• H.R. 719 - Keeping the Internet Devoid of Sexual Predators Act of 2007
• H.R. 4120 - Effective Child Pornography Prosecution Act
• H.R. 4134 – Internet Crime Prevention Education Program Act
• H.R. 4139 - Enhancing the Effective Prosecution of Child Pornography Act of 2007
• H.R. 3461 – SAFERNET (Safeguarding America’s Families by Enhancing and Reorganizing New and Efficient Technologies Act of 2007)
 
The 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.

In recent studies conducted by the Department of Justice, 1 in 7 children between the age of 10 and 17 received a sexual solicitation online.  And 1 in 25 (or one per classroom) receives an aggressive sexual solicitation when a predator calls them on the phone, sends them gifts or requests a meeting.

“Too many children are at risk online,” said Spratt. “I’m pleased to see Congress taking real action to protect our kids and keep them safe.”

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