H.R. 5319, THE DELETING ONLINE 

PREDATORS ACT OF 2006 

HEARING 

BEFORE THE 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON TELECOMMUNICATIONS 

AND THE INTERNET 

OF THE 

COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND 

COMMERCE 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

ONE HUNDRED NINTH CONGRESS 

SECOND SESSION 

JULY 11, 2006 

Serial No. 109-121 

Printed for the use of the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/house 

U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

WASHINGTON : 2006 

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office 

Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512-1800; DC area (202) 512-1800 

Fax: (202) 512-2250 Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402-0001 

30-410PDF 
COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND COMMERCE 

JOE BARTON, Texas, Chairman 

RALPH M. HALL, Texas 

MICHAEL BILIRAKIS, Florida 

 Vice Chairman 

FRED UPTON, Michigan 

CLIFF STEARNS, Florida 

PAUL E. GILLMOR, Ohio 

NATHAN DEAL, Georgia 

ED WHITFIELD, Kentucky 

CHARLIE NORWOOD, Georgia 

BARBARA CUBIN, Wyoming 

JOHN SHIMKUS, Illinois 

HEATHER WILSON, New Mexico 

JOHN B. SHADEGG, Arizona 

CHARLES W. “CHIP” PICKERING, Mississippi 

 Vice Chairman

VITO FOSSELLA, New York 

ROY BLUNT, Missouri

STEVE BUYER, Indiana 

GEORGE RADANOVICH, California 

CHARLES F. BASS, New Hampshire 

JOSEPH R. PITTS, Pennsylvania 

MARY BONO, California 

GREG WALDEN, Oregon 

LEE TERRY, Nebraska 

MIKE FERGUSON, New Jersey 

MIKE ROGERS, Michigan 

C.L. “BUTCH” OTTER, Idaho 

SUE MYRICK, North Carolina 

JOHN SULLIVAN, Oklahoma 

TIM MURPHY, Pennsylvania 

MICHAEL C. BURGESS, Texas 

MARSHA BLACKBURN, Tennessee 

JOHN D. DINGELL, Michigan 

 Ranking Member 

HENRY A. WAXMAN, California 

EDWARD J. MARKEY, Massachusetts 

RICK BOUCHER, Virginia 

EDOLPHUS TOWNS, New York 

FRANK PALLONE, JR., New Jersey 

SHERROD BROWN, Ohio 

BART GORDON, Tennessee 

BOBBY L. RUSH, Illinois 

ANNA G. ESHOO, California 

BART STUPAK, Michigan 

ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York 

ALBERT R. WYNN, Maryland 

GENE GREEN, Texas 

TED STRICKLAND, Ohio 

DIANA DEGETTE, Colorado 

LOIS CAPPS, California 

MIKE DOYLE, Pennsylvania 

TOM ALLEN, Maine 

JIM DAVIS, Florida 

JAN SCHAKOWSKY, Illinois 

HILDA L. SOLIS, California 

CHARLES A. GONZALEZ, Texas 

JAY INSLEE, Washington 

TAMMY BALDWIN, Wisconsin 

MIKE ROSS, Arkansas 

BUD ALBRIGHT, Staff Director 

DAVID CAVICKE, General Counsel

REID P. F. STUNTZ, Minority Staff Director and Chief Counsel

SUBCOMMITTEE ON TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND THE INTERNET 

FRED UPTON, Michigan, Chairman 

MICHAEL BILIRAKIS, Florida 

CLIFF STEARNS, Florida 

PAUL E. GILLMOR, Ohio 

ED WHITFIELD, Kentucky 

BARBARA CUBIN, Wyoming 

JOHN SHIMKUS, Illinois 

HEATHER WILSON, New Mexico 

CHARLES W. “CHIP” PICKERING, Mississippi 

VITO FOSSELLA, New York 

GEORGE RADANOVICH, California 

CHARLES F. BASS, New Hampshire 

GREG WALDEN, Oregon 

LEE TERRY, Nebraska 

MIKE FERGUSON, New Jersey 

JOHN SULLIVAN, Oklahoma 

MARSHA BLACKBURN, Tennessee 

JOE BARTON, Texas 

 (EX OFFICIO)

EDWARD J. MARKEY, Massachusetts 

 Ranking Member 

ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York 

ALBERT R. WYNN, Maryland 

MIKE DOYLE, Pennsylvania 

CHARLES A. GONZALEZ, Texas 

JAY INSLEE, Washington 

RICK BOUCHER, Virginia 

EDOLPHUS TOWNS, New York 

FRANK PALLONE, JR., New Jersey 

SHERROD BROWN, Ohio 

BART GORDON, Tennessee 

BOBBY L. RUSH, Illinois 

ANNA G. ESHOO, California 

BART STUPAK, Michigan 

JOHN D. DINGELL, Michigan 

 (EX OFFICIO)

(II)
CONTENTS 

Page 

Testimony of: 

Abbott, Hon. Greg, Attorney General, Office of the Attorney General, State of Texas... 25 

Aftab, Esq., Parry, Executive Director, WiredSafety.org................................................... 31 

Collins, Michelle, Director, Exploited Child Unit, National Center for Missing and 

Exploited Children ......................................................................................................... 90 

Davis, Ted, Director, Knowledge Asset Management, IT Department, Fairfax County 

Public Schools................................................................................................................ 95 

Kelly, Chris, Vice President, Corporate Development and Chief Privacy Officer, 

Facebook ........................................................................................................................ 104 

Lenhart, Amanda, Senior Research Specialist, Pew Internet and American Life Project . 111 

Yoke, Beth, Executive Director, ALA Young Adult Library Services Association.......... 127 

Zellis, David W., First Assistant District Attorney, Office of the Bucks County District 

Attorney, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania ................................................................... 135 

Additional material submitted for the record: 

Racine, Elizabeht, prepared statement of............................................................................ 154 

Resnick, Michael A., Associate Executive Director, National School Boards 

Association, prepared statement of ................................................................................ 158 

(III) 

(1) 

H.R. 5319, THE DELETING ONLINE 

PREDATORS ACT OF 2006 

TUESDAY, JULY 11, 2006 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 

COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND COMMERCE, 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND THE INTERNET, 

Washington, DC. 

The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:10 a.m., in Room 

2123 of the Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Fred Upton 

[Chairman] presiding. 

Members present: Representatives Upton, Gillmor, Whitfield, 

Cubin, Shimkus, Wilson, Bass, Walden, Terry, Ferguson, Blackburn, 

Barton [ex officio], Markey, Engel, Wynn, Gonzalez, Inslee, Eshoo, and 

Stupak. 

Also Present: Representatives Fitzpatrick and Kirk. 

Staff Present: Howard Waltzman, Chief Counsel for 

Telecommunications and Internet; Anh Nguyen, Legislative Clerk; 

Jaylyn Jensen, Senior Legislative Analyst; Johanna Shelton, Minority 

Counsel; and David Vogel, Minority Research Assistant. 

MR. UPTON. Morning, everyone. Today we are holding a hearing 

on H.R. 5319, the Deleting Online Predators Act of 2006, which was 

introduced recently by Representatives Fitzpatrick and Kirk. 

Under the leadership of Chairman Whitfield and Chairman Barton, 

the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee has held multiple 

hearings, exposing the appalling sexual exploitation of children on the 

Internet. This includes the dark underside of social networking websites, 

which have become stalking grounds for sexual predators who are 

preying on children all across the Nation. We have had many such cases 

in my own State of Michigan, far too many. 

Federal law enforcement officials have described the sexual abuse 

and exploitation of our Nation’s youth as an “epidemic” propagated by 

the unlimited access of the Internet. The statistics are alarming. The FBI 

has seen a 2,026 percent increase in its caseload of online sexual 

predators in the last 10 years. Of the estimated 24 million child Internet 

users, one in five kids has received unwanted sexual solicitations. It is 

estimated that at any given moment, 50,000 predators are prowling for 

children online, many of whom are lurking within social networks. 

At a minimum, what our hearings have taught us is that both children 

and parents need to become better educated about the dangers of social 
2

networking websites, and parents need to police their children’s online 

use at home to guard against sexual predators. 

However, to the extent that children are using the Internet outside the 

home, particularly at school or at the public library, parents are not able 

to monitor their children’s online use, and that is a situation that 

H.R. 5319 is designed to address. 

At its heart, H.R. 5319 would require schools and libraries which 

receive E-rate funding to restrict minors’ access to commercial social 

networking websites through which such minors may easily be subject to 

unlawful sexual advances, unlawful requests for sexual favors, or 

repeated offensive comments of a sexual nature from adults. 

The approach taken by H.R. 5319 is not dissimilar to the approach 

taken by the Children’s Internet Protection Act, through which Congress 

requires schools and libraries that receive E-rate funding to impose 

filtering technology to protect kids from online visual depictions of an 

inappropriate sexual nature. 

I have long supported and remain a strong supporter of the E-rate. I 

visit a school every week and I have seen the tremendous educational 

value which the Internet has brought to students throughout my 

congressional district, and I recognize the importance of the E-rate in 

making this a reality. 

However, as with all technologies, the Internet is a double-edged 

sword, and Congress has a responsibility to ensure that, to the extent that 

a Federal program is involved, it is doing all that it can to ensure that 

kids are protected from online dangers. 

H.R. 5319 represents yet another step in making our children’s 

online experience at school or at the library safe. I want to thank our 

witnesses for being with us today, and I look forward to hearing their 

views on H.R. 5319, and I yield to the gentlelady from California for an 

opening statement. 

[Prepared statement of Hon. Fred Upton follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF THE HON. FRED UPTON, CHAIRMAN, SUBCOMMITTEE ON 

TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND THE INTERNET

Good morning. Today we are holding a legislative hearing on H.R. 5319, the 

“Deleting Online Predators Act of 2006,” which was introduced by Representatives 

Fitzpatrick and Kirk. 

Under the leadership of Chairman Whitfield and Chairman Barton, the Oversight 

and Investigation Subcommittee has held multiple hearings exposing the appalling sexual 

exploitation of children on the internet. This includes the dark underside of social 

networking websites, which have become stalking grounds for sexual predators who are 

preying on children all across the nation. We have had many such cases in my own home 

state of Michigan...far too many. 

Federal law enforcement officials have described the sexual abuse and exploitation 

of our nation’s youth as an “epidemic” propagated by the unlimited access of the Internet. 
3

The statistics are alarming - the FBI has seen a 2,026% increase in its caseload of online 

sex predators in the last 10 years. Of the estimated 24 million child Internet users, one in 

five kids has received unwanted sexual solicitations. It is estimated that at any given 

moment, 50,000 predators are prowling for children online – many of whom are lurking 

within social networks. 

At a minimum, what our hearings have taught us is that both children and parents 

need to become better educated about the dangers of social networking websites, and 

parents need to police their children’s on-line use at home to guard against sexual 

predators. 

However, to the extent that children are using the Internet outside the home, 

particularly at school or at the public library, parents are not able to monitor their 

children’s on-line use – and this is the situation that H.R. 5319 is designed to address. 

At its heart, H.R. 5319 would require schools and libraries which receive e-rate 

funding to restrict minors’ access to commercial social networking websites through 

which such minors may easily be subject to unlawful sexual advances, unlawful requests 

for sexual favors or repeated offensive comments of a sexual nature from adults. 

The approach taken by H.R. 5319 is not dissimilar to the approach taken by the 

Children’s Internet Protection Act, through which Congress requires schools and libraries 

that receive e-rate funding to impose filtering technology to protect kids from on-line 

visual depictions of an inappropriate sexual nature. 

I have long supported the e-rate, and I continue to do so. I visit a school a week and 

have seen the tremendous educational value which the Internet has brought to students 

throughout my district, and I recognize the importance of the e-rate in making this a 

reality. 

However, as with all technologies, the Internet is a double-edged sword, and 

Congress has a responsibility to ensure that, to the extent that a federal program is 

involved, it is doing all that it can to ensure that children are protected from on-line 

dangers. H.R. 5319 represents yet another step in making our children’s on-line 

experience at school or at the library safe. 

So, I want to thank our witnesses for being with us today, and I look forward to 

hearing their views on H.R. 5319. 

MS. ESHOO. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And thank you to all of the 

witnesses that are here today. We are going to learn from you. I would 

particularly like to welcome Chris Kelly, who is representing Facebook, 

a company that is located in the heart of my congressional district, Palo 

Alto. So thank you for traveling across the country and being here with 

us today. 

Without a doubt, everyone here today, everyone, whether they are at 

the witness table, in the audience in the hearing room, and the Members 

of Congress that are here, are concerned about predators that stalk the 

most vulnerable in our society, our children. I think the most important 

thing that can come out of the hearing today is raising the awareness of 

the problem and what some of the solutions are. 

Certainly the bill directs itself to be a solution. I think we need to 

build on that. This is an issue that parents--I don’t think we need to teach 

them more about it. They are already concerned. They want solutions; 

that is our job. 
4

I think it is important for us to all understand that the computer that 

is in our den or in the family room or in our children’s bedrooms is really 

a public space, and I don’t think we think of it that way. A computer 

with Internet access is no more private than a busy street or the mall or 

the grocery store unless we take steps to secure it. No parent or teacher 

would drop a child off in Times Square and say, “Have fun, make sure 

you don’t leave the Disney store.” That just isn’t a reality. So why 

would anyone turn their children loose on the Net without supervision 

and other safeguards to protect them? 

Nothing is more important than close supervision, and monitoring of 

a child’s Web surfing, and a host of tools are available to make this 

difficult task even easier and more effective. 

Ten years ago, I introduced legislation, the On-Line Parental Control 

Act, to encourage the use of technology, and most Internet service 

providers now offer parental control tools to their customers. Combined 

with technological support, parental vigilance is the single most effective 

thing anyone can do to stop online predators. I believe that, and I think it 

has been borne out. 

I think we also have to bear in mind that the Internet and many of the 

sites we will be discussing today are the source of great convenience, 

enriching our educational experiences, and collectively are the leading 

sector of our economy. Just as the Net has revolutionized 

communications, e-mail, instant messaging, VOIP, and e-commerce, 

websites like Friendster, MySpace, and Facebook have transformed the 

way we, particularly young people, socialize, make new friends, and 

establish business contacts. These are tremendous new services, and 

Web networking is by no means a negative development, but it does 

create real challenges for companies, for policymakers, and for parents to 

ensure the safety and well-being of our kids. 

We have to confront these challenges in a way that addresses the 

dangers that exist, without causing unnecessary collateral damage to 

some of the very valuable sites and services now available on the Net. 

And I think that this is going to be a real valuable exercise in terms of 

this hearing because the working knowledge of Members that are going 

to make these policy decisions, in my view, needs to be broadened and 

deepened at the same time. 

So I look forward to hearing from each one of the witnesses. 

Mr. Chairman, thank you for your able leadership of our subcommittee, 

and thank you for having this hearing today. 

MR. UPTON. I thank the gentlelady. I would ask at this point 

unanimous consent that the two sponsors of the bill, Mr. Kirk and 

Mr. Fitzpatrick, might be able to participate in the hearing and, 

obviously, follow the regular order, which would be after the members of 
5

the subcommittee. And without hearing objection, that should be the 

case. 

We would recognize for an opening statement the Chairman of the 

full committee, the good gentleman from Texas, Mr. Barton. 

CHAIRMAN BARTON. Thank you Mr. Chairman. I want to extend a 

personal welcome to my good friend, personal friend of longstanding, 

Attorney General of Texas, Greg Abbott. Glad to have you here, 

General. We appreciate you being willing to testify on this small panel 

of seven other people. We appreciate your humility, and we certainly 

appreciate your service to the State of Texas and extension of some of 

the things you are doing for the citizens of our entire country. 

We are here today to have a legislative hearing on H.R. 5319, the 

Deleting Online Predators Act of 2006. It has been authored by 

Congressman Fitzpatrick, who is also with us up here on the dais. I 

would like to welcome some of our witnesses who have testified before 

Mr. Whitfield’s subcommittee, who has been holding a hearing on this 

malaise. We have Mr. Chris Kelly from Facebook, we have Parry Aftab 

from WiredSafety.org. They have already participated in Mr. 

Whitfield’s hearings, and we are glad to have you here at the legislative 

hearing. 

We were not able to get a representative of MySpace to testify at 

today’s hearing, which I think is unfortunate. The Oversight and 

Investigations Subcommittee has been holding a series of hearings to 

investigate the sexual exploitation of children on the Internet. The 

hearings have focused on the growing Internet child pornography trade, 

and the tools that sexual predators use to victimize our children. We 

have also tried to determine what, if anything, is being done or can be 

done to find, prosecute, and convict the child predators in our society. 

The Oversight Subcommittee has heard from the Federal Trade 

Commission, Federal Communication Commission, law enforcement 

agencies, children subjected to sexual abuse, victims’ advocates, and 

some of these Internet service providers. 

H.R. 5319 targets children’s use of social networking websites and 

chat rooms in schools and libraries. As participation in these Internet 

“social communities” rises to record numbers, so do the news reports of 

a multitude of potential dangers they pose. 

There is no question that the Internet does and will continue to 

provide innovative benefits to society. However, we must take steps 

now to protect our children, and this is a priority of this subcommittee 

and also of the full committee, and, I might add, it is a priority on both 

sides of the aisle. Mr. Dingell shares this concern just as much as I do. 

We need to prevent predators from using the Internet and social 

networking sites, in particular to prey on our children. 
6

I look forward to hearing from our witnesses today in order to better 

understand the social networking phenomenon, the benefits and the 

problems that it creates. If we can understand this, it will enable us to 

strike the right balance regarding the appropriate role for the Federal 

government and Federal legislation to play in helping our educators keep 

our children safe on the Internet. 

It would seem to me that H.R. 5319 is a step in the right direction. 

Schools and libraries that receive universal service subsidies have an 

obligation to ensure that their subsidized communication services do not 

become a hunting ground for pedophiles. If social networking sites are 

not taking the necessary precautions to prevent the exploitation of 

children, then, at the very least, Congress should prohibit the use of 

federally mandated funds to access Internet sites that put children in 

harm’s way. 

Again, I want to thank Attorney General Abbott for being here. I 

want to thank the other witnesses for being here. And I thank you, Mr. 

Chairman, for holding this hearing. 

[Prepared statement of Hon. Joe Barton follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF THE HON. JOE BARTON, CHAIRMAN, COMMITTEE ON ENERGY 

AND COMMERCE

Mr. Chairman, thank you for holding this hearing today on H.R. 5319, the “Deleting 

On-line Predators Act of 2006” authored by Congressman Fitzpatrick. I’d like to once 

again welcome Mr. Chris Kelly from Facebook, and Ms. Parry Aftab from 

WebSafety.org, both of whom have participated in earlier hearings held by our Oversight 

and Investigations Subcommittee, on the issue of sexual exploitation of children over the 

Internet. Although I am disappointed that Myspace declined to send a representative to 

attend today’s hearing, I would like to offer a warm welcome to the Attorney General 

from my home state of Texas, The Honorable Greg Abbott. Thank you - and all of the 

witness on the panel - for taking the time out of your busy schedules to appear before us 

today. 

The Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee is currently holding a series of 

hearings to investigate the sexual exploitation of children on the Internet. The hearings 

have focused primarily on the growing Internet child pornography trade, the tools sexual 

predators use to victimize children, and what can, and is, being done to find, prosecute 

and convict child predators. The Subcommittee has heard from the FTC, FCC, law 

enforcement agencies, children subjected to abuse, victims advocates, and most recently 

from Internet Service Providers and social networking site owners. 

H.R. 5319 targets children’s use of social networking websites and chat rooms in 

schools and libraries. As participation in these Internet “social communities” rises daily 

in record numbers, so do the news reports of a multitude of potential dangers they pose. 

There is no question that the Internet does and will continue to provide innovative 

benefits to society far into the future. However, the protection of our children must be a 

priority of this government and of our society. We need to prevent predators from using 

the Internet, and social networking sites in particular, to prey on children. 

I look forward to hearing from our witnesses today in order to better understand the 

social networking phenomenon and the benefits and problems it creates. Understanding 
7

this will enable us to strike the right balance regarding what role, if any, the Federal 

Government and educators should play in keeping our children safe on the Internet. 

H.R. 5319 is certainly a step in the right direction. Schools and libraries that receive 

universal service subsidies have an obligation to ensure that their subsidized 

communications services do not become a hunting ground for pedophiles. If social 

networking sites are not taking the necessary precautions to prevent the exploitation of 

children on their sites, then, at the very least, Congress should prohibit the use of 

federally-mandated funds to access Internet sites that put children in harm’s way. 

I look forward to hearing from our witnesses, and I yield back the balance of my 

time. 

MR. UPTON. At this point I would recognize the gentleman from 

Texas, Mr. Gonzalez. 

MR. GONZALEZ. I commend you for all of your efforts, and I want 

to welcome all of the witnesses but, again, I want to echo the sentiments 

of the full committee, Mr. Barton, in welcoming our esteemed Attorney 

General Greg Abbott who served admirably on our Supreme Court. It is 

good to see you again. As we speak, there are different maps being 

drawn regarding our congressional districts. So I really do welcome you, 

Greg. 

But, seriously, what we are dealing with today cannot be adequately 

emphasized as to the importance of our respective constituencies. This is 

something that is commonly held no matter where you go, whether it is a 

Republican or a Democratic district, regardless of the region and such. 

The question really is: What can we do in a practical sense and 

technologically that is feasible, and looking at the legalities too? 

So I really do welcome Greg’s perspective on this. But overall, at 

the end of the whole process, this is really quite limited when you think 

in terms of libraries, schools, and so on. And the legal nexus that allows 

us to provide or mandate certain conditions on these institutions and such 

is really the Universal Service Fund; and that is another issue, by the 

way, which has still not been resolved by this committee as we move 

forward regarding that particular issue. 

So it is important to keep that in mind. In other words, what gives 

this Congress jurisdiction to impose those particular conditions? At the 

end of the process, though, we have to see what is the potential of the 

unintended consequence of the legitimate use of the Internet, and I think 

this committee is always driven with that particular goal in mind. And it 

is what we are doing because we know there are always going to be 

criminal and illegitimate uses of the Internet, but as we attempt to govern 

those and address the concerns of our constituents, the big picture, 

though, is the majority of the use of the Internet is legitimate, and it has 

been a tremendous economic accelerator and such for this country, and 

we can’t again impede its progress. But nevertheless, I think that we can 
8

still have the best of both worlds, and hopefully the testimony of the 

witnesses will guide us there today, and I yield back. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

MR. UPTON. Mr. Gillmor. 

MR. GILLMOR. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and I 

appreciate your holding this hearing. As a member of both this 

subcommittee and as a strong advocate of strong sex offender laws, I 

think this hearing is an important step in protecting our children from 

violent predators. As a sponsor of two bills, H.R. 95 and H.R. 4815, 

which were aimed at giving American families access to necessary 

information they need to protect themselves from violent sexual 

offenders through a national database. I point out that both of those bills 

have been incorporated in other legislation and have now passed the 

House of Representatives. However, I believe that our schools and our 

libraries have been taken for granted as a safe haven that is free of illicit 

and illegal cyber content. Unfortunately, we know that is not the case. 

And I agree with the concepts promoted by H.R. 5319--but I believe that 

today’s discussion is simply the beginning of an in-depth dialogue 

between policymakers and industry leaders. Clearly, social networking 

and chat technologies are not inherently bad and they offer many 

benefits. Yet, in using them, we have to be sure that we protect the 

safety of our children. 

A recent study funded by the National Center For Missing and 

Exploited Children, Dr. David Finkelhor, Director of Crimes Against 

Children Research Center, found that one out of every five children 

received a sexual approach or a solicitation over the Internet in the past 

year. Additionally, in a separate study commissioned by the National 

Association of School Resource Officers and conducted by the National 

School Safety and Security Services, the leading independent national 

school safety and security firm based in Cleveland, Ohio, showed 

55 percent of school safety officers stating that concerns regarding 

Internet-based crimes had increased in their school community in the 

past 2 years. These are alarming statistics and I think we ought to take 

the necessary steps to protect our Nation’s families before tragedy can 

befall other witnesses. 

Mr. Chairman, I have been pleased to work closely with the Safe 

Now Project on the two bills of mine that I mentioned, and I look 

forward to working with them, members of this committee, industry, and 

leadership to ensure that our Nation’s children are protected, while 

allowing consumers to continue to realize the benefits of these 

technologies. And I yield back. 

[Prepared statement of Hon. Paul E. Gillmor follows:] 
9

PREPARED STATEMENT OF THE HON. PAUL E. GILLMOR, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS 

FROM THE STATE OF OHIO 

Thank you for holding this very important hearing. As a member of this 

subcommittee and as a strong advocate for increasing our nation’s sex offender laws, I 

see this hearing as an important step in protecting our country’s children from violent 

predators. 

As the sponsor of two bills, H.R. 95 and H.R. 4815, aimed at giving American 

families unfettered access to the necessary information they need to protect themselves 

from violent sexual offenders, I believe that our schools and libraries have been taken for 

granted as a safe haven that is free from illicit and illegal cyber content. Although I agree 

with the concepts promoted by H.R. 5319, I believe today’s discussion is simply the 

beginning of an in-depth dialogue between policymakers and industry leaders because 

social-networking and chat technologies are not inherently bad and offer many benefits—

yet we must ensure the safety of our children. 

In a recent study funded by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, 

Dr. David Finkelhor, Director of the Crimes Against Children Research Center, found 

that one in every five children received a sexual approach or solicitation over the Internet 

in the past year. Additionally, in a separate study commissioned by the National 

Association of School Resource Officers and conducted by National School Safety and 

Security Services, a leading independent national school safety and security firm based in 

Cleveland, Ohio, showed 55% school safety officers stating that concerns regarding 

Internet-based crimes had increased in their school-community in the past two years. Mr. 

Chairman, these are alarming statistics and we must take the necessary steps to protect 

our nation’s families and before tragedy can befall another needless victim. 

Mr. Chairman, I have been pleased to work closely with the Safe Now Project on 

both of my bills, and I look forward to continuing to work with them, members of this 

committee, industry, and leadership to ensure that our nation’s most precious assest—our 

children—are protected while allowing consumers to continue to realize the benefits of 

these technologies. This challenge must be met and a delicate balance must be struck, 

but we must come together in good faith to make certain that our schools and libraries 

continue to be a sanctuary for learning and growth. 

MR. UPTON. I thank the gentleman, and recognize the Ranking 

Member of the subcommittee, Mr. Markey from Massachusetts. 

MR. MARKEY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, very much. And I want 

to commend you, Mr. Chairman, for calling this hearing this morning on 

Internet chat rooms and social networking sites and legislation making 

certain requirements on K through 12 schools and libraries seeking to 

receive E-rate funding. There is a rising concern over Internet sites in 

the context of child exploitation. The Oversight and Investigations 

Subcommittee has held several hearings on this subject. While there are 

age and other restrictions on many of the sites, including MySpace.com 

and Facebook, there are questions as to how such restrictions are verified 

and enforced. This subcommittee has a long history of working to 

ensure a safe environment for children on the Internet. 

In 2000, Congress enacted the Internet safety requirements for 

schools and libraries receiving E-rate funding to ensure that such entities 
10

were monitoring children’s online activities, to thwart access to material 

that was harmful to minors. 

In addition, I cosponsored legislation with Representative John 

Shimkus, which promoted healthy and safe Internet surfing for children 

with the dot-kids law. That law establishes a domain for sites with 

content safe for kids and prevents any links outside of the domain. 

Legislation before this subcommittee seeks to go further and 

proposes to create additional requirements on schools and libraries. 

These requirements would require K through 12 schools and libraries to 

certify that they prohibit access to social networking sites and chat rooms 

through which minors may easily access or be presented with indecent 

materials or easily be subjected to unlawful sexual advances. Without 

question, combating child exploitation and safeguarding children is a 

high priority. 

In pursuit of that goal, we should be mindful, however, of devising 

new requirements that may be plagued by terminological inexactitude, a 

standard that is based upon what may or may not be easily accessed may 

be difficult to define and enforce. 

In addition, I have reservations about utilizing the E-rate funding 

mechanism as the legislative hook for Federal involvement in this area. 

That is because the E-rate program was not designed to be a cop on the 

beat in the front lines, battling child predators. Rather, it was designed to 

enhance Internet access and bridge the digital divide. As a result, it is a 

program which may not help or assist all K through 12 schools at any 

time, or individual schools in every funding cycle. 

In other words, if the goal is protecting children and combating child 

exploitation, why should these requirements only apply in schools 

receiving E-rate funding? In other words, only the poorest schools. Why 

should we not ensure that every child in every school be protected? 

Our colleague, Representative Melissa Bean of Illinois, has similar 

legislation, the Safeguarding America’s Families by Enhancing and 

Reorganizing New and Efficient Technologies Act of 2006, or the 

SAFER NET Act. This legislation puts authority in the Federal Trade 

Commission to establish an Office of Internet Safety and Public 

Awareness. That office would have the task of evaluating Internet safety 

efforts and activities provided at various levels of government, 

eliminating redundancy of efforts at various levels of government and 

serving as the primary contact in the Federal government, and as a 

national clearinghouse for information and public awareness efforts 

regarding Internet safety. 

I commend that legislation as well to the subcommittee’s attention, 

recognizing, Mr. Chairman, quite well, that it is not within our 

subcommittee’s jurisdiction. However, it is within the full committee’s 
11

jurisdiction, and it may warrant our attention as we continue to look into 

these matters. 

I think it is important, Mr. Chairman, that we not be limited just to 

E-rate beneficiaries. I don’t think that really should be the purpose of 

this legislation; otherwise, only if you are in a poorer school would you 

be protected. Whereas, we want to ensure that as we look at this issue, 

that there is, in fact, a universal application, or else in many ways it may 

be struck down as being unconstitutional, as not being a ubiquitous piece 

of legislation. So I yield back the balance of my time. 

MR. UPTON. Mr. Shimkus. 

MR. SHIMKUS. Mr. Chairman, I waive for questions. 

MR. UPTON. Mrs. Wilson. 

MRS. WILSON. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you for holding 

this hearing today. I wanted to also thank Congressman Fitzpatrick for 

his leadership on this issue. When kids are at a point in their lives where 

they are listening to their peers more than they are listening to their 

parents, it is at the point of which they are really most vulnerable, and 

that is really in the teen years where they are vulnerable to people who, if 

they met them in person, there might be more flags that went off that said 

there is something not right here, I don’t like this, and they would be 

willing to walk away. But on the Internet, those flags that kids learn 

from a very young age about what is safe and what doesn’t feel safe are 

often not there, or are intentionally hidden by people who want to exploit 

them. 

It is very hard to raise G-rated kids in an R-rated world. And we 

should be able to give schools and parents more tools to allow their kids 

to grow up safely and to move towards being more independent, which is 

a very natural thing for teenagers while being still in a safe place. 

My colleague, Mr. Shimkus, has led this effort on this committee on 

the dot-kids legislation, and Mr. Green of Texas and I sponsored 

legislation that ultimately became the CAN SPAM Act to allow parents 

to have control about the junk e-mail that comes into their homes, which 

has led to several prosecutions and a significant reduction in unsolicited 

commercial e-mail, particularly with pornographic content. 

I think this legislation we are looking at here today will help schools 

battle a problem. In most middle schools, and certainly most high 

schools, kids can eat their lunch fast and go to the library to play games 

on the computers or use the Internet. Yet they are there, largely or 

loosely unsupervised. We need to make sure that that is a safe place for 

them to be. 

I will also be interested in hearing from our panel, what other tools 

does law enforcement and industry need to track and prosecute predators, 

who are using places that may seem safe to kids, to prey on kids. 
12

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for this hearing, and I look forward to 

working on this legislation. 

[Prepared statement of Hon. Heather Wilson follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF THE HON. HEATHER WILSON, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS 

FROM THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO 

Mr. Chairman, I thank you for holding this important hearing and compliment 

Congressman Fitzpatrick for his leadership on this issue. 

Popular websites like myspace.com, thefacebook.com, xanga.com, and 

friendster.com have become the way teenagers communicate. When kids are at the point 

when their peers are starting to be more important than their parents, they are very 

vulnerable. Predators know this and are trolling the chat rooms pretending to be someone 

they are not. 

Several of us on this committee have worked together to make the internet safer for 

children. It is hard to raise G-Rated children in an R-Rated world. In the 108th

Congress, Mr. Green and I authored legislation that was enacted into law as part of the 

CAN-SPAM Act to give parents a way to control unsolicited email and put the electronic 

equivalent of a “brown paper wrapper” in the body of a message. We saw results with 

this piece of legislation with 4 people being indicted soon after the legislation was 

enacted and a dramatic reduction in spam – particularly pornographic spam. 

In 2002 our colleague, Mr. Shimkus, authored the “Dot Kids Act” which passed the 

Congress and became law. The legislation created a second-level domain within the 

internet which promotes positive experiences for children and families using the internet 

and provides a safe online environment for children. Ultimately, it helps prevent 

children from being exposed to harmful material over the internet. 

According to the Center for Missing and Exploited Children, more than 2,600 

incidents have occurred where adults have used the internet to target children online in 

order to engage in sexual activity. Teenagers 13-18 often communicate over the internet 

with someone they have not met in person and 1/3 of those teenagers have talked about 

meeting someone they have only met through the internet. 

The legislation we are considering today will help schools battle this problem by 

creating additional internet safety requirements for schools to receive universal service 

funding. Websites like myspace.com and the facebook.com do not belong in our schools. 

Parents need to be educated as to what these websites are and how their children’s 

personal information can be made available by the click of a mouse. And law 

enforcement may need more tools to track these predators and prosecute them. 

I look forward to the testimony today and how we can make the internet a safer 

place for children. 

MR. UPTON. Mr. Inslee. 

MR. INSLEE. Thank you. Having sat through the oversight hearings, 

I can tell you this makes the hair stand up on the back of your neck when 

you hear what is going on. And I do look forward to getting some 

legislation, but I have some concerns about this, though, both from not 

going far enough and also going too far. 

Not going far enough, I do hope at some point the full committee 

will look at the issue of storage of records to help law enforcement. The 

one thing we have heard from law enforcement over and over again 

during oversight hearings, is the inability to track these offenders to get 
13

the information that needs to be retained so they can search them out and 

find them, is what we really need. That is the silver bullet for law 

enforcement. I hope at some point our full committee will do that. I 

don’t think that is in this bill particularly. 

Second, the bill doesn’t really address the 99 percent of the 

communications where these take place, which is at home. And, finally, 

getting parents to have access to filtering software is where the real 

megatonnage is in this issue, and I hope at some point our committee will 

look at it. 

Third, an overly broad aspect of it. This is a great utility and I think 

it is important when we talk about all the bad things happening on the 

Net; one of the reasons the kids are so much smarter than us is because 

they have access to the Internet. And you hate to shut it down. And, 

frankly, the way this bill is written, one of our concerns, it would 

essentially disable Web-based sites for schools. If you want to set up a 

school government on a website, you want to allow kids to vote for one 

another, to e-mail to one another, as I understand it this bill currently 

would shut that down. I don’t think that is something we want to do. 

We do have prank calls, but we haven’t outlawed the phone system. 

That is something we need to get to to outrefine this bill. Thank you. 

MR. UPTON. Mr. Walden. 

MR. WALDEN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am going to waive my 

opening statement. 

MR. UPTON. Mr. Terry. 

MR. TERRY. I waive as well. 

[Prepared statement of Hon. Lee Terry follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF THE HON. LEE TERRY, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM 

THE STATE OF NEBRASKA 

 Thank you Mr. Chairman Upton for holding today’s hearing on how we can take 

action to protect our children from online predators. 

 My wife and I monitor my three young boys’ internet activity at home closely. 

However, I’m appalled to think that my boys or other young children might be using 

taxpayer dollars and computers that are intended to be used for educational purposes to 

access social networking websites as MySpace.com, Facebook.com, or similar social 

networking websites that leave them vulnerable to online predators. 

 The focal point of today’s hearing is primarily over the bill, HR 5319, the Deleting 

Predators Act of 2006. HR 5319 would require schools and libraries that receive 

Universal Service funds (E-Rate money) to enforce a policy that prohibits access to a 

commercial social networking website or chat room through which minors may access 

obscene material, or be solicited for offensive comments or actions. 

 I support this limited policing of the Internet because it is unacceptable that our 

students in public schools could be allowed to access harmful material. We would 

certainly not condone pornographic material being accessed in our schools and, after I 

visited MySpace.com I would say at best that some of the material on MySpace.com was 

highly suggestive and borderline offensive, if not in some cases clear pornography. 
14

 The fact that schools and libraries could lose Universal Service E-Rate money if 

violations occur does not bother me in the least. The intention of the E-Rate program is 

to ensure that our schools and libraries are connected so that every child has the potential 

to reach their capacity regardless of their location. Those goals are consistent with the 

over all Universal Service Fund and any attempt to permit this public system to be a 

conduit to a Commercial website should not be allowed. 

 HR 5319 is a step in the right direction to protect our minors from pedophiles that 

prey on our youth via the Internet. I look forward to hearing from today’s witnesses and I 

hope that we move swiftly on legislation that will raise the profile on the dangers that the 

Internet can pose to our youth. 

 

MR. UPTON. Mr. Ferguson. 

MR. FERGUSON. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for holding 

this hearing. I particularly appreciate Mr. Fitzpatrick’s and Mr. Kirk’s 

work on this issue, and I am certainly looking forward to hearing from 

our distinguished panel of witnesses today. 

I particularly want to welcome Ms. Parry Aftab who is from New 

Jersey. She is the Executive Director of WiredSafety. She testified in 

our hearing yesterday, in our Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee 

field hearing in my district in New Jersey yesterday. She is familiar to 

members of this committee and she has done extraordinary work on this 

particular issue, and we are glad she is here. 

As a member of the O and I Subcommittee of this committee, this is 

an issue that I have become very familiar with over the past several 

months, and it is probably the ugliest and most disturbing issue that I 

have seen in my years in Congress. We are all aware of the promises 

that the Internet holds for education, for socialization, for fun for our 

children. However, there is unfortunately a much darker side to the 

Internet that we all need to be very much aware of. This is the side of the 

Internet that poses hidden dangers for unsuspecting children who may 

think that they are just chatting with a friend a few States away or 

perhaps even in their own neighborhood. 

In these hearings our subcommittee has heard from Internet service 

providers, from social networking sites, from law enforcement officials, 

and from young people themselves. All of these witnesses have done 

well in helping us to understand the problem of child exploitation over 

the Internet and what can be done to help protect our children from these 

predators who set out to harm them. 

Just yesterday at the field hearing in my district in New Jersey, we 

heard testimony from an impressive group of witnesses, all with 

extensive experience in the field of child exploitation and Internet safety. 

They offered several suggestions not only to help our children stay safe 

while surfing the Net, but also in apprehending these people who prey on 

our children not only in their schools and in their friend’s house, but even 

in the protection of their own bedrooms. Some of these suggestions 
15

included more Internet education and awareness for both children and 

their parents, extended data retention by Internet service providers to 

help law enforcement officials track these predators down, harsher 

penalties for sex offenders, and closer monitoring by parents of what 

their children are doing on the Internet. 

I am pleased to be able to say that New Jersey has an exemplary law 

enforcement unit, dedicated to fighting cyber crime and apprehending 

child predators, and I am proud of our New Jersey law enforcement 

officers who told us their stories yesterday and who work tirelessly to put 

these offenders behind bars. 

I also, of course, again want to commend the gentleman from 

Pennsylvania and the gentleman from Illinois for the work that they have 

done on this issue and for taking time from their schedules to testify at 

our--Mr. Fitzpatrick testified at our hearing yesterday--and for their 

attendance at our hearing today. 

As our Energy and Commerce Committee moves forward with these 

hearings, we are all becoming acutely aware of the dangers facing our 

children on the Internet today. There has never been a greater need for 

us as lawmakers and, for many of us, as we can speak as parents, to take 

a stand to protect our children. 

Again, thank you, Mr. Chairman, for holding this hearing and I look 

forward to hearing from our witnesses. 

MR. UPTON. Mr. Stupak. 

MR. STUPAK. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for holding this important 

hearing on what Congress can do to delete online predators. As Ranking 

Member of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee I have been 

impressed, until recently, with the bipartisan and thorough nature of the 

subcommittee’s continued work in this area. I am hopeful the O and I 

Subcommittee work will guide this committee as we draft legislation to 

best protect our children from online pornographers and child abusers. 

We heard at the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee hearings 

that ISPs have widely varied methods for blocking predators and 

pornography from their networks and records of reporting offenders to 

authorities. We must hold the ISPs, including social networking sites, 

accountable. As a result of the O and I Subcommittee’s work, many 

ISPs have made or are planning substantial changes to their policies to 

protect our children. 

While these recent actions are certainly welcome, they are not 

enough. The reporting requirements for ISPs need to be updated and 

enforced. This should be the primary focus of this committee. 

Furthermore, the committee should not ignore the testimony of the 

Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Trade 
16

Commission, whose hands are tied by lack of authority and insufficient 

laws, respectively. 

It is important to note, however, that during the series of O and I 

hearings, there is no mention of online child exploitation being specific 

problems at schools and libraries. Perhaps this is because there is 

already a law on the books that requires schools and libraries who 

receive E-rate support to monitor children’s Internet use and to employ 

blocking technology from viewing obscene or harmful materials. Many 

schools and libraries already block sites such as MySpace. 

While I support holding today’s hearings to see if schools and 

libraries need to enact further safeguards, I believe the real threat lies in 

children using these sites in his or her own room without adult 

supervision. 

The legislation before us today lacks many of the important reforms 

needed that came to light as a result of the O and I hearings and 

investigation. I commend the Chairman for holding today’s hearing and 

starting down a path to craft comprehensive bipartisan legislation that 

responds to the concerns voiced by the experts, law enforcement, ISPs, 

and the victims themselves, and not to go off in a direction that will do 

nothing to really crack down on this problem. 

So with that, Mr. Chairman, I will yield back the balance of my time. 

MR. UPTON. Mrs. Blackburn. 

MRS. BLACKBURN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to welcome 

our witnesses and thank you for the hearing today and also to thank 

Chairman Stearns. I am on the O and I committee and we have spent a 

lot of time holding hearings and working on this issue. We appreciate 

that many of you have been with us before, and we appreciate that you 

have returned to us today. 

I do want to say that as we worked through these hearings and have 

addressed some of the issues, that we have seen some pretty encouraging 

signs from the industry and from some of those that have been involved 

in the issue. Fox Interactive Media, the parent company of MySpace, in 

some of the work that MySpace is doing, they are taking some steps that 

are focused on security and protections for our minors, those that are 

under 18, and they have also taken some initiatives to start working with 

law enforcement agencies to protect children and to rout out the child 

predators. And this is the kind of activity that we appreciate seeing, and 

the kind of partnerships that we are anxious to see, and we are anxious to 

monitor this progress. 

And I would encourage all of you to remember, now is the time for 

innovative ideas and now is the time for thinking outside the box, and 

now is the time to participate with us as we move forward on this. This 

is a tragic, tragic issue, online sexual predators who are using computers 
17

and the Internet to enter the safe haven of the home and attack these 

children. 

So your presence and your work, the diligence of our Chairman and 

our committees and our staff, who has been so committed as we work 

through this, we do appreciate. I know there are lots of concerns with the 

bill that is before us, but I do want to thank Mr. Fitzpatrick and Mr. Kirk 

for their work on the issue in bringing the legislation before us. Their 

concerns are well placed. 

We are looking forward to working through this bill. We are looking 

forward to hearing from the witnesses and, Mr. Chairman, I yield back 

the balance of my time. 

MR. UPTON. Mr. Wynn. 

MR. WYNN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for holding this very 

important hearing on Internet predators. I would also like to compliment 

the O and I committee for the work they have already done on this very 

important issue. You know, it is actually very refreshing to be discussing 

an issue with such a direct impact on American families, because in this 

committee we often hear from commercial interests basically promoting 

their bottom line. But I think we can do a great deal of good here today, 

and I hope we are able to work in a bipartisan fashion to produce a 

product that is helpful to all American families. 

Let me just make an observation that of all the places our children go 

on the Internet, chat rooms are the most difficult sites for parents to 

monitor. These locations permit the kinds of persons you would usually 

avoid in person to easily and readily approach our children. One in four 

U.S. teen girls reported they had met strangers off the Internet. One in 

seven boys admitted that they did as well. While most of these Internet 

friends turn out to be another teen or preteen, that is not always the case. 

Unfortunately, children are now dying at the hands of the Internet child 

molesters and not all sexual exploitation occurs off line. At a disturbing 

rate, child predators are forming an online community, a bond that is 

unparalleled in history. They are openly uniting against legal authorities 

and discussing ways to influence public thinking and legislation on child 

exploitation. 

In a 2000 study, the National Center for Missing and Exploited 

Children and the Justice Department said one out of every five children 

ages 10 to 17 surveyed said they received a sexual solicitation over the 

Internet during the previous year. I believe parents have primary 

responsibility. They must work to minimize the chances of this 

happening by monitoring the hours their children spend online. As a 

general rule, the later at night one is online, the more suspect the activity 

that occurs. 
18

We should be sure to point out stories in the newspapers about cyber 

predators and make sure children do not give out information over the 

Internet that would lead a person to find out their child’s true identity or 

their location, their address. 

But government has an important role, and this is where this 

committee can do some real good. We must put together on a bipartisan 

basis a productive bill that will address this problem, not inhibit the use 

of the Internet, but make sure that predators cannot exploit the Internet 

for their nefarious purposes. 

I look forward to hearing from the witnesses today and working on 

producing a quality bill. I relinquish the balance of my time. 

[Prepared statement of Hon. Albert R. Wynn follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF THE HON. ALBERT R. WYNN, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS 

FROM THE STATE OF MARYLAND 

Mr. Chairman, 

Thank you for holding this important hearing on Internet predators. Since we often 

hear from commercial interests promoting their ideas, it is refreshing to deal with an issue 

with a direct impact on families. Of all the places your child goes to on the Internet, chat 

rooms are the most difficult sites parents to monitor. These locations permit the kind of 

person you would usually avoid in person to easily and readily approach your children. 

One in four US teen girls reported that they met strangers off the Internet. One in 

seven boys admitted they did as well. While most of these “Internet friends” turn out to 

be another teen or preteen, that’s not always the case. Unfortunately, children are now 

dying at the hands of their Internet child molesters and, not all sexual exploitation of 

children occurs offline. 

At a disturbing rate, child predators are forming an online community and bond that 

is unparalleled in history. They are openly uniting against legal authorities and discussing 

ways to influence public thinking and legislation on child exploitation. In a 2000 study, 

the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and the Justice Department said 

that one of every five young people ages 10 to 17 surveyed said they had received a 

sexual solicitation over the Internet in the previous year. 

Parents have primary responsibility to minimize the chances of this happening by 

monitoring the hours that kids can spend online. As a general rule, the later at night one is 

on line, the more suspect the activity that occurs. We should be sure to point out stories 

in the newspaper about cyber predators and make sure children do not give out 

information over the Internet that would lead a person to find your child in real life. 

I look forward to hearing from the panelists today to find out more information on 

what can be done to stop this disturbing trend. 

MR. UPTON. The gentleman from Pennsylvania, Mr. Fitzpatrick, is 

recognized for an opening statement. 

MR. FITZPATRICK. Thank you, Chairman Upton and members of the 

committee, for permitting me to participate in today’s hearing and for 

allowing me to address what I feel is a new and emerging danger to our 

Nation’s children and their safety while using the Internet. 
19

Your work in this area will help shed new light on this difficult 

problem that affects both law enforcement and America’s families, and I 

appreciate the committee’s dedication to this issue. 

I first want to welcome David Zellis, Bucks County, PA’s First 

District Attorney, to Washington and thank him for his participation 

today. David spent his life in a career prosecuting crime in my district, 

and I know that his testimony will be of great use and help to the 

committee today. 

As the father of six children I know very well the challenges 

technology poses to our families. In a world that moves at a dizzying 

pace, being a father gets harder all the time. Monitoring our children’s 

use of emerging technologies is a huge task and the Internet remains the 

focus of many parents’ concerns. 

Recently, one aspect of the Internet has attracted a great deal of 

attention and considerable concern: the rise in popularity of social 

networking sites. Social networking sites, best known by the popular 

examples of MySpace, Facebook, and Friendster have literally exploded 

in popularity in just a few short years. MySpace alone has over 90 

million users and ranks as the sixth most popular English language 

website, and the eighth most popular in the world. 

While these sites were designed to allow their users to share virtual 

profiles of themselves to friends and like-minded users, social 

networking sites have also become a haven for online sexual predators 

who have made these corners of the Web their own virtual hunting 

ground. 

The danger our children are exposed to by these sites is clear and 

compelling. According to a study conducted by the National Center For 

Missing and Exploited Children in 1998, there were 3,267 tips reporting 

child pornography. Since then the number has risen by over 

3,000 percent to an astounding 106,119 tips in 2004. 

The Department of Justice recognizes child pornography as a 

precursor for pedophiles and is often linked to online predators. 

According to Attorney General Gonzalez, one in five children have been 

approached sexually on the Internet. One in five children. On the face, 

these numbers are startling. Even more startling has been the visual 

evidence offered to millions of Americans through the news outlets like 

NBC Dateline’s To Catch a Predator series. 

Chris Hansen testified before this committee last month. However, 

the findings of his reports cannot be understated or forgotten. 

Throughout his investigations, Chris Hansen proved time and again, with 

disturbing regularity, that child predators are ready and willing to 

approach the prey they stalk online. 
20

Who could forget the Dateline investigation in Florida where one 

predator arrived with his own 5-year-old son to meet what he thought 

was a 14-year-old boy? 

Who can erase from their memory the man who entered the 

“Dateline” house naked, or the man who brought rope and duct tape with 

him for his encounter? 

What would have happened in these circumstances if the children 

these predators were to meet were not decoys or if Chris Hansen were 

not there? How many assaults, rapes, and ruined lives would have 

resulted in these encounters? 

Mr. Chairman, the fact, however disturbing it may be, is that child 

predators have harnessed the power and anonymity of the Internet and 

social networking sites to hunt for their prey. Something must be done to 

stop the spread of sexual predators online, and I believe that my 

legislation is a step in the right direction. 

My legislation would limit access to minors to social networking 

sites in schools and in public libraries. However, this is no substitute for 

parental supervision, the first line of defense for our children’s safety. 

That is why H.R. 5319 would require the FTC to design and publish a 

website specifically meant to serve as a clearinghouse for information for 

parents and educators. Finding a solution to the problem of sexual 

predators online and the Internet would take the combined efforts of 

parents, children, law enforcement, and the legislature to take action 

against these crimes; and it is my hope that the legislation that lead to the 

On-line Predators Act will assist in that effort. Thank you, 

Mr. Chairman. 

MR. UPTON. The gentleman from Illinois, Mr. Kirk. 

MR. KIRK. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you for having an 

appropriator on the committee here. I did do the customary courtesy-- 

MR. UPTON. Well, we supported the line-item veto here. 

MR. KIRK. I did kiss the Chairman’s ring before approaching the-- 

My involvement in this issue started from a unique source. I have a 

student leadership advisory board, made up of the junior and senior class 

presidents of my high schools. And I asked them, what is the biggest 

threat to kids that your parents do not know about? And they said it was 

MySpace.com. 

Julie Wachtenheim, who is the student body president of Wheeling 

High School, said that she took a particularly good class picture and put 

it up on MySpace and within 45 minutes, a creep from Wheeling was 

trying to contact her. One of our students said that they felt that 

MySpace.com was really mycreepzone.com and it represented a unique 

danger to kids. That is outside the experience of nearly every Member of 

Congress who, when they grew up, did not have this threat to them. 
21

I particularly want to admire the work of Congressman Fitzpatrick 

on this, a leader on suburban issues, and this legislation as well as several 

others are part of a bipartisan suburban agenda that we have. But this 

bill is particularly important because it was written by Congressman 

Fitzpatrick and cosponsored by Congresswoman Bean, representing a 

bipartisan view towards protecting kids in the 21st Century. 

I would hope that the committee would remember we should have 

the conviction of our own convictions represented in 900 years of legal 

tradition, that we want a free and open discourse in a democracy, but our 

900-year legal tradition also says that when you make money in doing 

business with children, you have a unique set of obligations to protect 

your customers and clients. And finding a way to apply that 900-year 

legal tradition of when you do business with children, the State has a 

unique role in making sure they are protected is what this legislation is 

about. So I applaud you, Mr. Chairman, for having it. Thank you again 

for having it. 

MR. UPTON. I thank you again for your leadership and also 

Congressman Fitzpatrick and also Congresswoman Bean for their 

leadership on this issue. 

We look forward to proceeding. At this point I would ask 

unanimous consent that all members of the subcommittee be allowed to 

submit their statements as part of the record and we are prepared now to 

listen to our panel of expert witnesses. 

[Additional statements submitted for the record follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF THE HON. BARBARA CUBIN, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS 

FROM THE STATE OF WYOMING 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As a mother of two, this issue is of particular importance 

to me. 

When my two sons were young boys in Wyoming, my husband and I worried about 

their safety all the time - like any parent does. We did our best to protect them when we 

could, but we could not be with them 24 hours a day. So we also did our best to teach 

them how to protect themselves from dangerous people and dangerous circumstances. 

But, boys will be boys, and we are still finding out about the risks my sons took. I thank 

God they are both alive and healthy today. 

My family has come a long way since those days of worrying about being wary of 

strangers on the street, or looking both ways before crossing. Now parents and kids must 

be wary of strangers invading our computers and our technological way of life, making 

our very homes the target of their evil designs. I do not envy the work parents of young 

children must do to teach and protect their kids today. But just like my sons, kids will be 

kids, and the allure of the internet is too great to assume they will not experiment with it. 

In many cases I am firm believer in state and local control over issues, but this is an 

interstate problem that requires an interstate solution. When predators can lure kids to 

ride a bus across state lines for the purpose of sexual exploitation, it is a problem that 

Congress must address. Similarly, I truly believe that parents are the single most 

influential people in kids lives. Just like efforts at stopping underage drinking, smoking 

and drug use, kids will respond to their parent’s teaching regarding internet safety. While 
22

Congress can and should never replace parents as the role models for children, Congress 

can play a role in assisting parents as they struggle to raise children in the online age. 

That is the intention of this bill we are discussing today. 

I am interested in hearing from the panelists if this particular legislation before us 

would result in any real reductions in online predatory activity. Would this legislation 

adequately help parents keep their children safe from predators? Are there other policies 

this subcommittee should be pursuing that would result in further protection of our 

children? Perhaps most importantly, are there solutions outside of legislation currently 

available in the marketplace that would protect children without undue restrictions on 

innovation and technology use? I look forward to hearing the opinions of the panelists. 

Thank you again, Mr Chairman, for your leadership on this issue. I yield back. 

MR. UPTON. We are going to be joined by the Honorable Greg 

Abbott, the Texas Attorney General; Ms. Parry Aftab, Executive Director 

of WiredSafety.org; Ms. Michelle Collins, Director of the Exploited 

Child Unit of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children; 

Mr. Ted Davis, Director of Knowledge Asset Management, IT 

Department, from Fairfax County Public Schools; Mr. Chris Kelly, Vice 

President of Corporate Development and Chief Privacy Officer of 

Facebook; Ms. Amanda Lenhart, Senior Research Specialist for Pew 

Internet and American Life Project; Ms. Beth Yoke, Executive Director 

of ALA Young Adult Library Services Association from Chicago; and 

Mr. David Zellis, First Assistant District Attorney for the Office of 

Bucks County District in Pennsylvania. 

We welcome you all. We appreciate you having submitted your 

testimony in advance. We would like you to take no more than 5 

minutes to summarize your statement. I would note that the House is 

expecting votes within the next 20 or 30 minutes. So we will probably 

take a brief recess when that starts. 

STATEMENTS OF HON. GREG ABBOTT, TEXAS ATTORNEY 

GENERAL; PARRY AFTAB, ESQ., EXECUTIVE 

DIRECTOR, WIREDSAFETY.ORG; MICHELLE COLLINS, 

DIRECTOR, EXPLOITED CHILD UNIT, NATIONAL 

CENTER FOR MISSING AND EXPLOITED CHILDREN; 

TED DAVIS, DIRECTOR, KNOWLEDGE ASSET 

MANAGEMENT, IT DEPARTMENT, FAIRFAX COUNTY 

PUBLIC SCHOOLS; CHRIS KELLY, VICE PRESIDENT, 

CORPORATE DEVELOPMENT AND CHIEF PRIVACY 

OFFICER OF FACEBOOK; AMANDA LENHART, SENIOR 

RESEARCH SPECIALIST, PEW INTERNET AND 

AMERICAN LIFE PROJECT; BETH YOKE, EXECUTIVE 

DIRECTOR, ALA YOUNG ADULT LIBRARY SERVICES 

ASSOCIATION; DAVID ZELLIS, FIRST ASSISTANT 

DISTRICT ATTORNEY, OFFICE OF BUCKS COUNTY 
23

DISTRICT ATTORNEY, COMMONWEALTH OF 

PENNSYLVANIA 

MR. UPTON. Mr. Abbott, we welcome you. 

MR. ABBOTT. Mr. Chairman, and members of the subcommittee-- 

MR. UPTON. I think you just need to hit the mic button there too. 

MR. ABBOTT. Thank you very much for the instruction. My name is 

Greg Abbott. I am the Attorney General of Texas, and I appreciate the 

opportunity to testify before you today. 

I would like to very quickly follow up on a comment by 

Congressman Gonzalez from Texas. I think it is fair to say that from the 

brilliance and eloquence spoken by both you and Chairman Barton, I 

think it is clear that the draft drawers of new congressional maps in 

Texas, as we speak, should understand that there is no way you two 

should be paired against each other, so Texans can continue to benefit 

from the brilliance of both of you. 

That being said, let me get right to the point, and that is that the 

dangers-- 

MR. UPTON. Mr. Burgess is on his way. He is a member of the 

committee as well, I want you to know. 

MR. ABBOTT. You must be present to win. 

The dangers to children created by social networking websites and 

chat rooms are all too real. Our experience in Texas is both illustrative 

and alarming. Three years ago we created a cyber crimes unit in the 

Texas Attorney General’s office. Our goal was to find, arrest, and put 

behind bars child predators who use the Internet to stalk children. 

A remarkable success is also tragic evidence of the risk children face 

when using chat rooms or social networking sites. Our investigators log 

onto chat rooms that are used by teenagers. Sometimes they log onto 

social networking sites, such as MySpace. The investigators typically 

assume the identity of a 13- or 14-year-old girl. Not long after they log 

on, and not long after they assume the identity of an underage child, they 

are barraged with uninvited, aggressive, and vulgar language. 

The offensive Internet chat often turns into action. The predator sets 

a time, date, and location to sexually assault what he believes to be a 13- 

or 14-year-old girl. Now, on more than 80 occasions, the predator has 

shown up at the location of his choosing to act out on his criminal intent. 

The location is sometimes a motel, sometimes an apartment, sometimes a 

parking lot, sometimes other locations. And it is not uncommon for the 

predator to bring with him things like condoms, alcohol, or even a bed. 

Each of those more than 80 occasions has resulted in an arrest of a child 

predator by the Texas Attorney General’s Office. 
24

The 80th arrest was particularly notable. It was the arrest of a man 

who chatted with what he thought was a 13-year-old girl on MySpace. 

In reality, the graphic sexual conversations he was having were with a 

Texas Attorney General investigator. But what makes this case 

particularly frightening is that at the time he was arrested, the predator 

was out on bail from an arrest that had occurred 6 months prior. At the 

time of his most recent arrest, he was already under indictment for the 

solicitation of a minor. In other words, while he was out on bond, 

awaiting trial for illegal Internet solicitation of a minor, he was back on 

the Internet trolling for his next victim. This highlights how dangerous 

and incorrigible these predators are. 

Children simply cannot be safe with the current landscape of 

cyberspace chat rooms and social networking sites. Unfortunately, not 

all the people chatting with predators are undercover officers and not all 

of the predators are caught in stings. Real children are real victims of 

real predators. 

Recently a 14-year-old girl from central Texas was raped by a man 

she chatted with on a social networking site. Yesterday this story 

appeared on a TV station in Houston. To summarize it, the headline is 

“Woodlands Man”--Woodlands is a suburb of Houston--“Woodlands 

Man Admits He Seduced Teen Online.” Quickly, the story says that 

Dale Beckham was charged with luring a 14-year-old boy he met over 

the Internet into a hotel room, where they had sex. Beckham traveled 

from his home in Houston to the Ottawa, Canada area with a laptop 

computer and digital camera. His home was later searched and 

authorities found hundreds of images of child pornography on his 

computers, including pictures of children younger than 12 engaged in 

sexual acts with adults. 

Perhaps the most disturbing thing about these stories is that they are 

becoming all too common, so frequently posted in newspapers that the 

public may become desensitized to the reality, the harsh reality for the 

victim of Dale Beckham and the victims of thousands of predators across 

this country. 

No one would allow their children to invite a predator over to the 

house for the evening. The fact is, that is exactly what happens when 

children log on to these social networking sites and chat rooms. Clearly, 

safeguards are needed at schools, at libraries, as well as in our homes if 

we are to protect our children against these predators. Such safeguards 

are the kinds of protections that Americans have come to expect. Streets, 

neighborhoods, and playgrounds are essential to our daily lives and are a 

part of the American social and economic fabric. Nevertheless, we must 

police our streets, neighborhoods, and playgrounds to ensure their safety. 
25

Similarly, the Internet Super Highway and social network sites are 

vital to our modern-day economy and they provide an effective platform 

for exchange of ideas, information, and commerce. They also have 

developed into virtual neighborhoods where people can simply socialize. 

But these modern-day neighborhoods and playgrounds are proving just 

as susceptible to criminal predators as their traditional counterparts, if 

not more so. 

Countless Federal laws aim to protect our streets and neighborhoods. 

The need to protect our virtual neighborhoods is just as great. It is time 

to end the games of pretend and denial. Even worse is that some use a 

nod and wink to imply it is the child’s fault or the parents’ fault when a 

child is victimized by someone they met online. Well, when a 

14-year-old is raped in the streets, we don’t blame the girl. Instead, we 

work to catch the rapist and work to ensure that we have safe 

neighborhoods where kids don’t get raped. The scenario doesn’t change 

just because the rape victim chatted with the rapist online. 

Your ongoing vigilance is needed to protect children across this 

entire country and make the Internet a safe place for children to play, to 

learn, to explore, and to grow. We look forward to working with you to 

get that job done. 

MR. UPTON. We look forward to working with you too. Thank you 

for your service. 

MR. ABBOTT. Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Hon. Greg Abbott follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF THE HON. GREG ABBOTT, ATTORNEY GENERAL, OFFICE OF THE 

ATTORNEY GENERAL, STATE OF TEXAS

Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee, my name is Greg Abbott, I am the 

Attorney General for the state of Texas, and I thank you for the opportunity to testify 

before you today. 

Let me start by thanking you for shining a spotlight on the growing national 

nightmare of the Internet being used as a playground for child predators. Your legislative 

proposal – appropriately named “Deleting Online Predators Act” – is an important step 

towards making the Internet safer for our children and families. I wish the solution to the 

growing problem was as easy as hitting a delete button. Unfortunately, it is much more 

complex. With your active involvement, though, Internet safety will become more of a 

reality for millions of American children. 

The dangers to children created by social networking websites and chat rooms are 

very real. The Texas experience is both illustrative – and alarming. 

Three years ago, we created a Cyber Crimes Unit in the Office of the Attorney 

General of Texas. One of its primary missions was to find, arrest and convict child 

predators who use the Internet to stalk their prey. The unit’s nationally recognized 

success is tragic evidence of the risk children face when using chat rooms or social 

networking websites. 

Our Cyber Crimes Unit has investigators who log onto chat rooms that are used by 

teenagers. Sometimes they log on to social networking sites like MySpace. The 

investigators typically assume the identity of a teenage girl, usually around the age of 13 
26

or 14. Not long after they log on and assume an under-age identity, they are barraged 

with aggressive and vulgar language that is uninvited. All too often, the offensive 

Internet “chat” turns into action. The predator sets a time, date and location to sexually 

assault what he believes to be a 13 or 14 year old girl. On more than 80 occasions, the 

predator has shown up at the location of his choosing to act out on his criminal intent. 

The location is sometimes a motel, sometimes an apartment, sometimes a parking lot, 

sometimes other places. It is not uncommon for the predator to bring things like 

condoms, alcohol, even a bed. Each of those 80+ occasions has resulted in an arrest of 

the child predator by the Texas Attorney General’s office. 

As an example, we recently arrested a 50-year-old man after he showed up at a 

Central Texas restaurant to meet what he thought was a 14-year-old girl. This predator 

had been talking with the girl – who in reality was one of our Cyber Crimes investigators 

– in an online chat room. He even stopped on his way to the meeting and bought some 

wine coolers to give the girl. 

And not long ago, we arrested a 52-year-old university professor at a bus station in 

McAllen, Texas, where he was waiting for what he thought was a 13-year-old girl he met 

online. He even bought the would-be teenager a bus ticket so she could travel from miles 

away to meet him. 

The 80th arrest was particularly notable. It was the arrest of 27-year-old John David 

Payne, who had been chatting with what he thought was a 13-year-old girl he met on 

MySpace. In reality, the graphic sexual conversations he was having were with a Texas 

Attorney General investigator. 

What makes his case particularly frightening – although sadly not unusual – is that, 

at the time of his arrest, Mr. Payne was out on bail from an arrest that occurred six 

months prior. In fact, at the time of his most recent arrest, he was already under 

indictment for online solicitation of a minor. In other words, while he was out on bond 

awaiting trial for illegal Internet solicitation of a minor, he was back on the Internet, 

trolling for his next victim. These child predators are dangerous and incorrigible, and 

children simply cannot be safe with the current landscape of cyberspace chat rooms and 

social networking sites. 

Unfortunately, not all of the people chatting with predators are undercover officers, 

and not all of the predators are caught in stings. Real children are real victims of real 

predators. Recently, a 14-year-old girl from Central Texas was raped by a man she 

chatted with on a social networking site. This is just one of the most recent examples, 

examples that are repeated around the country with increasing frequency. 

As we hold this hearing today, millions of teenagers are chatting online, posting 

personal information on a profile page, talking to other teens on social networking sites, 

and meeting people in chat rooms. Before we leave here today, countless of those teens 

will have innocently chatted with someone they didn’t know. And, before we leave 

today, some of those unknown chatters will turn out to be predators who have just located 

their next target. 

Clearly, safeguards are needed at schools and libraries – as well as in our homes – if 

we are to protect our children against these predators. Such safeguards are the kinds of 

protections that Americans have come to expect. 

Streets, neighborhoods and playgrounds are essential to our daily lives and are part 

of the American social and economic fabric. Nevertheless, we must police our streets, 

neighborhoods and playgrounds to ensure their safety. Similarly, the Internet 

superhighway and social network sites are vital to our modern day economy and they 

provide an effective platform for the exchange of ideas, information and commerce. 

They also have developed into virtual neighborhoods where people can simply socialize. 

But, these modern-day neighborhoods and playgrounds are proving just as susceptible to 

criminals and predators as their traditional counterparts, if not more so. 
27

As can be expected, the responsibility for protecting children and teens who use the 

Internet is a shared responsibility. Law enforcement will continue to improve its efforts 

to track down, arrest and put behind bars anyone who uses the Internet to harm children. 

Parents are also a part of the process. Parents must use oversight, education and 

vigilance to protect their children. Just as parents warn children not to take candy from 

strangers and to look both ways before crossing the street, parents must warn children 

about the dangers that exist on the Internet. Parents frequently evaluate whether their 

teen is sufficiently responsible with a car before allowing him or her to go driving. One 

reason, of course, is that teens, if driving irresponsibly, could hurt themselves or others. 

The same is true with the Internet. Parents should ensure that their teenagers are 

sufficiently informed and responsible in their Internet use. Otherwise, they could get 

hurt. 

But the great weight of the problem must be shouldered by the very creators and 

hosts of these networking sites and chat rooms that provide the previously non-existent 

opportunity for child predators. Social networking sites and chat rooms have created an 

environment in which predators target their next victim and plot their next attack. 

Predators use these web locations as a starting point for raping a child! The creators and 

hosts of these networking sites are not the predators who commit the crime, but they 

create the opportunity for the criminal to carry out his crime. 

The creators and hosts of these networking sites are part of the problem, and as part 

of the solution they must do more than pay lip service to providing a safe environment for 

children. They must take affirmative, definitive action to ensure the protection of 

children who use their sites and chat rooms. They can no longer be allowed to turn a 

blind eye to the predators who lurk on the playground they created. 

Admittedly, some of these networking sites and chat rooms have begun the process 

of a constructive dialogue to address the issue. But, if they are honest, they will admit 

that the predator problem persists, and that there is more they can do to solve the 

problem. 

As mentioned earlier, parents have a role to play. But parents are being denied some 

of their ability to play that role. The networking sites should structure their systems so 

parents can block access to their sites. Parents across the country prevent their children 

from going to locations where crime may occur, where sex and drugs may be traded, or 

where their children could be harmed. Parents should not be denied that opportunity (that 

responsibility) simply because the location is in a virtual neighborhood, rather than a 

neighborhood down the street. If parents want their children to have the opportunity to 

participate on the networking sites, the sites should be offer parents filtering software to 

block their child’s access to content and websites that parents deem inappropriate. 

Heightened precaution must be taken to protect children under 16 from child 

predators. Should networking sites really mix 13 year old children with adults who are 

participating in the networking site for the purpose of looking for a sex partner? To avoid 

this problem, the sites should be structured so that only children over a certain age can 

participate in sites with adults. 

Children who use the sites should not be subjected to sexually explicit images and 

solicitations, or other age-inappropriate material. The sites should be structured so that 

such material is not accessible without age verification. 

While social networking sites are a lot of fun for kids – and have the potential to 

expose our children to a world of knowledge and bring them literally worldwide friends – 

many of the sites also subject children to a world of predators, pedophiles and 

pornographers. 

As law enforcement officers, we are asking that social networking sites and chat 

rooms more effectively police themselves, or be shut down. Our society does not tolerate 

houses of prostitution. Neither should it tolerate virtual houses that promote predators. 
28

Computer literacy and Internet access are necessities, not luxuries. And without 

question they have made our lives better. But the anonymity of the Internet has created 

opportunities for child predators and child pornographers, giving them cover to act on 

their perversions. 

It turns out that the Internet, for all of its benefits and all of its conveniences, is still 

a pretty dangerous place. It would not be an exaggeration to say that no child is safe 

from the unwanted advances of chat room predators, men who use the Internet in an 

attempt to realize their worst fantasies. 

Thank you for working to protect children from the nightmare of these predators. 

We look forward to working with you to win the war against those who threaten the 

safety of our children, our families, our homes and our communities. 

MR. UPTON. Ms. Aftab.

MS. AFTAB. Good morning, Mr. Chairman. Thank you so much. 

WiredSafety is honored to be represented on the panel today. We spoke 

at the first day of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, and 

yesterday I was honored to speak again at the field hearing, which was a 

much closer commute to my house in New Jersey. 

I am an Internet privacy and security lawyer, at least by training. I 

was one of the first Internet lawyers in the world, and I used to earn a 

good living. I represented many of the big corporations that you hear 

from, and I used to protect them in cyberspace. 

In 1998, somebody sent me a link to a website. It was a child 

pornography website, and I clicked on the link and I saw a picture of a 

3-1/2-year-old being raped. I cried for a while. I vomited a little bit 

longer, and I said I might be able to do something if the corporations that 

were paying me so well to protect them online might listen to me instead 

of charging a lot of money. I would give away my time to see if we 

could protect children and, at the same time, made sure they had access 

to this wonderful technology; because online all children can walk, talk 

and see, all of them have access to the world. And that was a challenge. 

But as a lawyer who was very well paid in this area, I was always good 

at challenging the risks and benefits of the technology. 

Luckily, 11,000 people joined me. We are all unpaid volunteers. 

We operate in 76 countries around the world. We don’t have real 

offices. We have no paid staff. We are just people who care a great deal 

about protecting each other, especially our children. 

Now, we have also been inside the social networks. Since I first 

called MySpace in February of 2005, screaming about things that I saw 

they were doing when they had 6 million users. And they called me back 

saying, “Kids? We don’t want kids. It is designed for independent 

musicians. We can’t handle them. They are doing all these things. 

What to do?” I said you have to do some things. You have to have a law 

enforcement policy and guide. I wrote it for them. It is used as the 

model for their work with law enforcement around the country. I said, 
29

you need safety tips. I wrote them in the middle of the night. They had 

typos with them for 6 months. We put them on their site until they knew 

enough to take over and put their own there. And my volunteers 

answered questions from parents when they became concerned about 

social networks. When they came from 6 million to 90 million, we 

became involved in all of the other social networks. 

The second one was Facebook. When Chris Kelly came into 

Facebook, Chris and I knew each other for several years and we said we 

will help you, too, because I know how serious they take this. We are 

now embedded with all the major social networks of the world as the 

watchdog, trying to get them to beef up best practices. The bill 

specifically is so well intentioned. 

And I met Congressman Fitzpatrick yesterday. I know where it is 

coming from. The problem is, you need to understand both kids and 

social networks. There is no ISP in this country or major entertainment 

site or major brand that isn’t either already using a social network 

technology or contemplating it. I receive several phone calls a day from 

both venture capitalists and investors, telling me that the sites that are 

coming to them for money will not be funded unless we get in on the 

inside and tell them what they need to do. So they are out there. 

If this law were implemented as written, they would be blocking 

Microsoft, Yahoo!, Google, AOL, all of the major networks, Viacom, 

every single one that you can imagine, not just the new ones that are 

social networking only. 

In addition, as we look at the technology, kids are doing it for a 

number of reasons. For years I have spent time protecting children from 

adult predators. That is why I got into this. And then I started protecting 

children from each other, cyber bullying. Congressman Shimkus was 

kind enough to put together a special event with Al Roker and my Teen 

Angels and us on cyber bullying. Cyber bullying has exploded. It is the 

biggest problem you find on social networks, not the sexual predators 

which gets a great deal of hype, but kids are being victimized right and 

left on social networks as they are cruel to each other. And now we are 

finding the kids are hurting themselves, posting things that might have 

sounded cool at slumber parties, or they were drinking too many bottles 

of beer, and it might affect them getting into Stanford or something else 

because they posed as drunken sluts, because it sounded like a good idea 

at the time. It is not cool to say you were home baking cookies with your 

5-year-old niece. It is a lot more fun to say you were doing something 

more outrageous, and you can do that on your MySpace. 

As we looked at this, we are all unpaid volunteers. We are largely 

unfunded. We realize we have to come up with solutions that will work 

quickly. And although the law is well intentioned, I think that perhaps as 
30

we tweak it, if you are looking for something that will compel schools 

and libraries, what we should do is to get schools to adopt a risk 

management plan. Say to them these are the real risks, this is how it 

works, here are the models. Send home an acceptable use policy to the 

parents, saying if your kids are cyber bullying each other from a home 

computer, but it impacts school, we have the right to do something about 

it. Let’s get them to do something meaningful, and the schools rather 

than legislators can decide what is right for that particular school. 

In addition, we have gone to the true expert on the Web. Marvel 

Comics has donated Spider-Man as our spokesman, and we have a new 

comic coming out on social networking that we think will be effective. 

We have gone to kids, Teen Angels is our program. Kids talking to each 

other can be very effective. The kids said that they never thought smart 

kids could be caught. So we have been doing a great deal of work on 

that and we have a series of animations, one of which I would have 

shown you if I could get my computer to work. So much for being a 

techno lawyer. It says that cute 14-year-old boy may not be cute, may 

not be 14, and may not be a boy. We have an animation where a girl is 

talking to heartthrob Bob on her social network page. In one section, it is 

a fat slob sexual predator and another one it is three mean girls cyber 

bullying, setting her up for humiliation. In the third, it is her 8-year-old 

bratty brother and his friend who want to show up with a video camera 

when she goes to the meet. We have someone who is out on a day pass 

from prison. Unfortunately, Christina Long, the first girl who was killed 

by an Internet sexual predator, confirmed 4 years ago, after the person 

was in prison awaiting sentencing, he was trying to lure other 

13-year-olds from prison. 

What do we do? We look for folks, people like Nick Lachey. He is 

our new spokesperson. The kids like that a lot. We have the new Ms. 

Virginia, Adrian Scarlotta. We have looked to our new program that 

came out of the hearings, the Oversight and Investigations hearings. It is 

called WiredMoms. It is our Moms Against Internet Sexual Predators. 

We have found that by mobilizing people, giving them the tools they 

need, including our new Internet safety plan that will launch in 

September, parents can put in the information they have, the age and 

genders of their kids, what they are doing, what their values are, and it 

will spit out a road map of what they need on a technology site so they 

can know how to talk to their kids and know what to do 

If we can make it easy, we can make it clean, we can make it 

accessible, we can all get involved. We can make a difference. And for 

the first time--I have been doing this for 10 years--and for the first time, 

Congress is leading the world. I do this all over the world. They do it in 

Singapore, England, Hong Kong. I work with parents to promote a guide 
31

for Internet safety. Now, finally, all of the talents of these great groups, 

national centers, all of these fabulous people who I have been admiring 

for the years have been bringing before Congress. It is time. 

Let us work together. I am WiredSafety and our Teen Angels and 

Wired Moms and Spider-Man, and you name it, we are working together 

on this. You come up with any issues you want, I will sit down and help 

you plot, kick the tires, and let you know what is going on. 

Our new program for the social networks, letting you know who is 

doing a good job and who isn’t, will launch in September to let you 

know what is going to make it a little easier. 

[The prepared statement of Parry Aftab follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF PARRY AFTAB, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, WIREDSAFETY.ORG

SUMMARY 

Our children are online. They do their homework, entertain themselves, 

communicate with each other and us, research things, shop for things and compare prices 

online. They need the Internet for their education, their careers and for their future. Of all 

the risks our children face online, only one is certain. If we deny our children access to 

these technologies, we have guaranteed that they are hurt. All other risks are avoidable 

through a combination of awareness, supervision, parental control and other technologies 

and the adoption of best practices by schools and the Internet industry itself. More and 

more children being lured and stalked by online predators who gather information about 

them from social networking profiles, chatrooms, instant messaging, e-mails and 

websites and who use this information and access to “groom” them. 

With our children walking around with Internet access in their backpacks and 

pocketbooks, we can no longer rely on parents watching whatever they do from a central 

location computer. Our children need to learn to use the “filter between their ears” and 

“ThinkB4TheyClick.” This requires that we get them involved in framing solutions and 

educating each other. It also requires that we find new ways of building good cybercitizenship and helping the kids and parents spot risks in new technologies and protect 

themselves online. It also requires that we engage the Internet industry itself in ways to 

build safer technologies and adopt best practices designed to make all their users, not just 

children, safer. 

Social networking, a combination of mini-web pages, blogs and searchable 

communities, have expanded in recent years, most recently exploding with the growth of 

MySpace.com. Parry Aftab estimates that more than half of the young teens in the US 

with home Internet access have at least one social networking profile. Some were set up 

by their friends, and others by the young teens themselves. Many have 2 to 5 separate 

profiles on just one site, and most have at least one profile on two or more social 

networks (not all being used, however). WiredSafety.org first began its social networking 

safety work in 2004, after learning how many young teens and preteens were beginning 

to use them. Unlike the early AOL profile pages used by teens and preteens in prior 

years, where the young users could post their contact information and brief statements 

about their interests, these networks were designed to be interactive. And instead of dry 

posts of contact and other personal interest information, these networks allowed teens to 

use html coding to add music, movies, animations, sounds, images and lots of user 

generated content to their page. 

While the media and many others have focused only on the dangers of these 

networks when used by preteens and teens, it is important that we also explore their good 
32

uses and value and why their use has exploded in the last year and a-half. We have spent 

two years studying how and why preteens and teens use these kinds of sites. 

Most use them for innocent purposes. They want to find their friends and 

communicate among larger groups than they can do via instant messaging. They can post 

something and know everyone in their class or group can read it at the same time. They 

want to show off their creativity and how special they are. And they can pretend to be 

prettier, more popular, richer and more famous than they are in real life. They raise 

money for their favorite charity and awareness for new causes. 

They can post one message and their 150 best friends can see it right away. 

Unfortunately, so can those who might not have their best interests at heart. And sadly, in 

some cases, our teens are acting out, taking risks and seeking romance online (even 

knowingly with adults). That’s when things can get dangerous, especially for young 

teens. 

Our preteens and teens are often intentionally sharing risky information online in 

profiles, blogs and on websites. They may also share this information with stranger 

unwittingly, such as posting their cell numbers on their public away messages when using 

IM technologies. They intentionally post graphically sexual images and engage in and 

post cybersexual communications on their profiles and in chat-type technologies. And 

even when they are careful about protecting their own privacy, they may not be safe from 

their friends - even well-meaning friends. Their close friends may expose personal 

information about them by posting photos and information on their profiles. 

They are also, in greater and greater numbers, meeting people offline that they met 

online. In 2000, Family PC Magazine reported that 24% of the teen girls they polled and 

16% of the teen boys they polled admitted to meeting Internet strangers in real life. I 

believe that these numbers, when revised, will disclose that many more are doing this 

than 5 years ago. It is becoming more commonplace. Our children go willingly to offline 

meetings with these people. They may think they are meeting a cute fourteen year old 

boy, but find that they are meeting a 47- year old child molester instead. This has to stop. 

Smart kids are sharing sexual images online with people they don't know, or emailing them to others they have a crush on and hope to entice. And with the newer 

video-chats, webcams and similar technologies, the predators have moved to luring our 

kids into posing and engaging in sexually explicit activities entirely online, in the comfort 

of their bedrooms, with parents sitting unwittingly downstairs. 

And while we focus on sexual predators online and how they are using social 

networks and community interactive technologies to reach our children, we too often 

forget that the most prevalent risk our children face on these networks and using these 

technologies is cyberbullying, not adult sexual predators. A vast majority of the preteen 

and young teens we polled have been involved, directly or indirectly, in at least one 

cyberbullying incident. They torment and terrorize each other. They threaten and 

embarrass each other. They post fake profiles, hateful messages and steal each other's 

passwords and identities, all designed to bully their victims. They do it in groups, singly, 

openly and anonymously. They use cell phones, interactive gaming devices and sites and 

web profiles, blogs and websites where you can vote for the ugliest, fattest, least popular 

or gayest student. And schools are the ones most impacted, when students who might be 

creating and posting these hateful communications from home or otherwise outside of 

school ground and after-hours, become engaged in violence and hurtful interactivities 

during school hours. In addition, when our teens and preteens are posting real or fantasy 

information about how much alcohol they consumed at this weekend's party, or how 

active their sex life has become, or how they cheated on their finals or shoplifted from the 

local mall, they may not realize that college recruiters, scholarship committees, coaches 

and future employers can access this information in years to come. This is an increasingly 

growing risk our children pose to themselves. 
33

All of this has schools concerned. Private schools, especially, are facing real 

challenge controlling their students' activities online. Facebook.com is favored by private 

and parochial school students, who are impressed with the fact that it was formed at 

Harvard and other private and parochial students can be found there. It has, as some teens 

tell us, the “snob factor.” 

Our children are sometimes accessing these sites from their school laptops, inclassroom desktops and school and public libraries. So, a parent's “house rules” may not 

have much effect when their child leaves the house. So, creating a new law prohibiting 

schools and libraries from allowing underage students and users to access these sites is an 

obvious approach. But is the answer to these problems found in laws restricting where 

students can go during school hours on school computers? Or can this be controlled by 

blocking access to interactive community networking sites, such as MySpace, Facebook 

and others from public and school libraries? While this may appear on its face to be an 

easy answer, it is neither easy nor the answer. 

As more social networks are launched every day, and every ISP, entertainment 

company and wireless provider is either building a social network or finding a way to 

integrate social networking and community interactivity into their new and existing sites, 

it is impossible to block all of them and not other valuable Internet features, sites and 

content. Instead, schools need to be armed with the tools and risk management expertise 

to decide what sites their students can access during school hours from their servers and 

how to enforce their decisions and policies. 

Schools need to decide if their students should have access to any non-educational 

site from school computers, and if so, which ones and for what purpose. They then need 

to develop a policy communicating this decision and the rules to the students (in language 

they understand), the teachers, the parents and other caregivers and to their IT team. They 

need to decide whether they will be using software to help enforce their policy, or merely 

traditional discipline for violating school policies. That too needs to be communicated to 

the school community. They also need to create or adopt educational programs teaching 

their students what information they can and shouldn't be sharing online, the risks of 

irresponsible Internet use and where to go when things go wrong. They can play an 

important role in teaching parents and other community members about safe, private and 

responsible Internet and wireless technologies use. 

Educators, not legislators, should be deciding what students do during the school 

day. They know their students and the learning environment best. But schools do need the 

guidance and help of legislators and regulators to do this right. They need reliable 

information and studies on which they can base their decisions. They need to be apprised 

of new trends and developing risks. They need to know that websites and services are 

using the latest and best technologies and have adopted the best industry practices with 

their users' safety in mind. They need help that Congress can provide. 

Congress can also be very helpful in helping gather relevant information about 

cybercrimes and abuses. I have testified previously that actual cybercrime statistics are 

lacking. Everything we know is largely anecdotal. In 1999, the FBI's Innocent Images 

(charged with investigating crimes against children online) opened 1500 new cases of 

suspects who were attempting to lure a child into an offline meeting for the purposes of 

sex. Based upon my estimates, about the same number of cases were opened by state and 

local law enforcement agencies that year. The same year, approximately 25 million 

minors used the Internet in the U.S. Now, with more than 75 million young Internet users 

in the U.S. we don't know if the number of instances have increased, decreased or remain 

flat, given the growth. The crime reporting forms don't collect information about the use 

of the Internet is child sexual exploitation crimes, or any other crimes. That has to 

change. 

Creating a central reporting database where all instances of cybercrimes are reported 

for statistical purposes, from cyberharassment to Internet-related ID theft, fraud and 
34

scams, to sexual predators and Internet-related child pornography and sexual exploitation 

would be incredibly helpful. It could track cybercrime trends affecting adults, seniors and 

youth. It could be used to help design safer systems and best practices and guide 

legislation directed at a meaningful problem, in a meaningful way. 

In addition, with tax dollars becoming more and more precious and the mission of 

all Congressional representatives to put tax dollars into the most effective use, existing 

programs by trusted non-profit groups can be highlighted and made available online to 

schools and community organizations that need them, without cost. Without having to 

reinvent the wheel, massive amounts of programs, lesson plans and risks management 

guides already exist that can be used as is, or easily retooled. Finding a way to get these 

wonderful resources into the hands of those who need them the most, using interactive 

technologies and the Internet and mobilizing volunteers to help deploy existing programs 

that were developed with or without government dollars is the fastest way to make a dent 

in the problem. Focusing attention on what works and what doesn't is something that 

Congress does best. WiredSafety.org and I pledge our help in doing that. 

It's time. 

OPENING STATEMENT 

SOCIAL NETWORKS AND COMMUNITY INTERACTIVE TECHNOLOGIES AND 

US TEENS AND PRETEENS 

WiredSafety has been involved in cybersafety for ten years (see the attached 

description of our organization and work in the Appendix). It was founded and is run by 

Parry Aftab, one of the first Internet lawyers specializing in security and privacy law. She 

is frequently referred to as “The Kids Internet Lawyer” for her work with the children's 

online industry and child privacy issues and is an unpaid volunteer. For ten years we have 

cautioned Internet users of all ages against sharing too much personal information online, 

through profiles (pre-social networking), websites and online and mobile chat 

technologies. So we could quickly adapt our expertise to the new social networking 

explosion. It is crucial that this Sub-Committee recognizes that social networking is the 

future of the Internet and cyber-communications. It is here to stay and being used by 

every major ISP and cyber-industry, by every trusted brand online and offline. It is not 

limited to newcomers, such as MySpace and Facebook, but includes Google, AOL, 

Microsoft, Yahoo! and others. Coming to terms with how and why people are using these 

networks is essential. 

There are always trends in what kids are doing online. And some, that may have 

started as a trend, become core technologies adopted by adults and businesses alike. 

Instant-messaging and social networks head this list. Social networks (sometimes 

incorrectly called “blogs”) are the future of the Internet and cyber-technology. They are a 

cross between an online diary, a cyberdating network, an online publishing house, the 

fastest way to reach out to your friends online and a place to share your creativity and 

express yourself – on steroids. 

MySpace grew in popularity because it offered what teens wanted - the ability to 

express themselves in any way they could imagine if they could locate or write the code 

to do it. But, interestingly enough, when MySpace was created, it was designed for 

independent musicians age 18 - 34, not for teens and preteens. It was the teens who found 

MySpace, not the other way around. By February 2005, when I first called them with our 

concerns, MySpace had approximately 6 million users/profiles. By late May, 2005, they 

had approximately 23 million users/profiles. By the end of 2005 that had increased to 

approximately 50 million users/profiles and stands at about 90 million users/profiles 

today. Until recently, our safety tips appeared on MySpace as their safety page, and we 

were the only watchdog within the site. We remain the only watchdog within most of the 
35

other major social networks, but no longer populate MySpace's safety pages or take abuse 

reports from their users. This is now handled internally by MySpace. 

MySpace.com and other similar sites are designed to allow people to share their 

creativity, pictures, and information with others. It also allows them to network with 

others online. Sometimes people do this to find romance. Sometimes they do it to find 

friends with similar interests. While this may be okay for adults, it is not okay for kids 

and may not be okay for young teens without parental supervision. 

Most social-networking websites agree and prohibit anyone under a certain age from 

using their website. Unfortunately, while they may set rules to keep younger teens and 

preteens off the site, they can’t prevent kids from lying about their age and pretending to 

be old enough to use the website. (These sites are typically free and, without a payment 

or age verification or authentication, they never know who their members are in real life.) 

To address the lying some sites have developed special software applications designed to 

help identify underage members by reviewing the contents of member profiles. It’s not 

perfect, but it does help spot many underage members. 

I recently visited a Marine Base in Yuma, Arizona and worked with teens and 

preteens on the base. I polled many of the preteens, learning that several of them had a 

“MySpace.” When I pointed out MySpace's minimum age requirement of 14, they 

shrugged and explained that they were “mature for their age.” After a 45-minute 

presentation, these same preteens knew far more about protecting themselves on 

MySpace and similar sites. But they still wanted to keep their “MySpace” profiles. This is 

a problem parents, schools, library media specialists and others are facing. How do you 

keep preteens and teens off of the social networks? Parents are told to talk with their kids, 

While no one can always tell if someone is lying about their age, some of these sites 

use some method of age verification or authentication (such as Facebook.com's college email address requirement for their college users or YFly.com's field team approach). And 

these and others really try to keep underage users off their site. Many other similar sites 

do not. So, when allowing any teen to use a social-networking website, even with 

supervision, it helps to make sure it’s a trustworthy one. WiredSafety allows those we 

consider more trustworthy to use our safety tips and link to our help teams. So, looking 

for our tips is a good way to start finding the sites we consider more trustworthy. In 

addition, our new seal program that will review sites for compliance with best practices, 

privacy and safety practices will launch in September.1

 This should help in telling the 

good and responsible players from the bad and irresponsible ones. 

All ISPs, entertainment companies and major wireless providers either already have 

a social network or similar community feature or will over the next year. New ones are 

launched daily. I am contacted by leading venture capitalists and investor groups daily to 

advise on a new proposal or network. The top five or six networks with substantial US 

user-bases claim, collectively, almost 200 million user profiles. Even if one user may set 

up several profiles (I have learned that most 12-16 year olds have between 2 and 5 

 

1

 The seal will deal with several issues impacting safety, such as their law enforcement policies (how 

easy it is for law enforcement agencies to work with the site when cybercrimes and abuses are 

reported or in conducting investigations, how long they maintain IP data to assist in tracking the 

identity of cybercriminals and the location of missing children, and how well they inform law 

enforcement about what information they collect and retain and how to legally request it), safety 

(privacy and security settings, abuse reporting mechanisms, the expertise of their abuse reporting 

staff, their terms of service and how well they are enforced), their customer service (how they handle 

request from parents and schools, how easy it is to remove or modify a profile, how well they 

educate their users about safety and security, their technological protections against malicious code 

and ID theft, and their relationship with high-risk sites) and if they cater to preteens or teens, how 

carefully they care for their interests (such as how well they comply with the child-protection 

privacy rules and laws and how sensitive they are to appropriate marketing and advertising practices 

and placement and how well they handle cyberbullying and other youth-centric abuses). 
36

different profiles, each set up with a different e-mail address), it is estimated that at least 

80 million people are using social networks in the US.2

 I have polled approximately 

10,000 teens and preteens face-to-face across the US over the last four months on their 

social network usage. These sites include MySpace.com, Xanga.com, Bebo.com, 

Tagged.com, BlackPlanet.com and its sister site, MiGente.com, and FaceBook.com, 

among others. 

We have learned a great deal about why kids use these kinds of sites. Most use them 

for innocent purposes. They want to find their friends and communicate among larger 

groups than they can do via instant messaging. They can post something and know 

everyone in their class or group can read it at the same time. They want to show off their 

creativity and how special they are. And they can pretend to be prettier, more popular, 

richer and more famous than they are in real life. They raise money for their favorite 

charity and awareness for new causes. They stage protests from their profiles new 

millennium-style, letting policymakers know how they feel about the propose 

immigration policies and other issues important to teens, in interactive petitions. They 

make and share news. They engage in educational activities, such as building profiles of 

their favorite historical characters. One user may write music and another he has never 

met may write the lyrics. It's where they hang out and have fun, share their expertise and 

talents and find others like themselves. Or, they may be looking for other teens with lives 

radically different from theirs - farm-kids may want to find city-kids or conservative kids 

may want to find outrageous ones. They can try on different guises and lifestyles and 

pretend to be someone they aren't, both good and bad. 

They can post one message and their 150 best friends can see it right away. 

Unfortunately, so can those who might not have their best interests at heart. But most of 

our teens aren’t there for meeting strangers or checking out provocative photos. Sadly, in 

some cases, though, they are acting out, taking risks and seeking romance online. That’s 

when things can get dangerous, for users of all ages, but especially young teens. (You can 

learn more about Internet sexual predators and how they operate at our new site for 

preventing and helping young victims of Internet sexual predators, Katiesplace.org.) 

Most use them for innocent purposes. They want to find their friends and 

communicate among larger groups than they can do via instant messaging. They can post 

something and know everyone in their class or group can read it at the same time. They 

want to show off their creativity and how special they are. And they can pretend to be 

prettier, more popular, richer and more famous than they are in real life. They raise 

money for their favorite charity and awareness for new causes. They stage protests from 

their profiles new millennium-style, letting policymakers know how they feel about the 

propose immigration policies and other issues important to teens, in interactive petitions. 

They make and share news. They engage in educational activities, such as building 

profiles of their favorite historical characters. One user may write music and another he 

has never met may write the lyrics. It's where they hang out and have fun, share their 

expertise and talents and find others like themselves. Or, they may be looking for other 

teens with lives radically different from theirs - farm-kids may want to find city-kids or 

 

2

 Some websites, including MySpace.com, make it very difficult to remove a profile. In MySpace's 

case, the user must fill out an online form to request instructions on profile deletion and a special 

code will be e-mailed to the non-MySpace e-mail they used when setting up their account for them 

to use to shut down their profile page. Due to the fact that many users either use a fake e-mail 

address to protect their privacy or have since stopped using the one they provided when the account 

was set-up, the code cannot be delivered. Even if the e-mail address is real and still functioning, 

however, many ISPs and e-mail providers block MySpace communications sent over their networks 

as SPAM. Without the code, the profiles remain up, even if the user wants them removed, which 

may lead to inflated user-numbers. (WiredSafety has arranged for a special process to assist in the 

removal of teen/preteen profiles when the e-mail address is not working, but I suspect that it is not 

widely used unless the user comes to us for our assistance.) 
37

conservative kids may want to find outrageous ones. They can try on different guises and 

lifestyles and pretend to be someone they aren't, both good and bad. 

They can post one message and their 150 best friends can see it right away. 

Unfortunately, so can those who might not have their best interests at heart. And sadly, in 

some cases, our teens are acting out, taking risks and seeking romance online (even 

knowingly with adults). That’s when things can get dangerous, especially for young 

teens. 

Our preteens and teens are often intentionally sharing risky information online in 

profiles, blogs and on websites. They may also share this information with stranger 

unwittingly, such as posting their cell numbers on their public away messages when using 

IM technologies. They intentionally post graphically sexual images and engage in and 

post cybersexual communications on their profiles and in chat-type technologies. And 

even when they are careful about protecting their own privacy, they may not be safe from 

their friends - even well-meaning friends. Their close friends may expose personal 

information about them by posting photos and information on their profiles. 

They are also, in greater and greater numbers, meeting people offline that they met 

online. In 2000, Family PC Magazine reported that 24% of the teen girls they polled and 

16% of the teen boys they polled admitted to meeting Internet strangers in real life. I 

believe that these numbers, when revised, will disclose that many more are doing this 

than 5 years ago. It is becoming more commonplace. Our children go willingly to offline 

meetings with these people. They may think they are meeting a cute fourteen year old 

boy, but find that they are meeting a 47- year old child molester instead. This has to stop. 

Smart kids are sharing sexual images online with people they don't know, or emailing them to others they have a crush on and hope to entice. And with the newer 

video-chats, webcams and similar technologies, the predators have moved to luring our 

kids into posing and engaging in sexually explicit activities entirely online, in the comfort 

of their bedrooms, with parents sitting unwittingly downstairs. 

And while we focus on sexual predators online and how they are using social 

networks and community interactive technologies to reach our children, we too often 

forget that the most prevalent risk our children face on these networks and using these 

technologies is cyberbullying, not adult sexual predators. A vast majority of the preteen 

and young teens we polled have been involved, directly or indirectly, in at least one 

cyberbullying incident. They torment and terrorize each other. They threaten and 

embarrass each other. They post fake profiles, hateful messages and steal each other's 

passwords and identities, all designed to bully their victims. They do it in groups, singly, 

openly and anonymously. They use cell phones, interactive gaming devices and sites and 

web profiles, blogs and websites where you can vote for the ugliest, fattest, least popular 

or gayest student. And schools are the ones most impacted, when students who might be 

creating and posting these hateful communications from home or otherwise outside of 

school ground and after-hours, become engaged in violence and hurtful interactivities 

during school hours. In addition, when our teens and preteens are posting real or fantasy 

information about how much alcohol they consumed at this weekend's party, or how 

active their sex life has become, or how they cheated on their finals or shoplifted from the 

local mall, they may not realize that college recruiters, scholarship committees, coaches 

and future employers can access this information in years to come. This is an increasingly 

growing risk our children pose to themselves. 

Our preteens and teens are often intentionally sharing risky information online in 

profiles, blogs and on websites. They may also share this information with stranger 

unwittingly, such as posting their cell numbers on their public away messages when using 

IM technologies. They intentionally post graphically sexual images and engage in and 

post cybersexual communications on their profiles and in chat-type technologies. And 

even when they are careful about protecting their own privacy, they may not be safe from 
38

their friends - even well-meaning friends. Their close friends may expose personal 

information about them by posting photos and information on their profiles. 

They are also, in greater and greater numbers, meeting people offline that they met 

online. In 2000, Family PC Magazine reported that 24% of the teen girls they polled and 

16% of the teen boys they polled admitted to meeting Internet strangers in real life. I 

believe that these numbers, when revised, will disclose that many more are doing this 

than 5 years ago. It is becoming more commonplace. Our children go willingly to offline 

meetings with these people. They may think they are meeting a cute fourteen year old 

boy, but find that they are meeting a 47- year old child molester instead. This has to stop. 

Smart kids are sharing sexual images online with people they don't know, or emailing them to others they have a crush on and hope to entice. And with the newer 

video-chats, webcams and similar technologies, the predators have moved to luring our 

kids into posing and engaging in sexually explicit activities entirely online, in the comfort 

of their bedrooms, with parents sitting unwittingly downstairs. 

And while we focus on sexual predators online and how they are using social 

networks and community interactive technologies to reach our children, we too often 

forget that the most prevalent risk our children face on these networks and using these 

technologies is cyberbullying, not adult sexual predators. A vast majority of the preteen 

and young teens we polled have been involved, directly or indirectly, in at least one 

cyberbullying incident. They torment and terrorize each other. They threaten and 

embarrass each other. They post fake profiles, hateful messages and steal each other's 

passwords and identities, all designed to bully their victims. They do it in groups, singly, 

openly and anonymously. They use cell phones, interactive gaming devices and sites and 

web profiles, blogs and websites where you can vote for the ugliest, fattest, least popular 

or gayest student. And schools are the ones most impacted, when students who might be 

creating and posting these hateful communications from home or otherwise outside of 

school ground and after-hours, become engaged in violence and hurtful interactivities 

during school hours. In addition, when our teens and preteens are posting real or fantasy 

information about how much alcohol they consumed at this weekend's party, or how 

active their sex life has become, or how they cheated on their finals or shoplifted from the 

local mall, they may not realize that college recruiters, scholarship committees, coaches 

and future employers can access this information in years to come. This is an increasingly 

growing risk our children pose to themselves. 

All of this has schools concerned. Private schools, especially, are facing real 

challenge controlling their students' activities online. Facebook.com is favored by private 

and parochial school students, who are impressed with the fact that it was formed at 

Harvard and other private and parochial students can be found there. It has, as some teens 

tell us, the “snob factor.” Teens need to be on a social network to have a social life these 

days. (Although many are leaving MySpace in favor of other sites, for various reasons.) 

But there’s more to it. When I polled an average of 5000 kids every month on this, I 

learned that they love the creativity of it. They love expressing themselves so others can 

appreciate it. They enjoy adding sparkly graphics and sharing their stories, poems and 

jokes. One of the Teenangels (WiredSafety’s expert teen and preteen program, 

teenangels.org) told me that it’s all about “Pink! Pink! Pink!” She can build a page using 

pink font, on a black background and feel creative and cool. (Her mother is an interior 

decorator and she has to wear a school uniform, and saw this as her sole expressive 

outlet.) 

As important as allowing them to express themselves in a creative way is, though, 

it’s not enough to get me to do a turn-about with these kinds of sites and teens. I was very 

negative about these sites. I have now taken a second look after talking to another one of 

my Teenangels. 

This Teenangel (a soft-spoken and gentle girl) did a research project on social 

networking websites. She reviewed some of these sites and listed the kinds of risks young 
39

teens face on these websites. She then went on to explain that she had several profiles 

online at these sites. I was initially shocked and disappointed that one of my expert teens 

would take such risks with their personal information when they knew better. When I 

asked her why she would do such a risky thing, as the Teenangels often do, this one 

taught me something new. 

She explained that it’s hard being a young teen these days. Few kids in the school 

will give you the chance to see how much you have to offer unless you are the captain of 

the cheerleading squad or of the debate team. A profile page that is open to the other 

students at your school gives you a chance to share the special things about yourself with 

them, and will help them get to know you better. It’s about sharing your favorite movies 

and books, about sharing fun vacation memories and your dreams, it’s about sharing how 

special you are. It’s about helping you make friends in your school with people who 

appreciate you. It’s not about strangers, it’s about others in their class. 

There is a real value to that. Whether it’s by posting a profile page that is supervised 

by their parents, or building a website. It can be pink and sparkly, or thoughtful and 

inspiring. But it’s all about who your teen is or who they want to be. It’s a challenge to 

give them a place where they can express themselves while keeping them safe, protected 

from predators and from sharing too much private information online. But if you are 

willing to supervise what they are saying and doing on their profiles, I’m willing to help. 

Lying on their pages is part of what this is all about, too. They pretend to be older 

(and not just to get around the age restrictions), richer, more famous or more popular. 

Boys pretend to be girls and girls pretend to be boys. They may be tall blonde surfers 

from Malibu or live on a ranch in New Zealand. While this may not be a problem, some 

of their other kinds of pretending can be dangerous for teens in a public social network. 

They may act tougher than they are in real life “rl,” provoke other, or talk about 

getting drunk, or their sexuality. They may pose as someone they don’t like, to 

cyberbully and harass them, or steal their identities. I have spent years protecting children 

from predatorial adults. I never thought I would be spending as much time as I am 

protecting them from each other. But, they are using these sites by the millions. And their 

use will only grow. So, I advise the thousands of parents who e-mail us daily and those 

who review our safety tips online that on how to handle the issue and that they need to be 

the parent.3

Our children are sometimes accessing these sites from their school laptops, inclassroom desktops and school and public libraries. So, a parent's “house rules” may not 

have much effect when their child leaves the house. So, creating a new law prohibiting 

schools and libraries from allowing underage students and users to access these sites is an 

obvious approach. But is the answer to these problems found in laws restricting where 

students can go during school hours on school computers? Or can this be controlled by 

blocking access to interactive community networking sites, such as MySpace, Facebook 

and others from public and school libraries? While this may appear on its face to be an 

easy answer, it is neither easy nor the answer. 

As more social networks are launched every day, and every ISP, entertainment 

company and wireless provider is either building a social network or finding a way to 

integrate social networking and community interactivity into their new and existing sites, 

it is impossible to block all of them and not other valuable Internet features, sites and 

content. Instead, schools need to be armed with the tools and risk management expertise 

to decide what sites their students can access during school hours from their servers and 

how to enforce their decisions and policies. 

Schools need to decide if their students should have access to any non-educational 

site from school computers, and if so, which ones and for what purpose. They then need 

to develop a policy communicating this decision and the rules to the students (in language 

 

3

 See attached advice for parents, in Appendix. 
40

they understand), the teachers, the parents and other caregivers and to their IT team. They 

need to decide whether they will be using software to help enforce their policy, or merely 

traditional discipline for violating school policies. That too needs to be communicated to 

the school community. They also need to create or adopt educational programs teaching 

their students what information they can and shouldn't be sharing online, the risks of 

irresponsible Internet use and where to go when things go wrong. They can play an 

important role in teaching parents and other community members about safe, private and 

responsible Internet and wireless technologies use. 

Educators, not legislators, should be deciding what students do during the school 

day. They know their students and the learning environment best. But schools do need the 

guidance and help of legislators and regulators to do this right. They need reliable 

information and studies on which they can base their decisions. They need to be apprised 

of new trends and developing risks. They need to know that websites and services are 

using the latest and best technologies and have adopted the best industry practices with 

their users' safety in mind. They need help that Congress can provide. 

Congress can also be very helpful in helping gather relevant information about 

cybercrimes and abuses. I have testified previously that actual cybercrime statistics are 

lacking. Everything we know is largely anecdotal. In 1999, the FBI's Innocent Images 

(charged with investigating crimes against children online) opened 1500 new cases of 

suspects who were attempting to lure a child into an offline meeting for the purposes of 

sex. Based upon my estimates, about the same number of cases were opened by state and 

local law enforcement agencies that year. The same year, approximately 25 million 

minors used the Internet in the U.S. Now, with more than 75 million young Internet users 

in the U.S. we don't know if the number of instances have increased, decreased or remain 

flat, given the growth. The crime reporting forms don't collect information about the use 

of the Internet is child sexual exploitation crimes, or any other crimes. That has to 

change. 

Creating a central reporting database where all instances of cybercrimes are reported 

for statistical purposes, from cyberharassment to Internet-related ID theft, fraud and 

scams, to sexual predators and Internet-related child pornography and sexual exploitation 

would be incredibly helpful. It could track cybercrime trends affecting adults, seniors and 

youth. It could be used to help design safer systems and best practices and guide 

legislation directed at a meaningful problem, in a meaningful way. 

In addition, with tax dollars becoming more and more precious and the mission of 

all Congressional representatives to put tax dollars into the most effective use, existing 

programs by trusted non-profit groups can be highlighted and made available online to 

schools and community organizations that need them, without cost. Without having to 

reinvent the wheel, massive amounts of programs, lesson plans and risks management 

guides already exist that can be used as is, or easily retooled. Finding a way to get these 

wonderful resources into the hands of those who need them the most, using interactive 

technologies and the Internet and mobilizing volunteers to help deploy existing programs 

that were developed with or without government dollars is the fastest way to make a dent 

in the problem. Focusing attention on what works and what doesn't is something that 

Congress does best. WiredSafety.org and I pledge our help in doing that. 

It's time. 
41

Exhibit A: Overview of WiredSafety.org 

WiredSafety.org is a 

501(c) (3) charity and the 

largest and oldest online 

safety, education, and help 

group in the world. It consists 

of thousands of volunteers 

from more than 76 countries 

around the world, all working 

online with the mission of 

promoting a safer and more 

responsible Internet and 

wireless experience for everyone. 

Originating in 1995 as a group of volunteers rating websites, it now provides one-toone help, extensive information, and education to cyberspace users of all ages and 

members of the Internet industry on a myriad of Internet and interactive technology 

safety issues. These services are offered through a worldwide organization comprised 

entirely of volunteers who administer specialized websites and programs. 

WiredSafety.org volunteers range in age from 18 to 80 and run the gamut from TV 

personalities, teachers, law enforcement officers, PhD's, writers and librarians to stay-athome moms, retired persons, and students. WiredSafety.org’s founder and Executive 

Director, cyberlawyer Parry Aftab, is also an unpaid volunteer. With the exception of its 

TeenAngels, outreach and speaking programs, all work and help is provided online and 

free of charge. 

WiredSafety.org’s work falls into four major areas, all designed to help promote a 

safer and more responsible digital experience for everyone: 

 Assistance for victims of cyberabuse and harassment and others who need help 

online, including parents, teens and educators. 

 Advice, Training and Help for law enforcement worldwide on preventing, spotting 

and investigating cybercrimes and for members of the Internet and interactive digital 

industries in designing safer technologies and adopting and implementing best 

practices. 

 Education for children, parents, communities, law enforcement, abuse and customer 

help staff within the Internet industry and professional development for educators. 

 Information and Awareness on all aspects of online safety, privacy, responsible 

use and security wired, wireless and as new technologies are developed. 

Our target audiences include: 

• Parents, grandparents and caregivers (including aunts, uncles and older 

siblings); 

• Pre-reader lap-surfers, kids, preteens, teens and college students; 

• Members of the Internet, wireless and interactive technology industries; 

• Law enforcement, community policing agencies and school resource officers, 

legislators, the judicial community and regulatory agencies; and 

• Schools and other educational institutions. 

Originally formed in 1995 (under another name) to provide help and protection for 

Internet users of all ages, in recent years, Wiredsafety.org's work has increasingly 

focused on the safety and good cybercitizenship of children, tweens, and teens. It serves 

as the umbrella organization for TeenAngels.org, WiredKids.org, WiredCops.org and 

WiredTeens.org. WiredSafety.org is dedicated to protecting children in cyberspace from 

cybercrimes and abuse, including from each other. This involves protecting them 
42

from cyberbullying, hacking, sexual harassment and identity (ID) theft. It also includes 

protecting children everywhere from Internet-related sexual exploitation. 

WiredSafety.org helps protect them from risks posed by adults, by each other and more 

recently from themselves, as their reputations and future college and job opportunities are 

impacted by what they post on their MySpace and other profiles. The package of 

programs designed for young users with the assistance of our teen and preteen volunteers 

is called “ThinkB4uClick,” teaching them the consequences of their cyberactivities. 

Marvel Entertainment, Inc. has also joined forces with WiredSafety.org to provide 

superhero assistance in educating our children and families on safer online practices. The 

first Internet safety comic, Internet Super Heroes meet the Internet Villains, teaches how 

Internet predators can infiltrate anyone's computer and wreck havoc on their lives by 

stealing their identity and posing as them online. Published under its exclusive license 

with Marvel, and sponsored by Microsoft, this first comic will help teach the 250,000 

readers how to be smarter and safer online using Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk and 

Dr. Doom, among others to bring the message to life. 

WiredSafety.org also provides information and resources to help educate and guide 

law enforcement officers on Internet safety issues, crime prevention and investigation of 

cybercrimes. It has created a special website just for law enforcement officers, 

Cyberlawenforcement.org, also known as WiredCops.org. As part of the Wiredcops.org 

initiative, specially trained volunteers assist law enforcement in the investigation and 

prevention of trafficking of children, child pornography, child molestation, and 

cyberstalkers. Recently, at the request of leading law enforcement agencies, 

WiredSafety.org has begun using its teen volunteers to provide information that will 

assist undercover law enforcement officers in creating credible profiles of preteens and 

teens to help them become more effective when operating undercover online. 

In addition to assisting law enforcement agencies, WiredSafety.org offers one-to-one 

assistance for victims of cyberabuse that may not arise to the level of a cybercrime and is 

not handled by law enforcement. WiredSafety's cyberhelpline gives “netizens” access to 

free help when they need it via the Internet. Its special team of helpline volunteers is 

assigned to cases and works one-to-one online to help resolve individual problems and 

get victims help when they need it. WiredSafety.org assists more cases of 

cyberharassment than any other organization in the world, helping thousands each month 

through its site and report line. Cyberbullying cases can be reported to the report line as 

well. 

But when dealing with preteens and teens, the challenge has always been getting 

them engaged. Their “selective hearing” can get in the way of their learning safer and 

more responsible behavior online, just as it may at home. When approached, teens told us 

that we had to approach them with things that they consider important, using their 

language. So, WiredSafety.org recruited teens and preteens who help us do that. These 

expert Teenangels, 13 to 18 year olds, (and now their younger version, Tweenangels, 

from 9 - 12 years of age) deliver the message of safe, private, and responsible technology 

use to their peers. These youth-based programs were formed in 1999 to provide special 

perspectives and insight into how young people are using the new technologies and how 

to better prepare them to handle the risks they encounter. 

Teenangels have been recognized and honored by Congress, Parliament, John 

Walsh, Time for Kids and recently, Teen People Magazine, among others. Their training 

is extensive and takes almost one year to complete. When they receive their “wings”, 

however, they are true experts. It is the only Internet expert youth program in the world. 

And, once trained, these special teens and tweens help develop safer technologies, by 

providing expertise for and advising members of the Internet and entertainment 

industries, media and governmental agencies around the world. 

Too often disconnected from the immediate consequences of their actions online, 

many “good” kids and teens find themselves doing things online they would never dream 
43

of doing in real life. This needs to change. The youth programs created by 

WiredSafety.org focus on cyberwellness and cyberethics which fits perfectly within its 

mission and expertise. To keep our children safe online, they need to understand the 

norms and rules of operating online. They must also recognize that they will be held 

accountable for what they do in cyberspace and that what they post online has 

ramifications beyond the momentary click. Teaching responsible technology use is 

crucial. 

WiredSafety.org also offers a wide variety of educational and help services to the 

Internet community at large. Companies such as Disney, the Motion Picture Association 

of America, the National Sheriff's Association, Yahoo, Verizon Foundation, Marvel 

Comics, MySpace, Xanga, Johnson & Johnson, Google, Oracle, Facebook, Microsoft and 

AOL support and turn to Parry Aftab and WiredSafety.org for guidance and advice in 

dealing with Internet safety issues. Teenangels and Parry have testified before leading 

governmental and legislative bodies worldwide, including the U.S. Congress and the 

U.K. Parliament. Regulatory agencies, such as Singapore's Media Development 

Authority, the U.S. FTC and California's consumer protection arm have sought 

WiredSafety's and Parry's help. Their collaborative efforts with schools, community 

organizations, prosecutorial officers, local executive branch and law enforcement 

agencies, such as Alaska's Campfire USA, the Baltimore County public schools, Ohio's 

Wayne County Sheriff's office, the San Francisco DA, and Westchester County, NY's 

County Executive Spano, have affected hundreds of thousands of families worldwide. 

Using its unique expertise in the field, the charity also assists important trade 

associations, such as the CTIA (the wireless trade association) and the U.S. Sheriff's 

Association. WiredSafety.org also acts as a watchdog within most of the social 

networking websites, to help provide their users safety information and help when things 

go wrong. 

Select volunteers find and review family-friendly Web sites, filtering software 

products, and Internet services. Some of the outreach team volunteers run programs, 

summits and also speak at local community groups and schools around the world 

teaching Internet safety, privacy and responsible use. 

However, its work is not limited to the Internet alone. WiredSafety focuses on all 

aspects of interactive technology use and abuse. Its expertise includes cell phone safety 

and security, interactive gaming, social networking (mobile and online) and textmessaging products, as well as any new interactive technologies as they are developed. 

Its long years of working with Internet users and handling cybercrimes and abuse have 

created a flexible and knowledgeable volunteer force. If you can view content, 

communicate with others, spend money, or buy things using the technology, 

WiredSafety.org can help. 

WiredSafety.org is headed by Parry Aftab, a mom, international cyberspace privacy 

and security lawyer and children's advocate. Parry is the author of the first book written 

for parents about Internet safety - The Parents Guide to the Internet (considered the bible 

of online safety and published in 1997) as well as The Parent's Guide to Protecting Your 

Children in Cyberspace (McGraw-Hill, 2000), which has been adapted and translated 

around the world. Her most recent books have been especially written and adapted for 

and published in England, China, Spain and Singapore. Her new book, Internet Safety 1-

2-3, was released in December 2005 in Spain and will be released next year in the United 

States. And her new “Stop Cyberbullying!” guide launched in Spain in May 2006. 

WiredSafety is proud of its reputation as the one-stop-shop for all cyberspace safety, 

privacy, security, and help needs. It is even prouder of the fact that all this can be 

accomplished without large government funding or money wasted on administration 

costs. No one is paid within WiredSafety.org. They are all unpaid volunteers - including 

Parry herself. This all-volunteer workforce has been estimated at providing more than $3 

million in unpaid services every year. Using a popular website and series of special topic 
44

sites, the organization has reached millions of Internet users since its inception and 

addresses more than 5000 children, teens and tweens and 1000 parents in person every 

month, on average. 

WiredSafety.org mobilizes people of all ages who want to help others, and puts them 

to work doing just that. It is intent on its mission to “Take Back the Net!” 
45

Exhibit B: Parry Aftab's Bio and CV: 

Updated July 2006 

Parry Aftab 

Bio 

Parry Aftab is a security, privacy and cyberspace 

lawyer, as well as an author, columnist and child advocate. 

A substantial portion of her time is donated to Internet 

issues involving children, from equitable access, to privacy, 

to safety, to helping develop quality and reliable content for 

children. She has also legally represented or acted as a 

consultant to most of the children's Internet industry, helping them comply with the law, 

while improving the Internet experience for children. When children and the Internet are 

concerned, Ms. Aftab's name is the first mentioned. 

Parry Aftab is a worldwide leader in the area of online safety and parent and child 

Internet education. As Executive Director of WiredSafety.org, the oldest and largest 

online safety and educational program in cyberspace, Ms. Aftab helps prevent and assist 

law enforcement agencies in investigating cybercrime against children and families. 

Under its former name, her group was awarded the President's Service Award in October 

1998 from the White House and Points of Light Foundation. Ms Aftab also works closely 

with law enforcement around the world to prevent cybercrimes and police the Internet 

and is part of the Home Office Cybercrime Task Force in the UK. She was recently 

appointed a Special Deputy Sheriff by Wayne County, Ohio's Sheriff, Thomas Maurer. 

In 1999, Ms. Aftab was appointed by UNESCO to head up its child Internet sexual 

exploitation project for the U.S. She has also written the leading books for parents on 

Internet safety since her first book was published on the topic in December 1997. 

Although her vocation was Internet security and privacy law, her avocation is 

children online – helping them become good cybercitizens and keeping them safe, private 

and secure online. She is dedicated to helping curb Internet-related crimes against 

children and assisting law enforcement in bringing the child predators to justice. 

Everyone who encounters Ms. Aftab is impressed with her passion and energy when 

children’s Internet issues are involved. 

While her passion is for protecting children from Internet sexual exploitation, she is 

also devoted to empowering them through access to the wonders of the Internet. She 

hopes to help all children become better informed and responsible cybercitizens, 

controlling the technologies instead of being controlled by them. Her programs are 

designed to teach them safe, private and responsible technology use, which includes 

teaching them good netiquette and respect for each other and the rights of others, 

including intellectual property rights of the music, movie, gaming and software 

industries. 

Ms. Aftab was among the first in the world to devote her talents to keeping children 

safe online. She has helped design programs for parents and children in a wide range of 

Internet-related issues for ten years. Her work has been recognized by leading technology 

influencers, such as Family PC Magazine, when she was awarded Internet Pioneer of the 

Year in 2001. And child protection agencies have recognized her as well, when Child 

Abuse Prevention Services presented her with their 20th anniversary Community 

Leadership Award in 2005. (Past recipients of this award include Senator Clinton, Linda 

Fairstein, Judy Collins, Dr. Joyce Brothers and the “God Squad.”) 

Parry Aftab also provides parent Internet education and online safety content for 

such diverse sites as Nickelodeon, Children’s Television Workshop, Disney, Microsoft, 

AOL, Yahoo!, Google, AT&T and MSNBC. She is a regular keynote speaker, and 

resource on camera for the media on diverse cybercrime, safety, privacy and cyberlaw 
46

issues. She writes The Privacy Lawyer columnist for Information Week Magazine where 

she writes on a range of topics that affect technology, policy and privacy. Her expertise is 

especially in demand on children’s Internet issues, because no one knows more about 

children online than Parry Aftab. 

 While she is devoted to protecting children online, Ms. Aftab seeks to empower 

children and their parents, not the censors. Her common sense approach to technology 

risks and solutions works as well anywhere in the world as it does in the United States. 

But what really makes her special is her ability to tap into the caring and creativity of 

young people to craft solutions that are written in their language and designed for their 

needs. 

She is a frequent and respected resource for news programming and print journalists 

around the world. Her expertise has been featured nationally and internationally in online 

and print publications, including Readers Digest, Playboy, TV Guide Magazine, 

Cosmopolitan, People Magazine, Redbook, Biography, USA Today, Information Week, 

Working Women, Teen People, U.S. News & World Report, Family Circle, Newsweek, 

Ladies Home Journal, Smart Money Magazine, PC Magazine, Good Housekeeping, 

Better Homes & Gardens, Family PC Magazine, Yahoo! Internet Life, Information 

Week, CIO Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The LA Times, 

most regional newspapers in the United States, The London Times Magazine, The Strait 

Times (Singapore), The South China Morning Post Sunday Magazine (Hong Kong), and 

more. As a result of her work online with children, Ms. Aftab was selected as a charter 

member of Children Television Workshop’s Advisory Board, as well as appointed to The 

National Urban League’s Technology Advisory Committee. In 2003 she was elected to 

TRUSTe’s Board of Directors. She served on the advisory board for the Ad Council for 

two terms. 

Parry Aftab has spoken to many governmental agencies and groups worldwide, 

conducted briefings for the U.S. Senate, testifies regularly before Congress, and has been 

a key speaker at the White House Summit on Online Content, the sole Internet-related 

expert speaking at the 2002 White House summit on Missing and Exploited Children and 

testified before leading legislative committees and The House of Lords, all with the same 

message: The Internet is a wonderful resource for families, and once parents understand 

the online risks, they can use common sense (and perhaps some filtering tools) to help 

their children enjoy cyberspace safely. 

As one of the first lawyers in the world to specialize in Internet legal issues, Parry 

Aftab is admitted to practice law in New York and New Jersey. She attended law school 

at NYU School of Law where she received her J.D. degree. She received her B.A. degree 

as Valedictorian of Hunter College (having completed her full undergraduate degree in 

less than two years), where she was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. 

She resides in the New York metropolitan area and is a mother of two. Ms. Aftab 

can be reached at Parry@Aftab.com. 
47

Parry Aftab 

Professional Curriculum Vitae

Phone: 201-463-8663 

parry@aftab.com 

Internet privacy and security lawyer, licensed to practice law in NY and NJ, 

The Privacy Lawyer columnist, author, consultant and public speaker 

Executive Director of WiredSafety.org 

AREAS OF EXPERTISE: Worldwide Cybercrime Protection and Prevention/Identity 

Theft/ Privacy, Data Collection and Security / Workplace Risk Management and 

Security/ Consumer Protection, Advertising and the Internet / E-Commerce/ 

Cyberstalking and Harassment/ Child Exploitation and Child Pornography, Children 

Online, Online Marketing, Cyber-workplace issues, Privacy training and coaching 

CURRENT POSITIONS President/CEO - Aftab Cyber-Consulting 

 Executive Director, WiredSafety.org (a 501c-3 corporation) 

 The Privacy Lawyer columnist for Information Week 

EDUCATION City University of New York B.A., 1981 

 Hunter College Valedictorian

 (Completed 4 yr degree in 2 yrs) Phi Beta Kappa (Nu Chapter) 

 New York University J.D., 1984 

 School of Law 

SELECT HONORS Community Leadership Award, 2005 

 Awarded by Child Abuse Prevention Services 

American Society of Business Publication Editors Award 

“Gold” Original Web Commentary 

Informationweek.com for Parry Aftab’s 

“Patriotism, Compliance and Confidentiality” article

 Activist of the Year Award, 2002 

 Awarded by Media Ecology Association 

 Internet Pioneer of the Year, 2001 

 Awarded by Family PC Magazine 

 Home Office, U.K. 

Child Protection, Criminal Laws and Law Enforcement 

Task Forces 

ORGANIZATIONS TRUSTe 

 Member- Board of Directors (Elected December 2002) 

 Ad Council 

 Advisory Committee member (1999 - 2003) 
48

 Children’s Television Workshop Online (Sesame Workshop) 

 Advisory Board (1998 – present) 

 

 UNESCO 

President, U.S. National Action Committee, Innocence in 

Danger (appointed 1999)1998-present)

 

 The Internet Society 

Elected Chair, Internet Societal Task Force and Societal 

 Steering Group (worldwide, 2001) 

 Member of Public Policy Committee ISOC (2001–present) 

 Chair, Privacy and Security Working Group of The 

 Internet Society Task Force (2000-2001) appointed 

 member since 1999

WiredSafety (wiredsafety.org) the world’s largest Internet safety 

and help group, formerly functioned as “Cyberangels,” recipient 

of President’s Service Award, 1998, 

 Executive Director (1998-present) 

 The National Urban League 

 Technology Advisory Committee (1997 – present)

AUTHORSHIPS AND 

RELATED ACTIVITIES 

 Author, selected books

Cyberbullying Guide (Spanish and English guide on preventing and 

 dealing with cyberbullying) 

 Spain 2006 

 

 Internet con los menores Riesgos (Spanish guide for parents on Internet 

 safety, especially written for Spain and South and Central America) 

 Spain 2005 

 Children and the Internet (official Chinese Internet safety guide) 

China 2004 

 

 The Parent’s Guide to Protecting Your Children in Cyberspace, McGraw- 

 Hill, 

(U.S. edition, January 2000; UK edition, March 2000; Singapore 

edition May 2000 and Spanish language US edition November 2000) 

 A Parents’ Guide to the Internet, SC Press (October 1997)

 Contributor, selected books

 Child Abuse on the Internet.... Ending the Silence 

(2001) Carlos A. Arnaldo, Editor 

 Chapter 21: The Technical Response: Blocking, Filtering

 And Rating The Internet - by Parry Aftab 
49

The Best In E-Commerce Law 

 (2001) Warren E. Agin, Editor 

 Children’s Online Privacy Law

 Selected Speaking Engagements

WiredSafety's Social Networking Summit, June 2006 

US Congress, Commerce Committee, Sub-Committee Investigations and Oversight, 

opening day hearings April 4, 2006 

National Association of Independent School Annual Conference, March 2006 

Stonybrook Cyberbullying Summit, September 2005 

FDIC Conference on Security Online, August 2005 

The Westchester County Cyberbullying Summit, February 8, 2005 

The US Copyright Office – Luncheon Speaker (LA and SF events) February 2005 

Child Abuse Prevention Service 20th Anniversary Luncheon Speaker, April 2005 

FTC Workshop on P2P, December 2004 

House of Commons – Parliamentary Briefing on Internet Safety, October 2004 

IAPP (International Association of Privacy Professionals), June 11, 2004 

EU- Safer Internet – Warsaw, March 2004 

Media Development Authority- Singapore, Family Internet Week – March 15, 2004 

Western Attorneys General Conference, July 29, 2003 

Domain Day, Milan, Italy, November 5th, 2002 

Wired Kids Summit, Washington D.C., October 15th, 2002 (Mediator and Host of the 

event at the Russell Senate Building) 

White House Conference on Missing and Exploited Children, October 2nd, 2002 (Only 

panel speaker selected to discuss Internet issues). Other speakers included President 

George W. Bush, Colin Powell, John Ashcroft, Rod Paige and many distinguished others. 

Council of Europe, Children’s Online Safety, Belgium, November 2001 

Microsoft, Privacy and Security Summit, Privacy Speaker, San Francisco, November 

2001 

Intellectual Property Organization, Featured Speaker on Internet Law, Privacy and 

Digital Rights, New York, November, 2001 

SCOPE, Keynote Speaker, Cyber-terrorism, New York, October 2001 
50

Rappateour, E.U. Online Content Regulation, Luxembourg, June 2001 

Bertelsmann Foundation, Experts Meeting, Singapore, February 2001 

Microsoft, Privacy and Security Summit, Speaker (only female speaker), Seattle, 

November 2000 

Keynote Speaker, House of Lords, Kids Helping Kids, London (April 2000) 

Keynote Speaker, Singapore Broadcasting Authority and Ministry of Information 

Conference, Children Online, Regulatory Issues, Singapore (November 1999, May 2000, 

February 2001) 

Panelist, FTC Hearings on COPPA Regulations, Washington (June 1999) 

Keynote Speaker, White House Summit, Online Content, Los Angeles (June 1998) 

Keynote Speaker, C.A.R.U., Conference On Children’s Online Privacy 

 (September 1998) 

Featured Speaker, Littleton Town Meeting hosted by Tom Brokaw and Jane Pauley, 

MSNBC (April 1999) 
51

APPENDIXES: 

Appendix 1: 

Parry's Info for Parents...What are our kids doing online? 

Know that our kids doing things online that we would freak if we knew about isn't 

new. Our kids have been saying and doing outrageous things online since the Web was 

born. We just didn’t know about it, but all the other kids do. It’s how they communicate 

online. In 1999 we conducted the largest academic survey done to date for teenage girls. 

Almost 11,000 of the teens polled answered our questions about what they did online. 

When we asked them to explain if they had done anything online that they wouldn’t have 

done in person, here’s what they said (in their own words): 

♦ “Yes, obviously people are more bold and outgoing on the Internet when they 

don’t have to deal with the consequences of their actions.” 

♦ “Of course! All people do. A computer with a phone line is like a mask to the 

world. You can do or say anything and you won’t ever have to meet this 

person. For instance, my little brother is 13 and he tells people he’s 16 or older. 

He’s a sweet guy and has a very high respect for females. Online, however, he 

says very cruel and suggestive things to and about them. He acts like a monster. 

It’s disgraceful... and a little scary.” 

♦ “Yes, of course... our usual boundaries and personal walls are down and we can 

act more carefree and outspoken if we feel like. At least this is true for me... 

you can act like a goddess.” 

♦ “I have cursed out a lot of ppl [people], and when my bud comes over, we go 

into places like the African American room and yell “KKK ALL THE WAY” 

or go to the Jewish room and say “HEIL HITLER,” but I haven’t done that 

since I started going back to church and was saved by Jesus Christ. We were 

just joking, we weren’t really racist.” 

♦ “Yes, but I’d rather not describe what I did. Instead, I’ll just say that online, 

you can be absolutely ANYONE you want to be, which is why a lot of people 

do things that they would not normally do. In real life, people everywhere 

judge you based on your looks, actions, and who knows what else, but online, 

all that really matters is your attitude and personality.” 

♦ “Uh well, I tried cyber sex before and I wouldn’t ever do that in real life. Sex 

period. I don’t believe in premarital sex. I think that is a great gift you give 

your husband. I once told someone off because he/she was being perverted and 

talking nasty to me and I didn’t like it.” 

♦ “Well, once I told this guy I met in a chat room all about me and, like, my 

phone number and stuff. I now realize that this was really stupid of me and will 

never do anything like it again cause although it’s not likely, he could be a 

psycho or something.” 

♦ “I feel I can speak more freely to someone online about my problems because 

most of them don’t go to my school or even the same state. I can ask them 

advice and they would probably give me the best because they aren’t in favor 

of a certain person. I can introduce myself and meet new people because it isn’t 

as uncomfortable to look into their eyes and if you become really 

uncomfortable I can just get out of it by blocking them or getting offline.” 

♦ “I have had cyber sex... that’s something I never have done and never will do 

until I’m married in real life.” 

♦ “I am much more bold online than in real life. I am VERY shy and I say things 

on the Internet that I normally wouldn’t say in public.” 
52

♦ “I have lied for no reason. Actually, I told a guy I couldn’t give him my number 

cause my mom doesn’t want guys calling me cause it was during the school 

year. My mom doesn’t really care who calls me I just didn’t know what to say.” 

♦ “Yeah, I wouldn’t flirt with people I just met in person, unlike on the Internet.” 

♦ “Flirt more easily, say things I wouldn’t say in person, not bad things, just more 

honest things.” 

♦ “Yeah, because it’s a lot easier to talk and get to ‘know’ someone online 

because you can’t see their face. I never have done anything bad but I’ve been a 

lot more easy going and free for what I’d say online then in a live situation 

which in someways have helped me to be more comfortable talking to new 

guys in person.” 

♦ “Well, honestly... yes. I had cyber sex! I will never have real sex until I am 

married, after I engaged in cybering, I totally felt grossed out, like I know I was 

doing something wrong! I will not make that mistake again.” 

When we asked them if they ever pretend to be someone else in cyberspace, here’s 

what they answered (in their own words): 

♦ “Of course I’ve pretended. Everyone does. You pretend to be older... or you 

pretend to be a guy... or you just pretend to be whoever you wanna be.” 

♦ “Yes, I just changed myself to be someone I wasn’t because I wanted to get a 

different reaction from people. It gave me a way to see myself as who I wanted 

to be but by doing it I realized that that is not who I want to be and that I just 

want to be me.” 

♦ “Yes. If I am ever in a chatroom I always make up things about myself. This is 

why I say don’t trust anyone because everybody else does the same thing.” 

♦ “Since nobody seems to be eager to talk to a 15 year old, I always pretended I 

was 18 year old female. However, that sometimes attracted bad attention from 

guys.” 

♦ “Yes. I pretended to be anyone from Leonardo DiCaprio to a serial killer.” 

♦ “I once pretended to be a 16 year old girl. I wanted to talk to my boyfriend to 

see if he would agree to meet her in person. He did and I told him who I really 

was and we broke up.” 

♦ “Yes, I’ve pretended to be so many people. It’s fun and safe and because 

nobody knows who you really are.” 

♦ “Well we’ve ALL pretended to be older or have a different name or something. 

Who doesn’t? It’s part of the fun about being online... you can be whoever you 

want to be for a little while.” 

♦ “Yes, I pretended to be someone that I wish I could be like a popular person.” 

♦ “I haven’t pretended to be someone else, but I have pretended to be a couple of 

years older than I am, because not many people my age are online to talk to, 

and if they are, they must be lying about their age, too.” 

♦ “No, I think it is wrong to lie to other people about who you are. I wouldn’t 

want someone to do it to me so I don’t do it to them.” 

When we asked them if they had ever been in a situation online that frightened them, 

here’s what they said: 

♦ “My friend agreed to meet a guy she met online when he came to our 

hometown, and she wanted some of us to come along to keep them company. I 

told my parents but luckily the guy’s game got canceled. I wouldn’t have gone 

and I would not support her decision to meet anyone in real life. She kinda felt 

betrayed but at least she’s still alive.” 

♦ “Once I was scared because this guy kept telling me all this stuff about me, like 

my name, address, friends’ names, etc. he said he knew where I lived and stuff, 
53

and I better watch out. It ended up being a joke from a friend of a friend, but I 

was still scared, and I was very angry at the friend who gave the person the info 

just to scare me. It wasn’t funny.” 

♦ “Once I was on ICQ talking to a bunch of my friends when this guy I had been 

chatting with sent me a file. Unknowingly, I opened it and then I realized that 

the person had hacked into my system. Suddenly, my CD-ROM drive started 

opening and closing and annoying (but not threatening) messages started 

appearing on my screen. Soon after my mouse buttons switched functions. I 

had just finished a big assignment, so I was afraid the hacker would do 

something to wreck it. I shut down my computer and that was about all I did 

about it. One of my friends had a similar experience, only hers was scary and 

threatening. When she got hacked, pictures of a dead girl with her face smashed 

in appeared on her screen, along with threatening messages and sound clips.” 

♦ “I know this is normal in fact it doesn’t bother me I just laugh. Most kids are 

always exposed to this stuff not just on the Internet so its no big deal in fact 

sometimes it makes it interesting. But one time this dude got really mad at me 

and he knew my parents were out of the state and he could have called one of 

my friends and found my address but instead he kept calling every 5 

minutes....” 

♦ “There was one time, when I got online to check my e-mail. I ended up going 

into my regular chatroom, and when I arrived, some guy started giving out my 

personal information. I don’t know how he knew anything personal about me, 

but he was telling everyone in there about the frightening and terrible things 

that were done to me as a child. My best friend doesn’t even know what 

happened to me when I was little. All I did was, denied all of what he said and 

logged off. I cried all week long.” 

♦ “This guy IM’d [instant messaged] me and my best friend and he knew all this 

information about us... and we hadn’t even talked to him before. He knew who 

we were, where we lived and everything and he kept playing with our minds 

trying to tell us that we started IMing him first and so on. I told my parents 

about it but they didn’t really care. So this went on for an hour and a half. I had 

friends try to get him to stop. He told us where he worked and he kept insisting 

that we go places with him like out to lunch or dinner and he would buy us xmas and b-day presents even though we had never met him. He would leave 

them on his car at work for us to come and get, we would go get them and just 

smash them all over the ground... thinking he would get the point. He was 

convinced that him and my best friend were dating then I came along and I’m 

the one who stopped it all. No one could get this guy to stop. We changed our 

screen names plenty of times but he had already hacked into our account so he 

could always find us. Well he hacked into mine. Well in December we got a 

new computer and we both changed our screen names and he hasn’t been able 

to find us since.” 

♦ “[A]bout a year ago I met a guy online and I told him my phone # and found 

out he lived about 5 minutes away from me we talked 4 about a week then he 

asked me out and I agreed. We met up at the mall he was totally normal 15 year 

old guy. He wasn’t some psycho or anything but I got in a lot of trouble from 

my parents and I will never give out any personal information again. It’s not 

safe and its a stupid idea. If anyone who reads this is thinking about giving out 

info to someone on the net PLEASE think twice about it you could get yourself 

into a lot of trouble.” 

♦ “I received a threatening E-mail from someone on my E-mail address. I 

immediately changed my password, and made sure that I didn’t have 

information on my profile. I never E-mailed the person back, since that is what 
54

lets them know your account is active and they can find out more about you. 

Then, I decided to make sure about it, and stopped checking my E-mail 

account. I just got a new one.” 

♦ “I was in a chat room once and this person was threatening to kill themselves, 

and I find that scary. So I IM’d them not to do it, and I chatted with them for a 

while, and made them feel better about themselves, and promise not to do 

anything drastic. And they did promise.” 

♦ “I told these people to leave this foreign guy alone because they were making 

fun of him. They were calling him names and mocking everything he said. The 

people I got smart with told me I better watch my back because they could find 

out where I lived. That’s why I left.” 

It would be interesting to ask your children to reply to the same questions. You 

might learn something about your children you didn’t know. 
55

Appendix 2: 

The Quick Tips on Keeping Our Kids Safe on Social Networks 

The quick tips for teens: 

• Put everything behind password protected walls, where only friends can see 

• Protect your password and make sure you really know who someone is before 

you allow them onto your friends list 

• Blur or morph your photos a bit so they won't be abused by cyberbullies or 

predators 

• Don't post anything your parents, principal or a predator couldn't see 

• What you post online stays online - forever!!!! So thinkb4uClick! 

• Choose a network that lets you control your own security settings and who can 

see what you post. 

• Don't so or say anything online you wouldn't say offline 

• Protect your privacy and your friends' privacy too...get their okay before 

posting something about them or their pic online 

• Check what your friends are posting/saying about you. That cute 14-year old 

boy may not be cute, may not be 14 and may not be a boy! You never know! 

And for parents: 

• Talk to your kids 

• Don't panic 

• Be involved 

• This too will pass! 

For help or more information, visit WiredSafety.org. 
56

Appendix 3: 

Wireless Safety...Keeping Your Kids Safe Using Cellphones and Other Mobile 

Devices 

You've already heard the tips about keeping your kids safe online. But, now...all bets 

are off. Welcome to the wonderful new world of wireless! Our families can carry 

powerful computing in handheld devices the size of a pack of playing cards (or smaller!). 

They can download and play music, movies, and games. They can shoot, store and share 

photos, video and audio. They are always in touch, always connected, always engaged. 

(And the newest hottest teen social network, Yfly.com, is using broadcast text-messaging 

to keep teens connected to their nearest and dearest friends to through their mobile 

devices too and MySpace and Facebook are using text-to-profile posting technologies 

now too.) 

Great! Except the most often repeated safety tip warns parents to keep the computer 

in a central location to keep an eye on what’s going on. So, how are we supposed to keep 

our kids safe when they are carrying access and communication devices in the palms of 

their little hands? Are we supposed to tell them to keep their cell phone or other handheld 

device in a central location? Of course not. At this point, it’s less about standing over 

their shoulders and more about improving the “filter between their ears.” 

You can do this by being proactive and informed (not rocket scientists, just 

informed...). Luckily, it all comes down to 3 key issues. I call these the “3C’s” – 

Communication, Content, and Commercialism. Every digital device or interactive service 

involves at least one of them, some involve all 3. Once you find the Cs involved, spotting 

the risks and solutions is easy. 

Start by reviewing all your interactive technology devices and services. If you are 

shopping for a new device or service, ask the salesperson these questions before plunking 

down your hard-earned money. 

• Communication: Does this device or service allow you to communicate with 

others? Does it allow others to communicate with you? If so, how? What 

controls exist to block, filter or monitor these communications? How can I 

implement them? (Text-messaging and voice capabilities fall into the first “C”. 

So do e-mail, interactive features on profiles, and on blogs.) 

• Content: What content or images can be accessed or shared using the device or 

service? Can you surf the Web, access blog or profile sites, post your blog or 

profile sites or download media? Can you store images, personal information, 

video, songs, etc? What controls exist to rate, block, filter or monitor the 

content? How can I implement them? (Music and video downloads, pictures 

taken by the mobile device, adult content, content on profiles and on blogs fall 

into this second “C”.) 

• Commercialism: Can this device/service cost me money? If so, how? Are their 

ways to spend money or buy things using the device / service? Are their ways 

to control costs or prevent my kids from spending money or buying things 

without my approval? What controls exist to block, filter or monitor these costs 

or spending ability? How can I implement them? (Ringtones, music downloads, 

text-messaging and games fall into this third C.) 

Next, you need to refer to the common sense tips our grandmothers taught our 

parents and they taught us --we just need to translate them from “Grandma-speak” to 

“cyberspeak.” 

 
57

Don't talk to strangers. 

It's easy for our children to spot an adult in a schoolyard, but not as easy to do the 

same in cyberspace, or on text-messaging. Our kids need to learn that unless they know 

the people in real life (“RL”), the person has to be treated like a stranger no matter how 

long they have chatted online. Period. 

Come straight home after school. 

When kids wander around, unsupervised, after school they inevitably get into 

trouble. Allowing your children to spend unlimited time surfing or texting aimlessly is no 

different. Set a time limit. Create a “no texting” zone, where they spend time with their 

real life friends and engaging in family activities (and homework). 

Don't steal. 

Illegal music, movie and game downloads. Enough said! 

Don't start fights. 

 Cyberbullying is when one minor uses interactive technology to harass, frighten or 

humiliate another minor. They may even spread into RL. Our children should be taught to 

Stop (don't do anything to make matters worse), Block (the offender) and Tell (you or 

another trusted adult). (You can learn more about this at stopcyberbullying.org.) 

Don’t take candy from strangers. 

 While we don’t take candy from people online, we do often accept attachments. A 

seemingly innocent attachment can contain a virus, spyware or a hacking tool. Many of 

the good anti-virus programs have mobile versions. They are worth the investment. 

Don't share personal information with others. 

Our children often post their cell number on their instant messaging “away page.” 

Mobile device cameras can be used to take a picture and post it online. Make sure your 

children understand what can and cannot be shared. Remember...The more information 

you give your children, the less information they'll give a stranger. 

Look before they leap. 

 Check things out before your child starts using a new interactive device or 

technology or activity. Let them know what features you don’t want them using and 

which ones are safe. And remind them that you will be watching. This is a matter of 

parental choice and control. The wireless industry is providing some significant help here 

too. They have voluntarily adopted a set of principles relating to mobile content provided 

by the carriers themselves, rating them as “restricted” (for those over the age of 18). 

Restricted content is only available with authentication, allowing parents stay in control. 

Disney has a new cell phone service and phones launching in June, 2006 too. (Visit 

disneymobile.com and ctia.org for more information.) 

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

 It is too easy for our children to act out online knowing that they may never have to 

face the other person in real life. Not having to look them in the eyes makes it easier to be 

rude, lewd or hostile. This is a good time to remind your children to treat others online 

and off with R-E-S-P-E-C-T. 

Now...go have some fun and play a little! And if you are still tech-challenged, ask 

your kids for help. 

And for more cybersafety tips and help or to book a program for your community, 

visit WiredSafety.org, the world's largest Internet and wireless safety and help group or 

contact Parry Aftab directly at parry@wiredsafety.org. 
58

Appendix 4: 

Parry's Social Networking Advice for Parents: 

It’s worth the effort to find out if your child is one of the social networks. Start by 

asking them. Hopefully they will be honest with you. If they aren’t or you suspect they 

may be lying, it doesn’t hurt to check out the more popular ones yourself. Search for your 

child by e-mail address, name and school. While they often lie about their e-mail address 

(either creating a special free web-based one just for this, that you may not recognize, or 

by making one up) or their name, they NEVER lie about their school. That’s the only 

way their friends can find them. If you discover that your child has one of these profiles 

(or several, which is very common) and is lying to you, you need to take action. This isn’t 

about technology, it’s about dishonesty and hiding something important from you. And it 

might be a good time to buy and install a monitoring product, to be able to find their 

other lies and their next social-networking website they are trying to keep you from 

seeing. 

If they admit that they have a page and show it to you, review it carefully, without 

over-reacting. Keep an open mind. (And take 5! To keep from panicking!) Have they 

posed as someone older? Posted person images? Included their friends on their site or 

been included by their friends on their sites? Forget the language. It’s what kids do 

online. Caution them, but don’t judge them by the language they use online. If they are 

posting using chatlingo shorthand, you can visit Teenangels.org and use our chatlingo 

translator to see what they are saying. 

Then you have two choices. You can have the site taken down, or you can supervise 

what they are posting and doing. It’s important hat you help keep your child safe online, 

even if you may be shocked by what you find your child is saying behind your back. And 

be aware that these are important to them. They all do it, even if they shouldn’t. So, it’s 

possible that your young teen will rebel and just set up a page again, but hide it better this 

time. It may be better to work with them than prohibit the profiles altogether. 

Next, don’t panic. You should take advantage of this opportunity to review their 

page first. You might be surprised (hopefully pleasantly) by what they are saying. 

If they haven’t posted anything to put them at risk, and aren’t communicating with 

strangers, ask them why they want a social-networking profile page. You might be 

surprised at what they tell you. While parents freak out (understandably) at the 

provocative images and wild language used by many on these sites, most of the teens 

don’t see them or pay attention to them. They are there to show off their creativity and 

self-expression and to communicate with their offline friends. As long as they are old 

enough to understand the rules and adhere to them (no one under 13 is old enough for 

this, even with parental approval in my humble opinion), and as long as you keep an eye 

on what they are doing, posting and how they are communicating with others, it’s YOUR 

choice as to whether they keep their site up or not. (Make sure that you don’t become the 

self-appointed profile site, reporting other people’s kids for posting underage until you 

speak with their parents first!) 

If you find that they are saying and posting inappropriate things or those comments 

don’t seem to conform to their otherwise good offline behavior, don’t panic yet. Think 

about how our parents would have reacted if they could have seen or heard everything we 

said to our friends when no adult was around. I guarantee that they would have been 

almost as shocked as many parents are about what their kids are posting online. 

Also, remember that many of the things your kids are saying are being said to 

impress their audience and are often not true. (Luckily!) 

The important difference between what we used to say or do and their posting 

online, however, is that when we acted out or boasted about acting out, we didn’t do it to 

an audience of millions of people. So, while you shouldn’t panic, you should take quick 
59

action if your kids are posting personal information in a public forum, or communicating 

with strangers online. 

Now repeat after me...”I am the parent!” 
60

Appendix 5: How schools are handling these issues 

A letter for parents from a school, using Parry's tips: 

Lakewood High School 

14100 Franklin Boulevard Lakewood, OH 44107 

Voice: (216) 529-4028 Fax: (216) 529-4459 

Web: http://www.lnoca.org/lakewood/lhs/ 

 

Dear Parents/Guardians: 

Many of you are aware of the popular websites used by teenagers for blogging and 

socializing, such as MySpace.com. Recently, our staff has become aware of 

inappropriate content that many of our students are posting on these public websites. 

This letter is being sent to inform you of these websites and to encourage you to talk to 

your child about internet safety and appropriate postings. The following information is 

provided by Parry Aftab, cyberspace lawyer and executive director of WiredSafety.org, 

the world's largest Internet safety and help group and taken from her safety tips published 

at MySpace.com with her permission. 

MySpace.com and other similar sites are designed to allow people to share their 

creativity, pictures, and information with others. Sometimes people do this to find 

romance. Sometimes they do it to find friends with similar interest. While this may be 

okay for adults, it is not okay for kids. 

MySpace.com recognizes this, and prohibits anyone under 14 years of age from 

using their website. Unfortunately, while they may set rules to keep younger kids off the 

site, they can’t prevent kids from lying about their age, pretending to be 14 years of age 

or older. To address this, MySpace.com has developed special software to review the 

profiles of their members, to try and find anyone under age, based on information the 

members post about themselves. It’s not perfect, but it does help spot many underage 

members. 

While MySpace.com is doing its best to keep your children from using their website 

and lying about their age, it’s up to parents to do their job too. Parents need to talk with 

their children about not sharing personal information online. Personal information 

includes pictures, names and addresses, schools they attend, cell and phone numbers and 

many other less obvious things, such as the name of their school team, ethnic background 

and even a mall near your house. (You can learn more about how to talk to your kids and 

what you should be asking at WiredKids.org or WiredSafety.org. I am an Internet privacy 

and security lawyer and founded the all-volunteer Wired Safety Group. We can help you 

if things go wrong online, or you just have questions. We provide information, education 

and one-to-one help for victims of cyberabuse.) 

We at WiredSafety.org are developing a special program just for parents concerned 

about their kids using social-networking and online dating sites. It will teach you what 

you need to know about finding out if your child has a profile on one of these sites, how 

to review them and remove them, if you want to. It will also help you if your child is being 

cyberbullied using one of these sites or members from these sites, or is cyberbullying 

others. 

So what do you, as a parent, do? First you need to find out if your child has a page 

on one of these sites. The best way to find out if your child has a profile on this or 

another similar site is to ask them. If you’re not sure that your child is being honest with 

you, you can search MySpace.com (or the other sites) using their e-mail address, or by 
61

searching for their school. (You click on “search” and enter their email address or full 

name in the appropriate search box.) 

If you find that your child has a profile on the Web site, you should review it. It’s 

amazing how much you can learn about your child by reading their profiles. Does it 

contain personal information, such as their full name, address or phone numbers? Has 

your child posted photos? Are they photos of themselves or someone else? Are they 

sharing poems they write or provocative comments about themselves or others? 

If you want the profile removed (you must remove your child’s profile if they are 

under age), first ask your child to remove it themselves. If that doesn’t work, 

MySpace.com has a section explaining how to remove a page. If you find someone who is 

underage, you can report it there as well. It’s not as easy a procedure as the other Web 

sites. 

While MySpace.com is working hard to keep kids off their Web site, ultimately, 

protecting your child is your job. But you have lots of help. At WiredKids.org and 

WiredSafety.org thousands of volunteers donate their time to helping parents and 

children surf responsibly and safely. And we will be building a few tutorials help parents 

and their children understand how to be careful when communicating publicly online. 

A good thing to do is to ask your kids why they created the profile. You might learn 

that they wanted to share their thoughts with others, make new friends or even allow 

others in their school to get to know them better. But not all of their motives are as noble 

or safe. Some may be interested in meeting new romantic interests or role-playing 

inappropriately online. And when a young preteen lies about their age posing as a 

seventeen year old at the site, that can be a serious problem. Others in their late teens 

might approach your child thinking they were older. That’s bad for everyone. 

If you discover that your child is posting provocative comments or inappropriate 

images online, it’s time for the tough talk. The one about stranger dangers and how that 

cute fourteen year old boy they meet online may not be cute, may not be fourteen and may 

not be a boy. (Parents of young boys need to understand that their children are equally at 

risk. About one-third of the cases of Internet sexual exploitation are men exploiting boys.) 

Our children need to realize that there are real risks relating to meeting strangers offline, 

including murder. 

It’s not easy raising children anymore. It is even harder when the parent is expected 

to be expert in Internet, cell phone and interactive game risks. The good thing is that 

you’re not facing these challenges alone. We’re here to help. 

Just remember that while your kids may know more than you do about technology, 

you know more about life. And you are allowed to set the rules and enforce them. You’re 

still the parent! There is software you can install that will record what your kids say and 

post online. There is even one that will e-mail you reports at work. The ones I like best 

are made by Spectorsoft, and can be found at software4parents.com or spectorsoft.com. 

But don’t use them just to spy on your kids. Treat them like a security video camera in the 

corner of a bank. No one views the tapes unless and until there is a break-in. Do the same 

here. Check the program reports if something goes wrong. It will collect whatever you 

need for evidence and to help your child if something goes wrong. 

Also, check your parental control programs. Many, such as AOL’s and MSN’s, can 

block access to social-networking Web sites or other sites you think are inappropriate for 

your younger child. There are many other products you can purchase to block sites as 

well. (Check out software4parents.com to learn about and purchase some of these.) Just 

remember that the best filter is the one between your children’s ears. 

Please feel free to contact your child’s counselor or house principal if you have any 

concerns. And visit Parry's cybersafety blog and podcast, http://parryaftab.blogspot.com, 

and WiredSafety.org for more tips on cybersafety and social networking issues. 
62

A principal's letter to the parents of his students: 

I know that history repeats itself and some things never change and there is nothing 

new under the sun, etc, etc, etc. Having spent so many years in school buildings, I really 

understand how much truth there is to these clichés. From the first day I started working 

in schools more than 38 years ago, I have been involved in helping young people deal 

with the consequences of making poor decisions involving things like drugs, alcohol, 

vandalism, theft, bullying, etc. It will always be this way and that is part of the job of 

teachers and administrators in public schools. 

It can come as no surprise to anyone reading this that drinking is rampant among 

many of our students almost every weekend. Drinking to excess (bingeing) is now more 

common than ever before. Is it watching MTV Spring Break year after year that has 

caused this new form of excess to be so common? I don’t know. I do know that our kids 

do it, and do it often. 

I’m sure everyone knows at some level that to smoke, or snort, or ingest, or inject 

drugs costs lots of money. How do our kids who choose to engage in this kind of 

behavior get the money to sustain it? It is either provided to them by way of an allowance 

or bank card, OR it becomes available in other ways.....theft, sale of personal items, 

providing services of some kind, etc. We all know enough about drugs either through 

reading, watching movies, or hearsay, to know that no one provides a sustained supply of 

drugs to someone else out of the goodness of their hearts. They want something in return. 

How do our kids get access? 

Bullying used to be relegated to the big, tall, tough guy/gal in school. After all, it 

took muscle and might to back up those words and deeds. Now, through e-mail, instant 

messages, text messages, the phone, personal home pages, etc. just about anyone can 

bully someone else and remain anonymous. The 98 pound weakling no longer has to bulk 

up to be a bully. She/he can do it from the privacy of the bedroom and remain at that 

weight. 

Here is what has really changed. Personal home pages are now almost the norm 

among our young people with access to computers and broadband Internet service. You 

would be shocked and surprised to visit some of the home pages of our middle school and 

high school students. Some of the information they share about themselves is 

embarrassingly personal, graphic, and explicit, AND it comes with names, addresses, and 

phone numbers. In truth, most of these kids think they are setting up a page that they and 

only their close friends have access to. In truth, just about anyone with a real facility with 

computers can find these sites and pick someone who interests them to prey upon. 

I am sharing this disturbing information with you because we all worry about 

your/our children. Most, if not all of this activity, takes place at home or at someone 

else’s home. If it took place in school, we would have a record and would track it. There 

are consequences for this kind of behavior at school using school machines and our 

Internet service. When it happens from elsewhere, we have no control over it. I don’t 

even know how you can control it. I simply want the piece of mind knowing that I have 

shared this with you. It is epidemic among our young people and opens the door for 

unimaginable problems for them and for YOU, their parents. 

I rarely write or speak about problems for which I have few or no solutions. I can’t 

even suggest a solution other than to be vigilant and to know it is going on, if not at your 

home with your child then with your child’s best friend or your neighbor’s child. Let’s 

bring this topic into the open and start talking about it whenever groups of adults gather 

for whatever purpose. Our children need to know that we know what is going on. It is 

dangerous and they are too young to understand. If you can think of something that 

would be helpful to parents and you plan on attending the next evening “coffee” in 

March, please share it with me and I will pass it along to other parents via e-mail or this 

Newsletter. 
63

Appendix 6: 

Parry's Myspace Guidebook Table of Contents 

(the guide will be released for back to school without charge at WiredSafety.org) 

1- Introduction to Myspace

a. Origins/History 

b. Why people use it 

c. Basic ideas of how Myspace works 

d. Explaining the ‘cyber friends’ process 

e. Pitfalls of chatting online 

f. Reasons to use social networks 

2- Getting started

a. Creating your homepage 

b. Uploading images/Using appropriate images 

c. Content- not revealing too much personal information 

d. Settings, and controlling ‘Friends’ lists 

e. Finding others with similar interests, in your area or at your school 

f. Using Myspace to network 

g. Searching for specific people on Myspace 

h. Creating and using an avatar 

i. Privacy settings 

j. Younger profiles settings (between 14 and 16) 

k. Reporting abuse 

l. Getting help 

m. Pics, quizzes and getting codes from third party sites 

 

3- Writing a profile 

a. Creativity-expressing yourself through a blog/profile 

b. Blog/profile ideas, like a diary, it can be a journal of your thoughts 

c. Writing with some caution-not revealing detailed information 

d. Reading and contributing to other members blogs/profiles 

4- Hazards of meeting people from the Internet in real life 

 a. Using caution when replying to e-mails and communications from strangers 

 b. Unsolicited contact, using judgment to better safeguard yourself 

 c. Meeting people face to face offline 

 d. “You never know...” how even smart teens and preteens are tricked by posers 

 e. You don't have to meet them offline to be sexually exploited - webcams, cybering and 

child pornography 

 

5- Risks from adults, from other teens and risks you pose to yourself 

a. Sexual exploitation issues 

b. Cyberbullying, stalking and harassment 

c. Protecting your reputation online 

d. What employers, colleges and police are doing on social networks 

e. ID theft, scams and posing 

f. Protecting your passwords and personal information 

g. Protecting your personal information - when your friends post your info 

6- What you need to know to keep yourself safer 

a. Having fun on Myspace, safely 
64

b. Using good judgment to identify potential dangers 

c. Using creativity to express yourself through blogs/profiles 

d. Letting an adult know if something happens 

e. Talking to parents/adults about people you meet online 

f. Using extra caution when sharing images or chatting 

g. Talking to friends about safety - protecting yourself and your friends online 
65

Appendix 7: 

Parry Aftab's Guide to Keeping Your Kids Safe Online 

MySpace, Facebook and Xanga, Oh! My! 

Keeping yourself and your kids safe on social networks 

The quick tips for teens: 

• Put everything behind password protected walls, where only friends can see 

• Protect your password and make sure you really know who someone is before 

you allow them onto your friends list 

• Blur or morph your photos a bit so they won't be abused by cyberbullies or 

predators 

• Don't post anything your parents, principal or a predator couldn't see 

• What you post online stays online - forever!!!! So thinkb4uClick! 

• Don't so or say anything online you wouldn't say offline 

• Protect your privacy and your friends' privacy too...get their okay before 

posting something about them or their pic online 

• Check what your friends are posting/saying about you. Even if you are careful, 

they may not be and may be putting you at risk. 

• That cute 14-year old boy may not be cute, may not be 14 and may not be a 

boy! You never know! 

• And, unless you’re prepared to attach your MySpace to your 

college/job/internship/scholarship or sports team application...don’t post it 

publicly! 

And for parents: 

• Talk to your kids – ask questions (and then confirm to make sure they are 

telling you the truth!) 

• Ask to see their profile page (for the first time)...tomorrow! (It gives them a 

chance to remove everything that isn’t appropriate or safe...and it becomes a 

way to teach them what not to post instead of being a gotcha moment! Think of 

it as the loud announcement before walking downstairs to a teen party you’re 

hosting.) 

• Don't panic...there are ways of keeping your kids safe online. It’s easier than 

you think! 

• Be involved and work with others in your community. (Think about joining 

WiredSafety.org and help create a local cyber-neighborhood watch program in 

your community.) 

• Remember what you did that your parents would have killed you had they 

known, when you were fifteen. 

• This too will pass! Most kids really do use social networks just to 

communicate with their friends. Take a breath, gather your thoughts and get 

help when you need it. (You can reach out to WiredSafety.org.) 

• It’s not an invasion of their privacy if strangers can see it. There is a difference 

between reading their paper diary that is tucked away in their sock 
66

drawer...and reading their MySpace. One is between them and the paper it’s 

written on; the other between them and 700 million people online! 

• Don’t believe everything you read online – especially if your teens posts it on 

her MySpace! 

• And, finally....repeat after me – “I’m still the parent!” If they don’t listen or 

follow your rules, unplug the computer...the walk to the library will do them 

good. ☺

For more information, visit WiredSafety.org. Copyright Parry Aftab 2006, all rights 

reserved. For permission to duplicate, e-mail Parry@WiredSafety.org. 
67

Appendix 8: 

SNAPSHOT OF U.S. MINORS ONLINE AND HOW PREDATORS REACH THEM 

(Taken from Parry Aftab's testimony before the House Sub-Committee on Investigations 

and Oversight on April 4, 2006) 

It is estimated that approximately 75 million minors in the Unites States access the 

Internet either from home, schools, community centers and libraries or from some newer 

Internet-capable device. This is up more than ten-fold since 1996, when only 6 million 

U.S. minors were online. Now our children are using cell phones with Internet and textcapability, interactive gaming devices (such as X-Box Live and Sony Playstation 

Network) with voice over Internet and live chat features, handheld devices with 

Bluetooth and other remote-communication technology (such as PSP gaming devices and 

mobile phones) and social networking profiles (such as MySpace, Facebook, Bebo, YFly 

and others) where they can advertise their favorite things, where they live and pictures of 

themselves and their friends to anyone who wants to see them. 

Ten years ago, when I first wrote my safety tips telling parents to put the computer 

in a central location, that made sense. It was a central point, where parents could get 

involved and supervise their children's interactive communications and surfing activities. 

Now, where they take their communication technologies with them in their pockets, 

backpacks, and purses, it is not longer as relevant as it once was. Now, instead of 

expecting parents to watch everything their children are doing online from the comfort of 

their familyrooms, or kitchen counter, we have to do more. Now, we have to teach our 

children to use the “filter between their ears” and exercise good judgment and care when 

using any interactive device. While teaching parents how to supervise their children 

online was a challenge (I have written the leading books, worldwide, for parents on 

Internet safety), teaching children to “ThinkB4uClick” is much harder. 

When I was growing up (in the days before electricity and indoor plumbing, when 

we had to walk up hill, both ways!, in blizzards to get to school), parents used to blame 

us for not behaving. We were disciplinary problems. Now pediatric neuro-psychologists 

tell us that preteens and young teens are hardwired, through immature brain development, 

to be unable to control their impulses at this age. Either way, we recognize that preteens 

and teens take risks, don't appreciate the consequences of their actions and act before they 

think. When their audience was their school friends, family and neighbors, the risks were 

containable. When they act out where 700 million Internet users can see, it takes on a 

much deeper significance. 

Putting Their Heads into the Lion's Mouth 

Now, I will share something very controversial. While educators and child 

psychologists understand this, most parents will be shocked at the suggestion that their 

preteens and teens are in control of their safety online and putting themselves at risk, 

often intentionally. But unless we accept this, and direct our attentions at solutions aimed 

at this reality, we are all wasting our time. We will focus on the much smaller segments 

of preteens and teens who are being victimized through not fault of their own - those who 

are targeted at random. All others need to change their online behaviors. And that's where 

we need to devote all our attentions. 

For this to happen, you need to understand the truth. For years we have told parents 

and minors not to share too much personal information online. “You can be tracked down 

in real life,” we told them. But, notwithstanding anything to the contrary reported in the 

media and by some local law enforcement officers, to my knowledge, to this date, no 

preteen or teen has been sexually-exploited by someone who tracked them down from 

information they posted online. In each and every case, to my knowledge, to teens and 

preteens have gone willingly to meet their molester. They may have thought they were 
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meeting someone other than the 46 year old who is posing as a teen, but they knew they 

didn't know this person in real life. They are willingly agreeing to meet strangers offline. 

What does this mean? It means we can do something about this. It means we can 

educate teens and preteens about the realities of meeting people in real life they only 

know in cyberspace. It means we can create solutions. It means that this is, at least for the 

time being, 100% preventable. It means that what we do today will have an immediate 

impact on the safety of our youth. It means we have to join together and work on things 

that are effective and abandon those that are not. 

But we have to act quickly. When I testified before the U.S. House Of 

Representatives, Committee On Commerce, Subcommittee On Telecommunications, 

Trade, And Consumer Protection on October 11, 2000, I cautioned: 

Law enforcement is not aware of anyone who is using the information children 

provide online to seek them out offline, by hiding behind a bush or grabbing them on 

their way home from school. But it’s only a matter of time before this happens, since 

universal access to the Internet means that even violent sexual offenders who are online 

can use it for their own horrible purposes. (See Testimony of Parry Aftab, Esq. U.S. 

House Of Representatives, Committee On Commerce, Subcommittee On 

Telecommunications, Trade, And Consumer Protection on October 11, 2000.) 

Luckily, while our young people are sharing much more information online than 

ever before, to my knowledge, predators aren't using it to hunt down our children offline. 

They are like vampires. They need to be invited in. Sadly, our teens and preteens are too 

often doing just that. They are inviting them to offline meetings, phone calls and 

videochats. But, as an expert in cyberrisk management, I can tell you that this is good 

news. Because we have a single point of risk - our children, preteens and teens. If we stop 

their risky and unsafe behaviors, and teach them when to reach out for help, we can 

manage this risk. We can keep our children safe. 

Our children are mainly at risk because of their own actions. Some are intentional. 

Others are inadvertent. They may willingly engage in communications with people they 

don't know in real life “RL,” agree to meet them offline or send them sexuallyprovocative images or perform sex acts on webcams they share with people they 

encounter online. They cyberbully each other by advertising their victims for sexual 

services, posting real or manufactured sexually explicit images of them online or by 

passing online rumors able their sexual preferences or activities. 

Preteens and Teens at Risk: Most of the high risk preteens and teens fall into three 

categories: those who are naive and looking for love and affection (typically the “loners” 

and “shy” preteens and teens), those who already engage in other high risks activities, 

such as drug and alcohol abuse, driving too fast or doing risky things for the thrill of it 

(often the student leaders, athletes, cheerleaders and very competitive teens, the risks 

takers and thrill seekers looking to let off steam or impress their peers) and those who 

don't realize that what they do online is real, the ones who are looking to appear older, 

cooler, more fun and more popular (most of the teens and especially preteens fall into this 

category at least once). Sadly, most of our preteens and teens fit one of these categories. 

Sadder still is the fact that in recent years we have learned that most preteens and teens 

are potential victims. 

Naive, loners and socially-shy preteens and teens: Some believe that they are 

communicating with a cute 14 year old boy, who they later discover isn't cute, isn't 

fourteen and isn't a boy. Most of the reported cases fall into this category, and until the 

death of Christina Long four years ago this May, experts all believed that all victims fell 

into this category. They are conned, and easy to spot online. Predators can seek them out, 

and find their vulnerabilities. They are groomed with care, and often fall in love with 

their molesters. Sadly, when the molestation finally occurs, not only are their bodies 

broken, their hearts and trust are too. 
69

They need to understand how the predators work online. Too often they tell me that 

they can “tell” how old someone is online. They can't. No one can. Many predators spend 

years cultivating the right tone and language to look like a fellow teen online. 

These preteens and teens are sitting ducks. While they may have learned not to fall 

for the “help me find my puppy” ploy offline, they need to learn how that same ploy 

(appeal for assistance) works online. They need to know how to spot the risks and the 

predators, when online everyone can look like a cute 14 year old boy. They need to learn 

that romance shouldn't occur only in cyberspace, and that parents can get involved to help 

them meet their soul-mate, assuming they really are. So, if they aren't, and turn out to be 

a 46 year old child molester, they can come home safely and help put that molester 

behind bars where they deserve. 

Risk-takers, Thrill-seeking preteens and teens: Some preteens and teens (mainly 

teens) are looking for the thrills and challenge of engaging in a relationship (or at least 

prolonged communication) with an adult. They “play games” with the adult, and are 

intentionally extra sexually-provocative. They think they are smart enough to do this 

without getting hurt. They see this as a game, without realizing the consequences of their 

actions. And crossing the sexual line isn't as frightening online as it would be in real life. 

The problem is that the consequences are not as apparent, the realities not as immediate. 

They take risks. And they think they can handle them. (They don't often understand the 

consequences, though.) They often willingly engage in sexual communications with men 

they know are adults. That's part of the thrill. They are also often willing to engage in 

sexual activities with the adult, but don't realize what that can mean when things go very 

wrong. We rarely hear about these kinds of victims, because they never report it when 

things go wrong. They feel as though they “asked for it,” or are to blame. When we hear 

of these cases, it's because they are killed or kidnapped. (Christina Long was in this 

category. She was the first confirmed murder victim of an Internet sexual predator in the 

U.S. and died four years ago this May.) 

Friends are the answer here. If we can get friends too help watch out for each other, 

it is less likely that they will meet adults in real life, or if they do, got alone. Also, finding 

cool spokespeople, like Nick Lachey, to explain that it isn't cool to be stupid and 

campaigns such as our “Don't Be Stupid” help. So do real life stories from victims 

themselves about how they got caught and advice from the trenches. Kateisplace.org has 

sections specifically directed at this type of victim. And Teen People is an important 

partner of ours in spreading the word. 

Not really a drunken slut, just playing one online: We've all been reading about 

this new trend in the news (often with me as the expert). Good, respectful, otherwise 

well-mannered preteens and teens acting out in cyberspace. In profiles, blogs, on social 

networking sites and their away messages on IM, on their websites and interactive 

gaming bios, they act out. They pose in their bras, or worse. They simulate sexual 

activities (and in some cases post images of actual sexual activities). They pretend to be 

someone or something other than what they really are. And this alter-ego may be a 

sexually promiscuous teen “up for anything.” 

They don't think it is cool to tell others they were home coloring with their five year 

old niece last weekend. Instead they claim to have snuck out after everyone was asleep to 

get drunk at a wild party. To them it isn't real. They lie. They pose. They do thing online 

they would never dream of doing in RL. They aren't really drunken sluts - they are just 

playing one online. (Shannon, one of our award-winning Teenangels, will share insight 

into why teens and preteens are doing this, during her testimony today.) 

The Anatomy of a Cyberpredator: 

There have been many cases recently where pedophiles and other adults have lured 

children into offline meetings and molested them. Luckily, there are even more cases 

when such attempts to lure a child have brought about the attention of law-enforcement 
70

groups. I debated whether I should discuss any of these cases, because I did not want to 

sensationalize them. But if explaining the methods used by offenders might make parents 

more aware, and their children safer, it’s worth it. 

Cyberpredators, just like their offline counterparts, usually aren’t the scary, hairy 

monsters in trench coats we imagine standing on a dark street corner. Many are the kind 

of person you would be inviting to your home as a guest, and often have. They are 

pediatricians, teachers, lawyers, clergy, vice cops, welfare workers, journalists, Boy 

Scout leaders, baseball coaches, scientists, etc. They are almost always men. (Sometimes 

women are accomplices, but rarely are women the molesters.) They are often articulate 

and well-educated. They come in all shapes, sizes, and colors, and they can be very rich 

or out of work. But they have one thing in common: they want your child. 

Most of us are sickened at the thought of an adult having sexual relations with a 

child, but to be able to protect our children, we must get into the mind of the predator. 

First of all, predators often don’t see themselves as predators. They see themselves as 

loving partners with the children they molest. To them this isn’t rape, it’s a seduction. 

And, as with any seduction, it’s a slow and painstaking process. (Predators have been 

known to wait more than two years, collecting data on a particular child, before striking.) 

That’s what makes them hard to detect. They don’t appear to your child to be dangerous. 

An FBI agent who shared a panel with me recently said it best: “Before the Internet, 

these people had to get physically close to your children. They had to lurk near 

schoolyards, or playgrounds. Kids would see them. Adults would see them. It was a 

dangerous situation to be in for them, because everyone would notice an adult male 

lurking around children. They often had to take jobs and volunteer positions that allowed 

them to work with children in a position of trust in order to reach their victims. Now, 

however, the personal risks the pedophiles had to expose themselves to in order to be 

around children are gone. Now they can be ‘one of the kids’ and hang out with your kids 

online without exposing themselves. As long as they don’t say or do something in the 

public room that makes them stand out, they can stay there forever, taking notes.” 

And, many of them do. They have been known to create large databases on children. 

They track the children’s likes and dislikes. They track information such as whose 

parents are divorced, who doesn’t like their father’s new girlfriend or their mother’s 

boyfriend, or who likes computer games or a particular rock group. Kids often share 

personal information about their lives in chatrooms or on profiles. This is one reason why 

they shouldn’t. The more the predator knows about your child, the more easily they can 

“groom” them or appear to be their soulmate. 

Some cyberpredators (known as “travelers” to law enforcement) seek out the good 

kids, the smart ones, the ones who are not street-smart and are from sheltered suburban or 

rural families. Many of our children match that profile perfectly. Others, however, target 

(or are targeted by) popular, super achiever, risk preferring teens. It took the death of a 

young teen from Connecticut, Christina Long, before we realized that many of the 

incidents involved teens who did not fit the loner profile. What we learned was that these 

kids never report any attacks or exploitation. The only time we hear of these cases is 

when the teen is kidnapped or killed. 

So who is a typical victim of an Internet sexual predator? Anyone between 11-1/2 

and 15. All are vulnerable. 

It Doesn’t Take Torture for Them to Spill Their Guts 

Here’s a mock chatroom discussion that my law-enforcement friends and I agree is 

pretty realistic. Imagine a predatorial pedophile sitting and taking notes on this child, and 

using this information to lure them later. Would your child fall for this? Most, 

unfortunately, would. This one is more typical of a boy victim and predator 

communication than a girl victim communication. 
71

Child: I hate my mom! I know it’s her fault that my parents are getting divorced. 

Predator: I know. My parents are getting divorced, too. 

Child: We never have any money anymore, either. Every time I need something, she says 

the same thing: “We can’t afford it.” When my parents were together, I could buy things. 

Now I can’t. 

Predator: Me too. I hate that! 

Child: I waited for six months for the new computer game to come out. My mom 

promised to buy it for me when it came out. She promised! Now it’s out. Can I buy it? 

Nope. “We don’t have enough money!” I hate my mom! 

Predator: Oh! I’m so sorry! I got it! I have this really kewl uncle who buys me things all 

the time. He’s really rich. 

Child: You’re sooooo lucky. I wish I had a rich and kewl uncle. 

Predator: Hey! I got an idea! I’ll ask my uncle if he’ll buy you one too....I told you he’s 

really kewl. I bet he’d say yes. 

Child: Really!? Thanks!! 

Predator: BRB [cybertalk for “be right back”]... I’ll go and call him. 

- - - 

Predator: Guess what? He said okay. He’s gonna buy you the game! 

Child: Wow, really? Thanks. I can’t believe it!!! 

Predator: Where do you live? 

Child: I live in NJ. What about you? 

Predator: I live in New York. So does my uncle. New Jersey isn’t far. 

Child: Great! 

Predator: Is there a mall near you? We can meet there. 

Child: Okay. I live near the GSP Mall. 

Predator: I’ve heard of that. No prob. What about Saturday? 

Child: Kewl. 

Predator: We can go to McDonald’s too if you want. We’ll meet you there at noon. 

Child: Okay. Where? 

Predator: In front of the computer game store. Oh! My uncle’s name is George. He’s 

really kewl. 

Child: Great... thanks, I really appreciate it. You’re so lucky to have a rich and kewl 

uncle. 

Saturday arrives, and the child goes to the mall and meets an adult outside the 

computer game store. He identifies himself as “Uncle George” and explains that his 

nephew is already at the McDonald’s waiting for them. The child is uncomfortable, but 

the uncle walks into the store and buys the $100 game. He comes out and hands it to the 

child, who is immediately neutralized and delighted. Stranger-danger warnings are not 

applicable. This isn’t a stranger—he’s “Uncle George,” and if any proof was needed, the 

computer game is it. He gets into Uncle George’s car without hesitation to meet his friend 

at McDonald’s. The rest is reported on the 6 o’clock news. 

It’s disgusting. It makes us sick to our stomachs, but it happens. Not very often, but 

often enough that you need to be forewarned. (Several thousand cyberpredator cases are 

opened each year by law enforcement agents in the United States.) But no matter how 

often it happens, even once is too often. Knowing how they operate and the tricks of the 

trade will help us teach our child how to avoid being victimized. Each case differs, but 

the predators tend to use the same general tactics. Aside from the “bait and switch” scam 

discussed above, they often attempt to seduce a child. They want the child to “want” 

them. 
72

The Script—How They Operate Online 

They begin by striking up a conversation with the child, trying to create a 

relationship of trust and friendship. They often masquerade as another child or teenager, 

typically of the opposite sex, unless the child has indicated homosexual interests. (The 

child may or may not know the “seducer’s” real age by the time they meet face-to-face.) 

Phone calls usually start at this point. Sometimes gifts are sent to the child as well, which 

may include a Polaroid camera and film. Once they have broken down barriers of 

caution, they begin introducing sexual topics gradually, often with the use of child 

pornography to give the child the impression that other children are regularly involved in 

sexual activities. 

Then they begin to approach the child’s own sexuality and curiosity, by asking 

questions and giving them “assignments,” like wearing special underwear, sending 

sexually suggestive photos of themselves to the pedophile, or performing certain sexual 

acts. These assignments eventually broaden to the exchange of sexually explicit 

photographs (using the Polaroid, cell phone camera or digital camera) or videos of the 

child. Finally, the pedophile attempts to arrange a face-to-face meeting. (He may also 

have divulged his true age or an age closer to his actual age at this point.) 

Why It Works 

All the lectures we have given our children from the time they are very young about 

not talking to strangers aren’t applicable online, where everyone is a stranger. A large 

part of the fun online is talking to people you’ve never met. In addition, our children’s 

stranger-danger defenses are not triggered when other kids are involved. The warnings 

apply only to adult strangers, not to other children. 

If any of us walked up to a child in a playground and tried to strike up a 

conversation, they would ignore us and probably run away. But if an unknown elevenyear-old came up to another eleven-year-old in the same playground, they’d be playing in 

ten seconds flat! That’s how the pedophiles get in under our kids’ stranger-danger 

radar—they pretend to be other kids. And children often believe what they read and hear. 

They “know” things about the predator because they believe what he told them. They 

also believe what they read about him in his “staged” profile, which supports what he told 

them. So it’s not just true, it’s confirmed. 

There are many stages at which the pedophile can be thwarted by an observant 

parent. In addition, children with healthy friendships and a strong, open, and trusting 

relationship with their parents are less likely to fall victim to pedophiles online. 

Pedophiles typically prey on a child’s loneliness. They feed the child’s complaints about 

her home life—creating an “us-versus-them” atmosphere. “Your mom is so mean to you! 

I don’t know why she won’t let you _____.” (Fill in the blank with whatever we try and 

limit: makeup, malls, concerts, etc.) 

This atmosphere does two things: It creates a distance between the child and her 

parents, at the same time bringing the child into a special secret alliance with the 

pedophile. (You should know that boys are almost as often the victims of Internet sexual 

exploitation as girls are, but they report it less frequently.) 

I have followed many cases over the last few years. In my role as WiredSafety 

executive director, I’ve also been responsible for reporting several of these to law 

enforcement and for helping many families through the pain of prosecution. Sometimes 

we just help the families survive what the molestation has done to them. (The child isn’t 

the only victim—entire families are torn apart in the aftermath of a molestation.) Parents 

feel guilty for not having protected their child, siblings don’t know how to treat their 

fellow sibling—the pain can continue for a lifetime, and even more. And, in addition to 

being hurt physically, the young victim's heart is broken by the betrayal of trust. 
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Anatomy of a Real and Early Case 

One case I reviewed many years ago involved a New Jersey teenager and an Ohio 

adult predator. It was one of the earliest reported cases of cyber-predatorial conduct, 

discovered in 1996. Luckily, the liaison was discovered before the girl met the man faceto-face. But it had gone on for a year and a half before being discovered by the girl’s 

mother. As you read the details, think about what could have been done to discover the 

situation earlier and how you can use these precautions to protect your children. 

Paul Brown, Jr., an Ohio resident, was forty-six years old. He was also unemployed, 

weighed over four hundred pounds, and lived in a basement. He had accounts with 

several ISPs. Mary (a hypothetical name for the young girl involved) was twelve when 

her mother, a schoolteacher, bought her a computer, reportedly because Mary was having 

problems making friends. When she got online, Mary posted a message on an online 

service, in the spring of 1995, looking for a pen pal. In her message she described herself 

as a teenage girl. Paul Brown, Jr., responded to the message, using his real name 

(something they often do, surprisingly) but identifying himself as a fifteen-year-old boy. 

Brown and Mary maintained an e-mail and telephone relationship for several 

months. As the relationship became more involved, they began writing letters, and Mary 

sent Brown a photograph. He told her that he was living at home with his mother and was 

hoping to find a girlfriend. In early August, Brown asked Mary for a “favor.” “If I sent 

you a roll of film, could you get one of your friends to take pictures of you in different 

outfits and maybe hairstyles? Makeup if you use any, and different poses. Some sexy, if 

possible. Please. Baby for me. Thanx. You’re the best. Love Ya.” 

Mary complied. For the next eight months, they continued to converse and 

correspond, and Mary sent additional photos. Brown encouraged her with juvenile antics, 

such as using stickers in his letters to her saying things like “Getting better all the time!” 

In May 1996, Brown sent Mary a special love note. “Saying I love you... seems to be an 

understatement. At the age of 14 you have captured my heart and made it sing... I love 

everything about you....” 

Shortly thereafter, Brown confessed to being in his twenties. He also suggested that 

Mary videotape herself in sexually provocative poses. She did. After Brown had 

reviewed her videotape, he returned it to her with instructions to redo the tape and include 

views of her genitalia and breasts. He later admitted to being divorced and in his thirties. 

He reportedly also sent her small gifts from time to time. 

A few months later, in response to Brown’s promise to pass copies of the tape to 

four members of a rock band Mary admired, she sent additional videotapes to Brown. 

(Brown told Mary that he knew the band members very well.) Each tape sent to Brown 

was designated for a different member of the band and contained sexually explicit 

conduct. Brown apparently had also sent her his size 48 underwear. When her mother 

discovered the underwear, the authorities were notified. Tracing Brown through phone 

records, special agents of the FBI in Cleveland seized the videotapes and photos of Mary 

and of more than ten other teenage girls from across the country. 

Mary was fourteen when this was all discovered. Brown pled guilty to enticing a 

minor to produce sexually explicit photos and videos and was sentenced to a little less 

than five years in prison (the maximum penalty for a first offense). In a written statement 

to Brown following all of this, Mary said, “I trusted you. I thought you were my friend.” 

There are several things that stand out in this case. One, interstate phone calls were 

made by Mary. Parents should always be reviewing long-distance bills for suspicious 

calls. Two, Mary was lonely. These kinds of children are often the most vulnerable; a 

parent should be involved in their online friendships, and monitor their online lives. And, 

three, as hard as it is to know what our kids are doing when we’re not around, especially 

if you are a single parent, a year and a half is a long time for a relationship to be going on 

undiscovered. You should spend time learning who your children’s friends are, online 

and off. But Monday-morning quarterbacking is always easier than playing the game in 
74

real time. We may look at the situation and say that could never happen to one of our 

kids. However, there but for the grace of God go all of us.... 

Knowing your child is lonely and has problems making friends is the first sign that 

the child may fall prey to a pedophile or cyber- predator. Predators can spot lonely 

children. They can also spot kids who are new online and may not yet know all the rules. 

Most teens, when surveyed, admit to having been propositioned online. But what may be 

obvious to a cyberstreetsmart kid may not be so obvious to a child not yet familiar with 

cyberspace. Pedophiles befriend these kids and patiently build trust and a relationship—

looking toward the day when they can meet face-to-face. 

Encourage your children to make online friends, but learning about their online 

friends is an important way to avoid these secret relationships. Education is important in 

avoiding this danger, too. (Had Mary been forewarned about how pedophiles operate 

online, she may have been more attentive to how old Brown sounded on the phone, and 

been more aware of his classic tactics.) So is control over incoming and outgoing 

information when younger children are involved, using technology blockers, monitors, 

and filters. These kinds of situations can be avoided if you plan ahead, educate and 

communicate with your children, and keep your eyes open. 

Getting in Under Your Radar: 

Even when parents are watching, bad things can happen. 

I included the Paul Brown case in my first book, A Parents’ Guide to the Internet. 

(He was sentenced in 1997, when I wrote the book.) I included it because it was a good 

example of how cyberpredators typically operate, and suggested that if the mother had 

been a bit more attentive, it might have been discovered earlier. I was right about how 

cyberpredators operate. I was wrong about how being attentive might have avoided the 

sexual exploitation. It takes more. It takes both an attentive parent and a teenager who has 

been taught how these pedophiles operate online. 

In November 1998, I met a mother who did everything right. She was attentive and 

inquisitive about her daughter’s online relationships. She asked the right questions. She 

had a good relationship with her daughter, and yet Charles Hatch, a child molester from 

Utah, got in under everyone’s radar and sexually exploited her thirteen-year-old daughter. 

Jennifer (not her real name) was eleven and a half when she first met “Charlie” 

online. She thought he was a few years older, and was intrigued about befriending a 

slightly older teenage boy. Jennifer was an honors student and had already been taking 

advanced college courses while still in middle school. She lived in a loving and warm 

household with her mother and father. She also had siblings and half siblings from her 

father’s previous marriage. They were all close. 

Jennifer’s mother, Sharry (also not her real name), talked to Jennifer about her 

online friend, Charlie. She insisted on talking to Charlie himself, by phone, once he and 

Jennifer had started calling each other. He passed the phone call test, and Sharry was 

convinced that he really was the teenage boy he professed to be. Either he had 

manipulated his voice to sound younger or he had a younger person make the call. 

Charlie even called and spoke to Jennifer’s brothers, talking about when he would be 

their brother-in-law someday, after he and Jennifer were married. He pleaded with 

Jennifer to come and visit him in Utah. Sharry invited him to visit them instead. But 

Charlie always had a reason he couldn’t come. 

As things progressed, Sharry insisted on talking to Charlie’s mother. He first 

avoided it by saying she was sick, later that her sickness had become cancer, and that 

eventually she died from the cancer. The family fell for this, hook, line, and sinker. Most 

caring families would. Although the “relationship” progressed for almost two years, it 

remained relatively tame. Charlie was romantic rather than predatorial, and he sent her 

expensive gifts, including a Polaroid camera. (Remember the Polaroid camera Paul 

Brown sent?) 
75

Jennifer was inexperienced with boys and dating, and Charlie seemed to know not to 

push her too fast. But about a year and a half after they met online, Charlie sent her 

sexually explicit photos of himself from the neck down. She became very uncomfortable 

and pulled back. But several tragedies occurred around the same time, which made 

Jennifer easier prey. Her father was hospitalized with a serious illness, and her sixteenyear-old half brother died of a brain hemorrhage. 

Charlie, like all good predators, knew when to strike. He told Jennifer that she owed 

him sexually explicit photos of herself, since he had sent those of himself. When she 

refused, he told her that she would be left alone, since her family was dying or would 

die—and he threatened to leave her. Reluctantly, after fighting against it as hard as she 

could, she acquiesced and sent him sexually explicit photos of herself. 

When Sharry was cleaning Jennifer’s room, she discovered a letter in which Charlie 

had set forth the sexual poses he wanted Jennifer to photograph. Sharry sent him a letter, 

confronting him. She said that he didn’t sound like a teenager in the letter. She told him 

that if he ever contacted her daughter again, she would inform the police. He never 

replied, and Jennifer was not permitted to use the Internet for months. 

One day, just when Jennifer and Sharry thought that the whole episode was past 

them, the phone rang. It was a detective from Utah, who informed Sharry that Jennifer’s 

photos had been discovered in Hatch’s day planner by a coworker. He wasn’t sixteen—he 

was thirty-six. He was a former teacher who had been dismissed by the school after 

having been accused by a student of sexual abuse. (The school hadn’t taken any other 

action.) He was currently employed by the welfare office in Utah, and was married with 

children and step-children. 

Six months later, Charles Hatch was convicted of sexual exploitation in a Utah 

federal court. He began his six-and-a-half year sentence in early June 1999. As a 

condition of his plea, he will not be permitted to use the Internet. This mother has become 

a dear friend of mine, after seeking WiredSafety’ help in getting through this. She was 

the first parent to speak out publicly about her child being targeted by a sexual predator 

online. 

Unfortunately, the predators are willing to try many different ploys until one finally 

works. 

Using Celebrity's Names 

I was having lunch in Los Angeles with one of my girlfriends when Nick Lachey 

walked into the restaurant. She pointed him out to me and I immediately grabbed my 

business card and approached his table (to the utter embarrassment of my friend). I 

introduced myself and told him I needed his help. I explained that predators were using 

his name and the name of other celebrities to lure kids into meetings and unsafe activities. 

They find teens who post their favorite celebrities on their profiles, websites or other 

online communications. Then they create a profile claiming to be a close personal friend 

of that celebrity. They offer to forward a pic of the teen to the celebrity, and seek sexier 

and sexier pics as time goes on, ultimately ending with an offer to introduce the teen to 

their favorite celebrity in real life. Years ago, Justin Timberlake was the most popular of 

these celebrity lures. Nick is now. He listened intently and turned white when he realized 

people where using his name to hurt his young fans. He offered his help. 

When I left his table, he has agreed to do a public service announcement to help 

teens understand that is anyone claims to be a close personal friend of a celebrity, they 

aren't. Or won't be for long. I was very excited, but not as excited as I was two weeks 

later when someone from Nick's office called asking me to help them create a safer teenonly social networking site called YFly.com. I agreed and YFly.com became a reality 

with the financial assistance of Tom Petters (and the Petters Group), and the creativity 

and energy of its founders, Drew Levin and Daniel Perkins. I joined the team to set up a 

safer network and create the most advanced educational and awareness content online, 
76

just for teen users. The young users can click on “Report the Creep” if they suspect 

someone is an adult posing as a teen. 

It's a beginning. Finding safer technologies and services is part of the solution. So is 

awareness using teenspeak. 

Shannon, one of our Teenangels is 14 years old. She was selected by Teen People as 

one of the twenty teens who will make a difference. She has gone them one better...she is 

already making a difference. It is with pride that I introduce Shannon Sullivan, one of my 

Teenangels. 

[Appendixes omitted]
77

Appendix 9: Parenting Online 

 Parenting Online 

What do we do when our eight-year-old 

knows more than we do about cyberspace? 

How do we guide our children safely through 

this new world? How do we set the rules when 

we don't even understand the risks? The 

childproof locks, seatbelts and helmets we use to help keep them safe in everyday life 

won't protect them in cyberspace. There we need new and different gadgets and safety 

tips. 

Welcome to the new world of 

parenting online! It's your newest 

challenge. But don't worry...it's not as 

hard as you think and it's well worth 

the effort. 

Parenthood is never easy and the 

ground rules are always changing. We 

go from playing the role of confidante, 

to co-conspirator, to police chief, to 

teacher, to playmate and back...all in 

the same day. We barely have the 

chance to catch our breath! 

The things we do to make sure 

our children stay safe are constantly 

changing too. When they crawl, we 

learn how to keep things off the floor. 

Then, they pull themselves upright, we 

have to keep them safe from the new 

dangers at eye level. Training wheels 

have to be removed, and we have to 

watch while they pedal away 

(generally into the nearest tree). We watch their sugar intake, make sure they take their 

vitamins and keep small items out of their mouths. 

That's our job, as parents. So the tried and true warnings, passed down from 

generation to generation, are repeated... “don't talk to strangers...,” “come straight home 

from school...,” “don't provoke fights...,” “don't tell anyone personal information about 

yourself...” and “we need to meet your friends...” This is familiar territory after all. We 

know the dangers our kids face in the street or at the mall or in the school yard, because 

we faced them. 

As in any large community, there are dangers our children encounter in cyberspace, 

too. But, since our children know more than we do about cyberspace, we worry about 

how we can teach them to avoid those dangers. Don't panic... those dangers can be 

managed using the same old warnings we've always used. 

We just need to translate them into cyberspace terms...

And there are wonders around every cyber-corner too... 

The Internet is the largest collection of information in the world, always available 

without a charge and delivered to your home computer. Every question you might have 

can be answered online. When your child asks you how deep the ocean is or why the sky 

is blue, you can “ask the Internet,” together. 
78

You and your children 

can communicate with others 

too, worldwide and in every 

language, with the click of 

your mouse. Their artwork 

can be displayed, their news 

reporting published and their 

poems posted on the largest 

“refrigerator door” in the 

universe, where 700 million 

people can appreciate them. 

You can research your 

family tree and build a 

family Web site. And, best 

of all...the most complicated 

homework assignment can 

be researched online (even 

last-minute on the Sunday 

night before it's due). 

You can search online 

for just about anything and 

any information you want. 

The easiest way to do that is 

by using search engines. You 

can type your search into one 

of the search engines and often will find what you are seeking. Just as often, though, you 

will find sites that are trying to get your or your children's attention. Pornographers are 

the most frequent abusers of search engines, registering and coding their sites to trick 

people into visiting them, thinking they are Disney, Pokemon or even the White House. 

Most of the search engines now have filtering options. By selecting one of these 

options, most inappropriate content is filtered out and the search results are typically kidfriendly. Two commercial search engines were designed just for kids, though, and are 

wonderful places to begin your child's search online. Yahooligans!, Yahoo! kid-sized 

search engine hand-selects the sites, making sure nothing slips through. It is best for 

younger children, ten and under. Ask Jeeves for Kids is Ask Jeeves kid-sized search 

engine. Although not as scrubbed clean as Yahooligans! hand-selected sites, it contains 

many more sites which make it perfect for slightly older children. I recommend it for 

children ten and older. 

In addition, most full-size search engines have a filtered option you can select. But 

remember that even if you use a search engine filter, if the kids search for images, the can 

find things you wish they hadn’t. That’s when using a filtering product that can block 

images too might come in handy. 

In addition to kid-sized search engines, there are many wonderful family-friendly 

site lists. WiredKids has one of its own, where the sites are selected and reviewed by our 

specially-trained volunteers. You can even recommend your favorite sites to be added. 

There are some entertaining sites that teach children online safety, as well. Although 

we prefer our WiredKids.org, StopCyberbullying.org and InternetSuperHeroes.org the 

best, (she says modestly...) another very special one we want to point out. Disney's 

Surfswellisland.com teaches online safety Disney-style. Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, 

Minnie Mouse and Goofy all find themselves involved in tropical island cyber-challenges 

relating to viruses, privacy, netiquette (cyber-etiquette) and responsible surfing. Lesson 

plans, online safety worksheets and other wonderful resources are all available without 

charge at the site. 
79

Looking for homework help? Check out Discovery.com, Nationalgeographic.org, 

PBSkids.org and The National Gallery of Art kids page www.nga.gov/kids/kids.htm. And 

ask your school librarian or the librarian at your public library for sites they recommend. 

Librarians and library media specialists are the guides to valuable and safe online 

resources for children. And if you need something you can't find, send me an email at 

“Ask Parry,” ( askparry@wiredsafety.org ) my Internet-syndicated online safety column. 

Drop by WiredKids.org or WiredSafety.org to find out how to submit a question. 
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CyberSense 

...translating common sense for cyberspace 

• Don't talk to or accept anything 

from strangers. That's the first 

one we learn while growing up, 

and the first one we teach our 

children. The problem in 

cyberspace though is teaching 

“stranger danger.” Online, it's 

hard to spot the strangers. 

The people they chat with 

enter your home using your 

computer. Our kids feel safe with 

us seated nearby. Their “stranger” 

alerts aren't functioning in this 

setting. Unless they know them in 

real life, the person is a stranger 

no matter how long they have 

chatted online. Period. You need 

to remind them that these people 

are strangers, and that all of the 

standard stranger rules apply. 

You also must teach them that anyone can masquerade as anyone else online. 

The “12-year-old” girl they have been talking to may prove to be forty-five year old 

man. It's easy for our children to spot an adult in a schoolyard, but not as easy to do 

the same in cyberspace. 

• Come straight home after school. Parents over the generations have always known 

that children can get into trouble when they wander around after school. Wandering 

aimlessly online isn't any different. Parents need to know their children are safe, and 

doing something productive, like homework. Allowing your children to spend 

unlimited time online, surfing aimlessly, is asking for trouble. 

Make sure there's a reason they're online. If they are just surfing randomly, set 

a time limit. You want them to come home after they're done, to human interaction 

and family activities (and homework). 

• Don't provoke fights. Trying to provoke someone in cyberspace is called 

“flaming.” It often violates the “terms of service” of your online service provider 

and will certainly get a reaction from other people online. 

Flaming matches can be heated, long and extended battles, moving from a chat 

room or discussion group to e-mail quickly. If your child feels that someone is 

flaming them, they should tell you and the sysop (system operator, pronounced sisop) or moderator in charge right away and get offline or surf another area. They 

shouldn't try to defend themselves or get involved in retaliation. It's a battle they can 

never win. 

• Don’t take candy from strangers. While we don’t take candy form people online, 

we do often accept attachments. And just like the offline candy that might be laced 

with drugs or poisons, a seemingly innocent attachment can destroy your computer 

files, pose as you and destroy your friends or spy on you without you even knowing 

it. Use a good anti-virus, update it often and try one of the new spyware blockers. 

You can get a list of the ones we recommend at WiredSafety.org. Practice safe 

computing! 

• Don't tell people personal things about yourself. You never really know who 

you're talking to online. And even if you think you know who you are talking to, 
81

there could be strangers lurking and reading your posts without letting you know 

that they are there. Don't let your children put personal information on profiles. It's 

like writing your personal diary on a billboard. 

With children especially, sharing personal information puts them at risk. Make 

sure your children understand what you consider personal information, and agree to 

keep it confidential online and everywhere else. Also teach them not to give away 

information at Web sites, in order to register or enter a contest, unless they ask your 

permission first. And, before you give your permission, make sure you have read the 

web site's privacy policy, and that they have agreed to treat your personal 

information, and your child's, responsibly. 

• We need to get to know your friends. Get to know their online friends, just as you 

would get to know their friends in everyday life. Talk to your children about where 

they go online, and who they talk to. 

• R-E-S-P-E-C-T. We all know the golden rule. We have a special one for 

cyberspace. Don’t do anything online you wouldn’t do offline. If you teach your 

child to respect others online and to follow the rules of netiquette they are less likely 

to be cyberbullied, become involved in online harassment or be hacked online. You 

can learn more about the ways to combat cyberbullying at our new website, 

StopCyberbullying.org or at WiredSafety.org’s cyberstalking and harassment 

section. Remember that it is just as likely that your child is a cyberbully (sometimes 

by accident) as a victim of one. Let them know they can trust you not to make 

matters worse. You have to be the one they come to when bad things happen. Be 

worthy of that trust. 

Remember that the new handheld and interactive gaming devices you buy have real 

risks to. Your children can send and receive text-messages from anyone on their cell 

phones or text-messaging devices and interactive games allow them to chat, on Internet 

phone, to anyone who wants to talk with them. The new Bluetooth devices let your child 

receive messages form anyone in a 300 foot range, and could be a problem if they play 

the new Bluetooth handheld games in a mall. Think about the features you are buying 

when you buy new devices for your children. Check into privacy and security settings. 

Our Teenangels (teenangels.org) are working on new guides for parents and other teens 

on what to look for and think about before you buy a new interactive device. Look for 

them at your local retailer or on the WiredSafety.org and Teenangels.org websites. 

Don't just set up the computer in the corner of their bedroom, and leave them to surf 

alone. Take a look at their computer monitor every once in awhile, it keeps them honest. 

Sit at their side while they compute when you can. It will help you set rules that make 

sense for your child. It also gives you an unexpected benefit...you'll get a personal 

computing lesson from the most affordable computer expert you know! 

And it's worth the effort. When our children surf the Internet, they are learning skills 

that they will need for their future. They become explorers in cyberspace, where they 

explore ideas and discover new information. 

Also, because there is no race, gender or disability online, the Internet is the one 

place where our children can be judged by the quality of their ideas, rather than their 

physical attributes.
82

What Tech Tools Are Out There? 

Blocking, filtering and monitoring...when you need a little help 

There are many tools available to help parents control and monitor where their 

children surf online. Some even help regulate how much time a child spends playing 

computer games, or prevent their accessing the Internet during certain preset times. 

I've listed the type of protections that are available. But, most of the popular brands 

now offer all of these features, so you don't have to choose. Recently, given parents' 

concerns about strangers communicating with their children online, monitoring software 

has gained in popularity. Although it might have its place in protecting a troubled child, it 

feels more like “spyware” than child protection. But it's ultimately your choice as a 

parent. The newest trend is to use products supplied by your ISP called parental controls. 

AOL's parental controls were the first of these to be developed and used. MSN 8.0 

launched the first set of parental controls for MSN. To read more about the various 

products and services we have reviewed, visit WiredKids.org and WiredSafety.org. 

Blocking Software 

Blocking software is software that uses a “bad site” list. It blocks access to sites on 

that list. They may also have a “good site” list, which prevents your child from accessing 

any site not on that list. Some of the software companies allow you to customize the lists, 

by adding or removing sites from the lists. I recommend you only consider software that 

allows you to customize the list, and lets you know which sites are on the lists. 

Filtering 

Filtering software uses certain keywords to block sites or sections of sites on-the-fly. 

Since there is no way any product can keep up with all the sites online, this can help 

block all the sites which haven't yet been reviewed. The software blocks sites containing 

these keywords, alone or in context with other keywords. 

Some companies allow you to select certain types of sites to block, such as those 

relating to sex, drugs or hate. This feature engages special lists of keywords that match 

that category. As with the “bad site” lists, the lists of keywords used by the filtering 

software should be customizable by the parent, and every parent should be able to see 

which terms are filtered. 

Outgoing Filtering 

No... this doesn't mean your software had a sparkling personality :-) (that's 

cyberspace talk for “grin” and means you're supposed to smile at my brilliant humor, and 

if you want to learn more about this stuff...you need to read my Ms. Parry's Guide to 

Correct Online Behavior). It means that your child won't be able to share certain personal 

information with others online. Information such as your child's name, address or 

telephone number can be programmed into the software, and every time they try to send 

it to someone online, it merely shows up as “XXXs.” Even with kids who know and 

follow your rules, this is a terrific feature, since sometimes, even the most wellintentioned kids forget the rules. 

Monitoring and Tracking 

Some software allows parents to track where their children go online, how much 

time they spend online, how much time they spend on the computer (such as when they 

are playing games) and even allows parents to control what times of day their children 

can use the computer. This is particularly helpful when both parents are working outside 

of the home, or with working single-parents, who want to make sure their children aren't 

spending all of their time on the computer. Many parents who don't like the thought of 

filtering or blocking, especially with older children and teens, find monitoring and 
83

tracking satisfy their safety concerns. They can know, for sure, whether their children are 

following their rules. 

We particularly recommend using a monitoring software and then forgetting it’s 

installed. Think of it as the security video camera in the corner of the bank. No one views 

the tapes until the bank is robbed. If something bad happens, you can play back the 

monitoring log and see exactly what occurred, and who said what, and in dire situations, 

where your child went to meet an adult offline. We particularly like Spectorsoft.com, 

because their products can monitor all instant messaging platforms, which is key to 

keeping your children safe online. 

Parents have to remember, though, that these tools are not cyber-babysitters. They 

are just another safety tool, like a seat belt or child safety caps. They are not a substitute 

for good parenting. You have to teach your children to be aware and careful in 

cyberspace. Even if you use every technology protection available, unless your children 

know what to expect and how to react when they run into something undesirable online, 

they are at risk. Arming them well means teaching them well. 
84

Your Online Safety “Cheatsheet” 

Some Basic Rules for You to Remember as a Parent . . . 

• Make sure your child doesn't spend all of her time on the computer. People, not 

computers, should be their best friends and companions. 

• Keep the computer in a family room, kitchen or living room, not in your child's 

bedroom. Remember that this tip isn’t very helpful when your children have 

handheld and mobile Internet and text-messaging devices. You can’t make 

them keep their cell phones in a central location. So make sure that the “filter 

between their ears” is working at all times. 

• Learn enough about computers so you can enjoy them together with your kids. 

• Teach them never to meet an online friend offline unless you are with them. 

• Watch your children when they're online and see where they go. 

• Make sure that your children feel comfortable coming to you with questions 

and don't over react if things go wrong. 

• Keep kids out of chat rooms or IRC unless they are monitored. 

• Encourage discussions between you and your child about what they enjoy 

online. 

• Discuss these rules, get your children to agree to adhere to them, and post them 

near the computer as a reminder. 

• Find out what e-mail and instant messaging accounts they have and (while 

agreeing not to spy on them) ask them for their passwords for those accounts. 

• “Google” your children (and yourself) often and set alerts for your child’s 

contact information. The alerts will e-mail you when any of the searched terms 

are spotted online. It’s an early warning system for cyberbullying posts, and 

can help you spot ways in which your child’s personal information may be 

exposed to strangers online. To learn how to “Google” them, visit 

InternetSuperHeroes.org. 

• Teach them what information they can share with others online and what they 

can't (like telephone numbers, address, their full name, cell numbers and 

school). 

• Check your children’s profiles, blogs and any social-networking posts. Socialnetworking websites include myspace.com, facebook.com and xanga.com. (We 

work closely with MySpace and Facebook to help keep their users safer.) 

Social networks, generally, shouldn’t be used by preteens and should be only 

carefully used by teens. Yfly.com is a new teen-only social network that is 

designed from top to bottom to keep teens safer and teach them about more 

responsible behaviors. 

• For those of you with preteens and young teens, read the Safer Social 

Networking guide at WiredSafety.org. 

• Get to know their “online friends” just as you get to know all of their other 

friends. 

• Warn them that people may not be what they seem to be and that people they 

chat with are not their friends, they are just people they chat with. 

• If they insist on meeting their online friend in real life, consider going with 

them. When they think they have found their soul mate, it is unlikely that your 

telling them “no” will make a difference. Offering to go with them keeps them 

safe. 

• Look into the new safer cell phones and cell phone features that give you 

greater control over what your children can access from their phone and how 

can contact them. 
85

Once you understand enough about 

cyberspace and how your children surf the 

Internet, you can set your own rules. These 

are the basic rules, even though you may 

want to add some of your own. 

Some kids like setting the rules out 

clearly in an agreement. Here's one you can 

use, and post near your computer to help 

them remember how to surf safely. (Note 

that while the tips may work for teens, the 

contract is designed for preteens and 

younger.) 

I want to use our computer and the 

Internet. I know that there are certain rules 

about what I should do online. I agree to follow these rules and my parents agree to help 

me follow these rules: 

1. I will not give my name, address, telephone number, school, or my parents' names, 

address, or telephone number, to anyone I meet online. 

2. I understand that some people online pretend to be someone else. Sometimes they 

pretend to be kids, when they're really grown ups. I will tell my parents about people 

I meet online. I will also tell my parents before I answer any e-mails I get from or 

send e-mails to new people I meet online. 

3. I will not buy or order anything online without asking my parents or give out any 

credit card information. 

4. I will not fill out any form online that asks me for any information about myself or 

my family without asking my parents first. 

5. I will not get into arguments or fights online. If someone tries to start an argument or 

fight with me, I won't answer him or her and will tell my parents. 

6. If I see something I do not like or that I know my parents don't want me to see, I will 

click on the “back” button or log off. 

7. If I see people doing things or saying things to other kids online I know they're not 

supposed to do or say, I'll tell my parents. 

8. I won't keep online secrets from my parents. 

9. If someone sends me any pictures or any e-mails using bad language, I will tell my 

parents. 

10. If someone asks me to do something I am not supposed to do, I will tell my parents. 

11. I will not call anyone I met online, in person, unless my parents say it's okay. 

12. I will never meet in person anyone I met online, unless my parents say it's okay. 

13. I will never send anything to anyone I met online, unless my parents say it's okay. 

14. If anyone I met online sends me anything, I will tell my parents. 

15. I will not use something I found online and pretend it's mine. 

16. I won't say bad things about people online, and I will practice good netiquette. 

17. I won't use bad language online. 

18. I know that my parents want to make sure I'm safe online, and I will listen to them 

when they ask me not to do something. 

19. I will help teach my parents more about computers and the Internet. 
86

20. I will practice safe computing, and check for viruses whenever I borrow a disk from 

someone or download something from the Internet. 

21. I won’t post my cell number on my away message, and will check with someone 

before posting something personal about me on my blog or on a networking site. 

22. I will Stop, Block and Tell! If I am harassed online or cyberbullied. 

23. I will Take 5! before reacting to something that upsets me or makes me angry 

online. 

24. I will practice responsible “thinkB4Uclick” rules. (I know I can find out more about 

these things at InterentSuperHeroes.org and StopCyberbullying.org.) 

25. I will learn how to be a good cybercitizen and control the technology, instead of 

being controlled by it. 

_________________________________________________ 

I promise to follow these rules. (signed by the child) 

________________________________________________ 

I promise to help my child follow these rules and not to over react if my child tells me 

about bad things in cyberspace (signed by parent). 
87

From Parry: 

I am asked questions about kids online safety 

at least a hundred times a day. Is the Internet a 

dangerous place? Are there predators out there 

looking to set up a meeting with my child? How 

can we find good and reliable content online? 

How can I supervise my child's surfing when I 

can't even turn on the computer? 

These any other question like these fill my 

inbox daily. (If you have a question of your own, 

visit WiredKids.org or WiredSafety.org and click 

on “Ask Parry.” Here is the one simple answer: 

The single greatest risk our children face in 

connection with the Internet is being denied 

access. We have solutions for every other risk. 

That bears repeating, over and over, especially when we hear about Internet sexual 

predators, hate, sex and violence online. But our children need the Internet for their 

education, careers and their future. 

Happily, most of the risks are easily confined. In each and every case when children 

encounter Internet sexual predators offline, they go willing to the meeting. They may 

think the person is a cute fourteen year old girl or boy, but they know they are meeting 

someone they don't know in real life. That means we can prevent 100% of these crimes. 

Merely teach our children not to meet Internet strangers offline. If they are set on meeting 

that person anyway, go with them. That way, if the person turns out to be a cute fourteen 

year old, you are the hero. And if they aren't, you're an even bigger hero. 

Our WiredKids, WiredTeens and Teenangels programs, in addition to being fun and 

educational sites, are also volunteer programs where children and teens are taught online 

safety and privacy and responsible surfing. They then use these skills to help other 

children and teens learn to surf safely, as well. Talk to your children about what they do 

online (and offline also), and let them know you are there to help if things go wrong. You 

will note that in our safe surfing agreement parents have to promise only one thing...not 

to overreact if their children come to them for help. Earn their trust, and be worthy of it. 

Register your children at WiredKids.org, our children's online safety site, and we will 

make sure they learn what they need to know about enjoying the Internet safely and 

privately. It's not about technology at all...it's about communication and good parenting. 

Remember, we're all in this together! 

Parry 

Parry Aftab, Esq. 

Executive Director 

WiredSafety.org and its family of sites and programs, including Teenangels.org, 

WiredKids.org and CyberLawEnforcement.org 

WiredSafety is a 501c-3 non-profit organization formed under the laws of the State of 

New York. (Its legal name is “Wired Kids, Inc.”) This publication is copyrighted to Parry 

Aftab, Esq. All rights reserved. For permission to duplicate this publication, contact 

parry@aftab.com. 

MR. UPTON. Ms. Collins.

MS. COLLINS. Mr. Chairman and distinguished members of the 

committee, I welcome this opportunity to appear before you to discuss 
88

these issues. Chairman Upton, you have a demonstrated record of 

commitment to child protection. I commend you and your colleagues for 

your leadership initiative. The National Center for Missing and 

Exploited Children joins you in your concern for the safety of the most 

vulnerable members of our society. Let me first provide you with the 

background information. 

We are a not-for-profit corporation mandated by Congress and 

working in partnership with the U.S. Department of Justice as the 

National Resource Center and Clearinghouse on Missing and Exploited 

Children. NCMEC is a true public-private partnership, funded in part by 

Congress and in part by the private sector. 

One of the programs that we operate that I am responsible for is the 

CyberTipline. It is the 9-1-1 of the Internet, which serves as the Nation’s 

clearinghouse for investigative leads and tips regarding crimes against 

children, both online and off. 

The leads are reviewed by the analyst in the Exploited Child Unit of 

NCMEC, who visit the website, examine and evaluate the content, use 

search tools to identify the perpetrators, and provide all of the 

information to the appropriate law enforcement agency. The results: In 8 

years since the Cyber site began, we received over 400,000 leads. We 

average about 1,500 a week at this point. 

Despite our progress, the victimization of children continues and 

there is evidence that it is increasing. The number of reports on online 

enticement of children to the CyberTipline has increased 400 percent 

since 1992. Our records are showing that there is a significant and 

steady increase in the reports of online entities. 

Recently there has been great attention to the Social networking 

websites. While they are used by adults, kids are finding them attractive 

and there have been incidents, as has been mentioned earlier, where 

predators have taken advantage of the information that the kids have 

presented about themselves. And the information they are putting onto 

these networking sites do make them vulnerable. 

At this point we are receiving approximately 250 reports of entities 

each week, and those are just people who know to report to the 

CyberTipline. 

Last month, we hosted a dialogue of social networks sites here in 

Washington, D.C. It was a day-long series of panels, audience 

discussion on the popularity of social networking sites as well as the 

misuse of technology. The panelists included leaders from the 

technology industries, policymakers, law enforcement, child advocacy 

groups. The attendees were able to question representatives from 

MySpace, Facebook, and Xanga, the FBI’s Innocent Images Unit, two 

Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force investigators, age 
89

verification and digital imaging analysis experts, the Internet Education 

Foundation, Net Family News, the Pew Foundation, and two State 

attorneys general. 

It was a vigorous and informative exchange, but what did we learn? 

We learned that social networking sites tapped into the lives of teenagers 

to exploit themselves. We learned that the operator of social networking 

sites don’t want the customers to be endangered by their sites, but state 

they want to remain competitive in the booming market. We have 

learned that more restrictions could cause teens to go somewhere else 

that has fewer restrictions, but have the unintended consequences of 

increasing their chances of being victimized. We have learned that the 

current age verification technology is ineffective for children too young 

to appear in a public record database. We learned the increased 

importance of education messages and engaging teens to become a part 

of their own online safety. We learned they can work together to solve 

this problem with the help of policymakers, law enforcement, and child 

advocacy groups. 

The recent concern about social networking sites has given the 

operators of these sites a clear window of opportunity to take this 

problem seriously and take action to make their sites safer for children. 

NCMEC is encouraged by the steps already taken by some of these sites. 

MySpace has named a new chief security officer, a former Federal 

prosecutor with experience in child exploitation issues. And other sites 

have demonstrated a similar commitment and are in the process of 

changing certain features in the architecture of their sites to make 

children safer. 

These are important first steps, but we strongly encourage the social 

networking companies to continue their progress by working closely 

with the various State attorneys general, law enforcement, and others to 

bring about real change. There is more that can be done and it must be 

done now. 

We need to do a better job, as a Nation, of identifying and addressing 

the greater risk to our children today. We need to help protect children 

through education, open dialogue, and elevated awareness. By working 

with industry leaders, we can expand our outreach, educate parents, 

guardians, and teens and the general public about social network sites 

and ensure safer ways for them to be online. 

MR. UPTON. Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Michelle Collins follows:] 
90

PREPARED STATEMENT OF MICHELLE COLLINS, DIRECTOR, EXPLOITED CHILD UNIT,

NATIONAL CENTER FOR MISSING AND EXPLOITED CHILDREN

Mr. Chairman and distinguished members of the Committee, I welcome this 

opportunity to appear before you to discuss social networking websites and the use of the 

Internet to victimize children. Chairman Upton, you have a demonstrated record of 

commitment to child protection and I commend you and your colleagues for your 

leadership and initiative. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children 

(“NCMEC”) joins you in your concern for the safety of the most vulnerable members of 

our society and thanks you for bringing attention to this serious problem facing 

America’s communities. 

Let me first provide you with some background information about the National 

Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC). NCMEC is a not-for-profit 

corporation, mandated by Congress and working in partnership with the U.S. Department 

of Justice as the national resource center and clearinghouse on missing and exploited 

children. NCMEC is a true public-private partnership, funded in part by Congress and in 

part by the private sector. Our federal funding supports specific operational functions 

mandated by Congress, including a national 24-hour toll-free hotline; a distribution 

system for missing-child photos; a system of case management and technical assistance 

to law enforcement and families; training programs for federal, state and local law 

enforcement; and our programs designed to help stop the sexual exploitation of children. 

These programs include the CyberTipline, the “9-1-1 for the Internet,” which serves 

as the national clearinghouse for investigative leads and tips regarding crimes against 

children on the Internet. The Internet has become a primary tool to victimize children 

today, due to its widespread use and the relative anonymity that it offers child predators. 

Our CyberTipline is operated in partnership with the Federal Bureau of Investigation 

(“FBI”), the Department of Homeland Security’s Bureau of Immigration and Customs 

Enforcement (“ICE”), the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the U.S. Secret Service, the 

U.S. Department of Justice’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section and the Internet 

Crimes Against Children Task Forces, as well as state and local law enforcement. Leads 

are received in seven categories of crimes: 

● possession, manufacture and distribution of child pornography; 

● online enticement of children for sexual acts; 

● child prostitution; 

● child-sex tourism; 

● child sexual molestation (not in the family); 

● unsolicited obscene material sent to a child; and 

● misleading domain names. 

This last category was added as a result of enactment of the PROTECT Act in 2003. 

These leads are reviewed by NCMEC analysts, who visit the reported sites, examine 

and evaluate the content, use search tools to try to identify perpetrators, and provide all 

lead information to the appropriate law enforcement agency. The FBI, ICE and Postal 

Inspection Service have “real time” access to the leads, and all three agencies assign 

agents and analysts to work directly out of NCMEC and review the reports. The results: 

in the 8 years since the CyberTipline began operation, NCMEC has received and 

processed more than 400,000 leads, resulting in hundreds of arrests and successful 

prosecutions. 

However, despite our progress the victimization of children continues and there is 

evidence that it is increasing. The number of reports of online enticement of children to 

the CyberTipline increased 400 percent since 1998. Our records show a significant and 

steady increase in these reports over the years. This upward trend is very disturbing and 

shows the seriousness of this issue. But this is not the only evidence. 
91

It has been established that youth who use the Internet regularly receive sexual 

solicitations over the Internet. However, very few of these sexual solicitations are 

reported to authorities. This clearly demonstrates that children are at risk and that we 

must do more. 

Over the years as technology has evolved so, too, have the methods for victimizing 

children. The Internet has provided a veil of apparent anonymity, enabling predators to 

seek out children, win their confidence and then victimize them. 

As technology evolves, so does the creativity of the predator. Today, we are hearing 

a great deal about new innovations, including the use of webcams, social networking 

websites and Internet access on cell phones. 

These innovations are popular and are utilized by millions of Americans. Yet, as 

with every other new program or service, there are those who would use them 

inappropriately and for unlawful purposes. 

Recently there has been great attention to the social networking websites. While 

they are used by adults, kids are enormously attracted to them, and there have been 

instances in which offenders have taken advantage of the images and information 

displayed to target kids. The unprecedented amount of personal information that teens 

are posting to social networking websites makes them vulnerable to people who want to 

harm them. 

Some of the social networking sites link defined communities of registered users, 

such as students attending a particular college or high school. Others are open to anyone 

over a certain age. These websites permit registered users to create an online profile, 

including photographs, with categories of interest such as music and sports, as well as an 

online journal. They are highly personalized and often extremely detailed. Children 

consider this to be an easy way to connect with friends, find new friends and share their 

thoughts and feelings. The teenage years are a time of personal exploration. This is only 

natural. However, the new form of social interaction is over the Internet, exposing 

children to, literally, a world of potential danger. 

Child predators consider these sites to be an easy way to find child victims. They 

can use the information posted by children to forge a ‘cyber-relationship’ that can lead to 

that child being victimized. The number of reports to our CyberTipline involving social 

networking sites has increased. In recent years, many kids were using their email profiles 

and chat rooms in a similar fashion to share their hobbies and interests and make 

“friends.” However, those forums didn’t have nearly the same implications as the social 

networking sites, with their enormous universe of users. 

Last month, NCMEC hosted a Dialogue on Social Networking Sites here in 

Washington, D.C. It was a day-long series of panelist-audience discussions on the 

popularity and misuse of this technology and ways to help keep children safer while 

using them. The panelists included leaders from the technology industry, policy makers, 

law enforcement, academia and children’s advocacy groups. The attendees questioned 

representatives from the social networking sites Myspace, Facebook, and Xanga, the 

FBI’s Innocent Images Unit, two Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force 

investigators, age verification and digital imaging analysis experts, the Internet Education 

Foundation, Net Family News, the Pew Foundation and two state attorneys general. 

It was a vigorous and informative exchange. 

What did we learn? 

We learned that social networking sites tap directly into the needs of teenagers to 

define themselves, explore their own creativity and reach out to their peers. We learned 

that operators of social networking site don’t want their customers to be endangered by 

their sites but at the same time want to remain competitive in this booming market. We 

learned that more restrictions will cause teens to go somewhere else that has fewer 

restrictions, with the unintended consequence of increasing their chances of being 

victimized. We learned that the current age verification technology is ineffective for 
92

children too young to appear in public records databases. We learned the increased 

importance of education messages, and engaging teens to become a part of their own 

online safety. 

We learned that the industry’s brightest minds that created this technology in the 

first place can work together to solve this problem, with the help of policy makers, law 

enforcement and children’s advocacy groups. 

The recent concern about social networking sites has given the operators of these 

sites a clear window of opportunity to take this problem seriously and take action to make 

their sites safer for children. NCMEC is encouraged by the steps already taken by some 

of these sites. Myspace has named a new Chief Security Officer, a former federal 

prosecutor with experience in child exploitation issues. Other sites have demonstrated a 

similar commitment, and are in the process of changing certain features on their sites that 

help make children less vulnerable. 

These are important first steps, but we strongly urge them to continue their progress 

by working closely with the various state Attorneys General, law enforcement and others 

to bring about real change. There is more that can be done and the time to do it is now. 

We need to do a better job as a nation of identifying and addressing the greatest risks 

to our children today. We need to help protect children through education, open dialogue 

and elevated awareness. By working with industry leaders we can expand our outreach 

and educate parents, guardians, teens and the general public about this recent technology 

and ways to ensure safer experiences online. 

Thank you. 

MR. UPTON. Mr. Davis. 

MR. DAVIS. Thank you, Chairman Upton and Members of the 

Subcommittee, for this opportunity to testify on Deleting the Online 

Predators Act of 2006. I have to tell you, I have already learned a lot this 

morning just from the testimony I have heard so far. 

My name is Ted Davis, and I am an Information Technology 

Director with the Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia. FCPS is 

the 14th largest school district in the United States, with over 163,000 

students at 228 schools. FCPS has long since recognized the promise of 

the Internet as an educational resource as well as its perils. Thus in 1997, 

I was tasked with leading the effort to develop our Internet use policy 

and to implement filtering technology. 

FCPS supports the goals of the legislation but opposes the legislation 

in its current form. As I will elaborate, public schools are addressing the 

dangers of online predators. Legislation would not substantially improve 

the safety of our students and would place an added burden on schools. 

Based on input gathered from nearly 800 educators, we recognize 

that technology alone could not address our shared concerns for the 

safety of our students. Thus in 1998, the Fairfax County School Board 

adopted a policy that emphasized education, classroom management, 

personal responsibility, as well as technology. 

Two years prior to the Children’s Internet Protection Act of 2000, 

FCPS implemented a filtering technology now known as Symantec Web 

Security. FCPS filters Web content that is obscene, harmful to juveniles, 
93

child pornography, and promotes illegal activities. Today all 90,000-plus 

of our computers are filtered for such consent. 

SWS enables school districts to select from a wide range of 

categories of inappropriate materials for filtering, such as sex, crime, 

violence, intolerance, and interactive chat. So the districts may select 

materials to be blocked based on their policies. 

As you know, the Internet is constantly changing. Thus, filtering 

vendors like Symantec continually update their lists of inappropriate 

websites in these categories. Filtering vendors use a combination of 

technology and human review to identify and classify inappropriate 

websites. 

Furthermore, SWS provides school districts to block or unblock 

additional sites in accordance with the needs of the school system. FCPS 

put into place a process and guidelines for identifying and evaluating 

websites for possible filtering. Social sites like MySpace fail under this 

process. In the case of MySpace, FCPS began blocking this site last 

November. The same is true for many sites that predated MySpace.com. 

A neighboring school district took similar action. 

As you might expect, there will always be some determined students 

that seek to bypass technology protection measures. These students are 

subject to policy enforcement. Each school year, FCPS students are 

required to sign our acceptable use policy which outlines appropriate and 

inappropriate use of computers and the Internet. Failure to comply with 

this policy results in disciplinary action. 

Fortunately, this is not a significant problem. In this past school 

year, 578 students were disciplined for violating our acceptable use 

policy. This represents 0.3 percent of our student population. One 

strategy for deterring AUP infractions is through good classroom 

management. That is how teachers make use of their Internet in their 

classrooms: arranging computers so that screens are visible to a teacher, 

preselecting websites for instruction, walking the classroom, and 

interacting with students as they use the Web. 

The teachers are trained to use these practices, to work them into 

their routine. Technology measures, policy enforcement, and classroom 

management are good strategies for preventing access to inappropriate 

materials in school, but they do not sufficiently prepare our students to 

deal with potential dangers outside of school, at home, a friend’s house, a 

coffee shop or even when they become adults. We know that our 

students will need to deal with many dangers, not only sexual predators 

but also identity thieves, scams, phishing scams, viruses, deceptive 

advertising, and misinformation. 

Education is the key to preparing our students to deal with these 

dangers. 
94

That is why FCPS began at the earliest age to teach students how to 

take advantage of the Internet and to deal with its dangers. We teach 

them not to give out personal information, that people may not be who 

they say they are, and never agree to meet someone via the Internet. To 

make our point, we also partner with the Fairfax County Police who can 

speak to our students of these dangers from real experience. 

Parents are also key to protecting and educating their children. To 

help parents, we conduct senior safety nights to educate them on the 

benefits and dangers. We teach parents to get involved in their 

children’s Internet use at an early age, to set rules on Internet use, and to 

place computers in the common areas of the home. We also reach out to 

businesses and parents via brochures and videos. 

The strategies I described, taken together, have been effective in 

FCPS for many years now. These are not the direct result of State or 

Federal legislation; rather, they are the result of the close relationship our 

schools enjoy with our students, parents, and community and our shared 

passion to provide a safe learning experience. 

Nevertheless, since the passage of the Children’s Protection Act 

6 years ago, these strategies are now commonplace in schools throughout 

the country. 

The proposed legislation, though an extension of similar provisions 

in effect today, does not lend itself to a technical solution. It would 

require that schools block commercial social networking sites that may 

easily be misused to perpetrate inappropriate contact with students. 

Unlike current restrictions against obscene materials that can be 

objectively identified, this legislation requires schools to subjectively 

protect which sites may be misused. Identifying and evaluating such 

sites would not take advantage of the technical capabilities of filtering 

vendors and likely lead to blocking of legitimate instructional cites. 

Thus this burden would fall back on to the schools. 

More could be done, of course. You could help protect our students 

by pursuing those individuals who would do harm to our children. And 

you can help us educate and prepare our students to be safe citizens of 

the Internet. To these ends you could support law enforcement activities 

that seek to apprehend perpetrators before they harm a child. 

I like the concept of the CyberTipline. You can facilitate 

collaboration between law enforcement agency, filtering vendors, and 

schools to share information on websites used to commit crimes, such as 

that proposed by the Federal Trade Commission, and you can foster an 

information campaign to reach parents and students on how to face the 

dangers on the Internet. A novel approach here would be to require 

social networking sites to commit some of their prominent advertising 
95

space to public service announcements. That way, those who profit from 

these sites will bear some of those costs. 

Thank you again for this opportunity to speak before the committee. 

I welcome your questions. 

[The prepared statement of Ted Davis follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF TED DAVIS, DIRECTOR, KNOWLEDGE ASSET MANAGEMENT, IT

DEPARTMENT, FAIRFAX COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Background: 

• Ted Davis is an information technology director at Fairfax County Public Schools 

(FCPS) that led the development of the FCPS Internet use policy and filtering 

technology implementation. 

• FCPS is the 14th largest public school district in the United States. 

• FCPS supports the goals of the legislation, but opposes the legislation as written. 

Protecting students on the Internet at FCPS: 

• Internet use policy emphasizes education, classroom management, personal 

responsibility, as well as technology. 

• Implemented the Symantec Web Security (SWS) product in 1998. 

• Filters content based on pre-selected SWS categories. 

• Established a process for filtering additional web sites. 

• Began blocking MySpace.com in November, 2005. 

• Enforces an Acceptable Use Policy to deter inappropriate behaviors. 

• Performs classroom management activities to mitigate infractions of its 

policies. 

• Technology measures, policy enforcement, and classroom management do not 

prevent inappropriate behaviors outside of the school. 

• Education of students and parents is key to preparing children to deal with 

dangers on the Internet. 

Legislation: 

• The proposal to block social networking sites that “may easily be” misused 

does not lend itself to a technical solution. 

• Identifying sites that may be misused is subjective and would place an added 

burden on schools. 

• The Subcommittee could help schools by: 

∗ Supporting law enforcement in identifying and apprehending 

predators. 

∗ Facilitating collaboration between law enforcement agencies, 

filtering vendors, and schools in identifying web sites used to commit 

crimes. 

∗ Fostering an information campaign to reach parents and students on 

how to face dangers on the Internet. 

Thank you Chairman Upton and members of the Subcommittee for this opportunity 

to testify on the Deleting Online Predators Act of 2006. 

My name is Ted Davis and I am an information technology director with Fairfax 

County Public Schools (FCPS) in Virginia. FCPS is the 14th largest public school district 

in the United States with over 163,000 students at 228 schools. FCPS long ago 
96

recognized the promise of the Internet as an educational resource, as well as its perils. 

Thus, in 1997, I was tasked with leading the effort to develop our Internet use policy and 

to implement filtering technology. FCPS supports the goals of the proposed legislation, 

but opposes the legislation in its current form. As I will elaborate, public schools are 

addressing the dangers of online predators, the legislation would not substantially 

improve the safety of our students, and it will place an added burden on schools. 

Based on input gathered from nearly 800 educators, students, parents, and 

community members, we recognized that technology alone could not address our shared 

concerns for the safety of our students. Thus in 1998 the Fairfax County School Board 

adopted a policy that emphasized education, classroom management, personal 

responsibility, as well as technology. 

Two years prior to the Children's Internet Protection Act of 2000, FCPS 

implemented a filtering technology now known as Symantec Web Security (SWS). FCPS 

filters web content that is obscene, harmful to juveniles, child pornography, and promotes 

illegal activities. Today, all 90,000+ of our computers are filtered for such content. 

SWS enables school districts to select from a wide range of categories of 

inappropriate materials for filtering, such as sex, crime, violence, intolerance, and 

interactive chat, so that districts may select materials to be blocked based on their 

policies. As you know, the Internet is constantly changing, thus filtering vendors, like 

Symantec, continually update their lists of inappropriate web sites in these categories. 

Filtering vendors use a combination of technology and human review to identify and 

classify inappropriate web sites. 

Furthermore, SWS provides school districts the ability to block (or unblock) 

additional sites in accordance with the needs of the school system. FCPS put into place a 

process and guidelines for identifying and evaluating web sites for possible filtering. 

Social sites, like MySpace.com, fell under this process. In the case of MySpace.com, 

FCPS began blocking this site last November. The same is true for many sites that 

preceded the popularity of MySpace.com. Neighboring school districts took similar 

actions—much to the relief of parents and dismay of students. 

As you might expect, there will always be some determined students that seek to 

bypass technology protection measures—these students are subject to policy 

enforcement. Each school year FCPS students and their parents are required to sign our 

Acceptable Use Policy, which outlines appropriate and inappropriate uses of computers 

and the Internet. Failure to comply with this policy results in disciplinary action. 

Fortunately, this is not a significant problem. In this past school year 578 students were 

disciplined for violating our Acceptable Use Policy—representing 0.3% of our student 

population. 

One strategy for deterring AUP infractions is through good classroom management. 

That is how teachers make use of the Internet in their classrooms. This includes 

approaches such as arranging computers so that screens are visible to the teacher, preselecting web sites for instruction, walking the classroom, and interacting with students 

as they use the web. FCPS teachers are trained to work these practices into their 

technology routine. 

Technology measures, policy enforcement, and classroom management are good 

strategies for preventing access to inappropriate materials in school, but they do not 

sufficiently prepare our students to deal with potential dangers outside of school—at 

home, a friend's house, a coffee shop—or even when they become adults. We know that 

our students will need to deal with many dangers—not only sexual predators, but also 

identity thieves, scams, phishing schemes, viruses, deceptive advertising, and 

misinformation. Education is the key to preparing our students to deal with these dangers. 

That is why FCPS begins at the earliest age to teach students how to take advantage 

of the Internet and to deal with its dangers. We teach them not to give out personal 

information, that people may not be who they say they are, and never to agree to meet 
97

someone via the Internet. To make our point, we also partner with the Fairfax County 

Police who can speak to our students of these dangers from real experience. 

Parents are also key to protecting and educating their children. To help parents, we 

conduct cyber safety nights to educate them on the benefits and dangers. We teach 

parents to get involved in their children's Internet use at an early age, to set rules on 

Internet use, and to place computers with Internet access in a common area of their 

homes. We also reach out to busy parents via brochures and videos. 

The strategies I described, taken together, have been effective in FCPS for many 

years now. These strategies are not the direct result of state or federal legislation. Rather, 

they are the result of the close relationship our schools enjoy with our students, parents, 

and community—and our shared passion to provide a safe learning experience that meets 

our students' needs. Nevertheless, since the passage of the Children's Internet Protection 

Act six years ago, these strategies are now commonplace in school districts throughout 

the country. 

The proposed legislation, though an extension of similar provisions in effect today, 

does not lend itself to a technical solution. It would require that schools block 

commercial social networking sites that “may easily be” misused to perpetrate 

inappropriate contact with students. Unlike current restrictions against obscene materials 

that can be objectively identified, this legislation would require schools to subjectively 

predict which sites may be misused. Identifying and evaluating such sites would not take 

advantage of the technical capabilities of filtering vendors and likely lead to blocking of 

legitimate instructional sites. Thus this burden would fall back on to the schools. 

More could be done, of course. You can help protect our students by pursuing those 

individuals who would do harm to our children, and you can help us educate and prepare 

our students to be safe citizens of the Internet. To these ends, you could support law 

enforcement activities that seek to apprehend predators before they harm a child. You can 

facilitate collaboration between law enforcement agencies, filtering vendors, and schools 

to share information on web sites used to commit crimes; and you could foster an 

information campaign to reach parents and students on how to face the dangers on the 

Internet. 

Thank you again for this opportunity to speak before the committee. I welcome your 

questions. 
98
99
100
101

MR. UPTON. Mr. Kelly.

MR. KELLY. Good morning, Chairman Upton, and thank you very 

much for holding this hearing. I want to personally thank my 

Representative, Ms. Eshoo, for her warm welcome, and all committee 

members as well. 
102

My name is Chris Kelley. I serve as Chief Privacy Officer of 

Facebook, a social utility that allows people to share information easily 

with their real world communities. 

I joined Facebook last September as the first Chief Privacy Officer in 

the social neatworking space. In my previous role as a chief privacy 

officer and technology attorney, I represented many clients in the 

technology media industry on safety privacy issues. I was also part of 

the founding team and served as a Fellow at Harvard Law School’s 

Berkman Center for Internet and Society, a leading think tank focused on 

public policy issues of the digital age. 

I am happy to be here today to talk about social networking sites 

generally, and particularly about Facebook. By now you have heard a lot 

of things about the site. You are also going to hear some positive things, 

and I understand a number of you have hopefully experienced some of 

the positives today. 

I would like to begin telling you why teenagers and young adults 

love these sites, and then also about what is special about Facebook and 

especially our approach to online safety. 

Facebook at its core is about community. It is about providing an 

online way for people to communicate with friends and to meet new ones 

who are part of their real world communities. It is about providing 

individuals with avenues for self-expression and creativity. It is about 

providing the community members with easy ways to learn and share 

new ideas. For all of these reasons, Facebook is fun and very popular, 

beginning with college students, and now with high school students and 

validated work communities. 

Although only founded by Mark Zuckerberg, our CEO, in his dorm 

room in February of 2004, modeled after the paper Facebook that is 

given to many students at universities, we now have over 800 million 

users. Facebook is the seventh busiest website in the United States. 

Facebook at its inception recognized the community’s need to feel 

safe in order to thrive. As a result, Mark and our other founders placed 

users’ privacy, security, and safety at the center of Facebook’s mission 

and its architecture. It is a radical difference between sites with 

controlled access based on real world communities and those that make 

massive amounts of personal information available to anyone on the 

open Internet. 

We implement our safety principles at Facebook with four levels of 

user protection. First, we require validation. E-mail is the primary token 

where it is possible for almost all colleges and for about 15 percent of 

high schools. We use invitations where a school-validated e-mail 

address is not available. 
103

Second, we place users in individual networks based on the real 

world school communities and we partition information availability 

within those networks. This provides a built-in neighborhood watch 

program where abuse of the system can be easily identified and dressed. 

So if you are a student at Walt Whitman High School in the Maryland 

suburbs, you only have access to other students at that high school. 

Third, we empower members in our network to make choices about 

how they reveal information. We offer detailed privacy settings and easy 

reporting of the violations of our terms of service. 

Finally, we have a technology and safety net to detect misuse of the 

site and protect our members. We employ technology tools that we 

deploy to detect misuse of the site and human capital dedicated to 

potential problems. We highlight those accounts. We do an automatic 

disband when people exceed a certain threshhold, and we examine that 

member’s account to see if they are potentially harming other people on 

the site. 

As a result of these important privacy, security, and safety features, 

we have very rarely encountered the same unfortunate problems that 

other social networking sites have been having. Facebook employs these 

because we recognize there is always a potential for bad actors in any 

online community, just as in the real world. 

We have vigorously sought to support the construction of safe online 

communities both through our technology tools and other educational 

developers. More specifically, Facebook supports the educational law 

enforcement efforts of the Federal Trade Commission. We have been 

engaged in a dialogue with the National Southern Office of Attorneys 

General with best practices for social networking sites. WiredSafety.org 

and I have worked with Parry for quite a number of years, and parents 

everywhere, because they are ultimately the first line of defense. 

We also support the efforts of all companies in the social networking 

industry to make the world safer and more secure for their members. So, 

in short, we think the competition to provide social networkers with safer 

choices is a very good thing, so we commend this committee for its 

efforts and we welcome the opportunity to serve as a community tie to 

you. 

Facebook is proud to have led the way in giving the people an ability 

to share and control sharing of information online. With these factors in 

mind, I would like to offer two quick observations about the Deleting of 

Online Predators Act. 

We are very concerned about the vagueness of the “easily access” or 

“may easily be subject to” standards that the Deleting of Online 

Predators Act articulates as a basis for blocking a social networking site. 

We are not certain there is an effective way for us to articulate the 
104

likelihood of such an event, though we do appreciate the attempt to 

distinguish between a distant possibility and a more easily foreseeable 

one. 

As the committee further considers the legislation, it might examine 

the possibility of a safe harbor for sites deploying reasonably effective 

measures to limit general availability of profiles or adult-child interaction 

through the site. We found that deploying technical tools allowing 

validation and segmentation of communities effectively limit adult-child 

interaction. 

Second, I would stress that any congressional action should 

encourage the deployment of technology to protect children and be very 

conscious of avoiding discouragement of the pro aspects of the online 

site. There is a reason that children and young adults make these sites 

major parts of their day: the natural desire of all people to express 

themselves and share information with friends. It is why a number of 

you went into politics. 

I would encourage you to discuss Facebook with your staffers and 

interns who are students or recent graduates and let them articulate the 

sites and the benefits of the sites that it gives to their users. Thank you 

for the opportunity to comment before the committee, and I look forward 

to the discussion. 

[The prepared statement of Chris Kelly follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF CHRIS KELLY, VICE PRESIDENT, CORPORATE DEVELOPMENT AND 

CHIEF PRIVACY OFFICER, FACEBOOK

Thank you Chairman Upton, ranking member Markey, and members of the 

Subcommittee for this opportunity to be with you and explain how Facebook uses 

technology and policy to protect people on our network. 

My name is Chris Kelly, and I serve as Chief Privacy Officer of Facebook, a social 

utility that allows people to share information with their real world communities. I am 

very happy to be here today to explain how the two core ideas of social interaction and 

privacy guide everything that we do, and help protect people on our network. As we say 

in our basic statement of principles, we believe that people want to share information 

with their friends and those around them, but they don’t necessarily want to share 

personal information with the entire world. 

I joined Facebook last September as the first Chief Privacy Officer in the social 

networking space, and am creating the role at an Internet company for the fourth time. In 

my previous service as a Chief Privacy Officer and technology attorney I have 

represented many clients in the technology and media industries on privacy, security, 

safety, and intellectual property issues. I was also part of the founding team and served 

as a Fellow at Harvard Law School’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society, a leading 

think tank focused on public policy issues of the digital age. 

In February of 2004, our CEO and Founder Mark Zuckerberg launched the first 

version of Facebook from his college dorm room. Now, Facebook is the seventh busiest 

site overall and runs the busiest photo site in the United States, according to independent 

service ComScore Networks. We have more than 8 million registered members for 

whom Facebook has become a core part of how they interact within their communities. 
105

Starting with our college communities, we have since expanded to offer school-focused 

interactions for high-school students, and more recently have followed our graduating 

students into the work world. 

Privacy, security, and safety have been at the forefront of our concerns since the 

founding of the site. There is one overarching way that Facebook differs from nearly all 

other social networking sites – profile information is not generally available to the 

outside world. It is only available to Facebook members inside their individual, validated 

networks or through confirmed friends. We want to give people extensive power over 

their ability to share information, and the ability to limit who has access to it. 

Of course, no protection mechanism is perfect. But the mere fact that Facebook 

does not make information available by default to anyone with access to the Internet, 

combined with the other measures we have taken to focus information sharing on realworld communities, makes a radical difference in the privacy, security, and safety of the 

Facebook experience. 

Following this major differentiator from most sites, we have set up four levels of 

protection for our members that I would like to outline for you today. 

First, we require validation in order to get on the site in the first place. For college 

students, and those high schools where it is possible, membership in the school 

community is proven through a valid email associated with that college or school. Where 

high schools do not offer students email addresses, we have instituted an invitation-based 

system that is designed to limit even initial access to that school network. 

Second, we segment information access within networks based on real-world 

communities. Being a member of Facebook does not give you access to the profiles of 

all people on Facebook. You are only allowed to access the profiles of other members at 

your college, high school, work, or (with explicit user choice) geographic network, and 

have power to add confirmed friends in other networks. This has two positive effects. 

First, users are gaining more information about those around them in the real world, 

which has pro-social effects on campuses around the country. Second, there is a built-in 

neighborhood watch program, especially with respect to high schools, where abuse of the 

system can be easily identified and addressed. 

Third, we put power in our users’ hands to make choices about how they reveal 

information. I have mentioned already the ability to confirm friends from other 

networks, and the “My Privacy” tab on every navigation bar throughout the site allows 

users to make detailed choices about who can see particular pieces of information about 

them, including their contact information and photos. 

Finally, we have a safety net of protection through both technological tools we 

deploy to detect misuse of the site and human capital dedicated to potential problems -- 

our 20 person and growing customer service staff, headed by a seasoned veteran and 

backed up by myself and two other attorneys. Most of our customer service 

representatives are recent graduates of outstanding colleges, and dedicated Facebook 

users, so they know the system inside and out. On those rare occasions where someone 

has attempted to misuse our network, we engage rapidly with the relevant authorities. 

Because the system is built for accountability with its validation requirements and 

segmentation of communities, misuse is both deterred and generally detected quickly. 

We quickly launch an internal investigation and step in where we receive reports of the 

misuse of Facebook in any way. 

Overall, the fact that information posted on Facebook is not generally available has 

made Facebook a different experience for our users, and one they clearly enjoy as 

reflected in their frequent visits. Our intuition about the importance of tying access to 

information based on the networks where people already exist in real life has been shown 

to have huge effect in both deterring and exposing misuse. By focusing on real-world 

networks as the touchstone for access, we provide both a built-in reflection of people’s 
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expectations about who will know information about them, and restrictions that make 

access difficult for those who might have harmful intentions. 

Facebook is proud to have led the way in giving people the ability to share, and to 

control sharing, information online. 

With these factors in mind, I would like to offer two observations. We are very 

concerned about the vagueness of the “easily access” or “may easily be subject to” 

standards that the Deleting Online Predators Act articulates as a basis for blocking a 

social networking site. We are not certain that there is an effective way to articulate 

likelihood of such an event, though we do appreciate the attempt to distinguish between a 

distant possibility and a more easily foreseeable one. As the committee further considers 

the legislation, it might examine the possibility of a “safe harbor” for sites deploying 

reasonably effective measures to limit general availability of profiles or adult-child 

interaction through the site. We have found that deploying technological tools allowing 

validation and segmentation of communities effectively limit adult-child interaction. 

Second, I would stress that any Congressional action should encourage the 

deployment of technology to protect children and be very conscious of avoiding 

discouragement of the pro-social aspects of online sites. There is a reason that children 

and young adults make these sites major parts of their day – the natural desire of all 

people to express themselves and share information with friends. I would encourage you 

to discuss Facebook with your staffers and interns who are students or recent college 

graduates and let them articulate the benefits that the site delivers to its more than 8 

million users. 

Thank you again for the opportunity to comment before the committee, and I look 

forward to your questions. 

Welcome to Facebook. Welcome to Facebook.
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What is Facebook? What is Facebook?

Facebook is a social utility that allows people to share 

information with their real world community

What is important to us:

– User Control: people should have control over their information

– Authenticity: ability to interact with others as themselves

– Accessibility: Facebook is becoming part of peoples’ daily lives

Mission:

Provide people with the information that matters to them 

most

How does it work? How does it work?

 Users are required to validate identity

– College: school issued .edu email address

– High School: school issued email address or invited by validated member

– Work Networks: company or organization issued .com/.net/.org

 Users join a primary community

– College, high school, company or organization

– Profile views are by default restricted to those within validated 

communities

– Facebook Groups & Events provide additional affinities

 Facebook is a core part of millions of young peoples’ lives

– Authentication and connection with real world community leads to deeper 

bonds and trust
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Four Levels of Protection Four Levels of Protection

 Initial Authentication:

– Restriction to validated email addresses/invitation system means

reasonable confirmation of membership in particular communities and 

connection to real identity

– Retains social norms and fosters sense of accountability, deterring misuse

 Segmented Communities 

– Requirement of validation in communities means high school users

(especially) can easily identify who doesn’t belong

– Built-in Neighborhood Watch

 Innovative Privacy Controls & Technical Protections

– Users have extensive power to decide who can see their profile

 Outstanding Customer Service Staff and Cooperation with Law 

Enforcement

– 20+ experts on the site (recent college graduates) headed by the former 

worldwide director of customer support for Palm Computing

– Specialized investigations staff within Customer Service

– CPO and General Counsel work directly with law enforcement on rare 

problems

MR. UPTON. Ms. Lenhart.

MS. LENHART. Chairman Upton and honorable members of the 

Subcommittee, it is a privilege for the Pew Internet and American Life 

Project to be asked to testify at this important hearing. 

The project is a nonprofit organization created to examine the social 

impact of the Internet, with grants from the Pew charitable trust. We at 

the Pew Internet Project do not take positions on policy questions. Still, 

we try to do primary research about the impact of people’s Internet use 

that would be helpful to policymakers and other stakeholders. 

We have been doing research for 7 years about how teenagers use 

the Internet and how families are addressing challenges related to new 

technologies. Our national surveys show that fully 87 percent of 

Americans between the ages of 12 and 17 go online. Of those that do not 

currently go online, about half have had some previous Internet 

experience, which means that in all, 93 percent of American youth have 

used the Internet at some point. 

Their parents use the Internet in large numbers as well; 87 percent of 

parents with online teens between the ages of 12 and 17 use the Internet 

compared with 73 percent of all American adults who go online. Our 

research shows that while parents believe that the Internet can bring both 

positive opportunity and potential threats into their homes, their overall 

judgment is that the Internet is a good thing for their children; 67 percent 
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of parents with online teens report this, and their optimism has grown 

markedly since we first asked the question in year 2000. 

This hearing is particularly focused on the role that social 

networking sites play in teenagers’ lives. But it is important to point out 

the social interaction that takes place online has been an integral, if not 

an important, part in the Internet experience since the first e-mail was 

transmitted in 1971. 

There are websites where individuals can post information about 

themselves by creating a profile or website where they can connect with 

others in the same network. This definition encompasses online dating 

sites, collaborative software spaces, as well as popular social networking 

sites like Xanga and Live Journal and places like MySpace, Facebook, 

and MyYearbook which are based around the creation of a personal 

profile. 

Social networking sites are not the same as chat rooms, though some 

of these sites do have discussion forums where live chat can take place. 

The vast majority of communication in online social networks takes 

place asynchronously and within the network of friends that the user has 

established. 

Other research has recently documented the popularity of social 

networking sites among teens. A March 2006 survey of 1,160 online 

teenagers between the ages of 13 and 17 found that 61 percent of teens 

have personal profiles on sites like MySpace, Friendster, or Xanga, and 

about half of them have posted photos of themselves somewhere online. 

Teenager use of these networks dwarfs that of adults. A Pew 

Internet Project survey conducted in September of 2005 found that just 

16 percent of young adults between the ages of 18 and 29 had used an 

online social or professional networking site. Older users are even less 

likely to use the sites. 

There are two primary functions of social networking sites that are 

appealing to teens: 

First, the sites enable the user to create sites and share content with 

others. 

Second, the sites enable users to communicate with others using a 

wide array of messaging, blogging, and posting tools. 

Our surveys of teens show that 57 percent of online teens have 

created some kind of concept for the Internet. This includes blogs, 

creating websites, posting photos, written material, videos, songs, or 

other artwork. Much of this content, when posted on social networking 

sites, is expressive of their view of the world, which can be angry, 

angst-ridden, or full of idealism. In other words, this is a terrain where 

teens display their moods in acting out their vision of themselves, 
110

sometimes doing it in ways that ignore or downplay risks to their privacy 

and safety. 

Psychologist Erik Erikson argues that most of the work of being an 

adolescent involves youths’ testing as they establish their place in the 

world. The online environment is for this. It is easy to create materials 

online and then change it. It enables feedback from peers, the most 

compelling group of people in teens’ lives. 

The Internet and social networking sites are the latest iteration in a 

long line of technologies that have changed the way teenagers 

communicate and socialize, technologies like the car and the telephone. 

The second element of online social networks that contribute to their 

popularity is that they provide another channel to communicate with 

others. The act of developing friendships and romantic relationships is 

also the work of teenagers. And the Internet and its communications 

applications allow them to do this easily. Our data shows that 89 percent 

of teens are e-mail users and 75 percent are instant message users. 

During recent focus groups, we heard from teens that both of these 

methods of communication were being supplanted in many teens’; lives 

by the communications tools embedded in social networking websites 

such as bulletins, messaging, and commenting. 

While social networks are attractive for all of the information they 

enable, there has been considerable information on the dark side. What 

may seem like harmless disclosure of information, and, in the worst 

cases, allow them to be tracked and targeted, our most recent work 

suggests that growing numbers of teens are aware of these problems and 

are taking steps to address them. 

We have just completed a series of focus groups with middle and 

high schools, that safety and social networking sites has become a major 

concern of many, if not most, of the teens we interviewed, particularly 

younger teens and some of the girls. Time and again, these teens 

detailed their concerns about online predators and the steps they took to 

keep themselves safe. Sometimes they feel it is sufficient to hit the 

delete key in response to unwanted messages or requests from strangers. 

Other times teens in our groups said they would post false information on 

their sites to protect themselves. 

They are now more aware of the dangers of posting information on 

their profile that might help lurkers find them. 

But even as they detailed their fears and concerns about perceived 

dangers of these sites, they also talked about how important these sites 

were to them, not just as a place to learn about and share new music, 

video, or photos, but also as a place that helps them develop and 

maintain friendships that they rely on for support. 
111

Looking more closely at safety issues, parents and children also 

agree about some fundamental truths about the online generational 

divide. Both parents and their children agree that parents are generally 

less tech-savvy than their children. 

Still, 54 percent of parents report having some type of filtering or 

monitoring software on the home. Two-thirds of parents also take 

nontechnical steps online by checking on their Web use and placing the 

computer in a public place in the home. In the end, the picture we get is 

that teens and their parents are aware of the double-edged nature of 

technology, and they welcome access to tools and tech needs that help 

them make informed choices about what they do online. 

I thank you for the opportunity to speak to the committee and I look 

forward to answering any questions you may have. 

[The prepared statement of Amanda Lenhart follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF AMANDA LENHART, SENIOR RESEARCH SPECIALIST, PEW 

INTERNET AND AMERICAN LIFE PROJECT

Chairman Upton and honorable members of the Subcommittee, it is a privilege for 

the Pew Internet & American Life Project to be asked to testify at this important hearing. 

The Project is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research center created to examine the social 

impact of the internet with grants from the Pew Charitable Trusts. We at the Pew Internet 

Project do not take positions on policy questions or endorse industry sectors, 

organizations, or individuals. Still, we try to do primary research about the impact of 

people’s internet use that would be helpful to policy makers and other stakeholders as 

they consider ideas to improve technology or mitigate its harms. 

There is pervasive use of the internet among teenagers

We have been doing research for seven years about how teenagers use the internet 

and how families are addressing challenges related to new technologies. Our national 

surveys show that internet use is pervasive among teens and that families are spending 

time trying to work through all the issues that brings into their homes. 

Fully 87% of Americans of middle- and high-school age – those between the ages of 

12 and 17 – go online. Of those that do not currently go online, about half have had some 

previous internet experience, which means that, in all, 93% of American youth have used 

the internet at some point. 

Their parents use the internet in large numbers as well – 87% of parents with teens 

between the ages of 12 and 17 use the internet, compared with 73% of all American 

adults who go online. It is clear that many parents extend themselves financially to buy 

computers and internet access in the belief that mastery of high-tech skills is a 

prerequisite for their children’s future success. 

Weighing the pluses and minuses, parents think the internet is a benefit to their 

children

Indeed, while parents believe that the internet can bring both positive opportunities 

and potential threats into their homes, their overall judgment is that the internet is a good 

thing for their children: 67% of parents with online teens report this, and their optimism 

has grown markedly since we first asked the question in the year 2000. 

This hearing is particularly focused on the role social networking websites such as 

MySpace.com and Facebook.com play in teenagers’ lives. But it is important to point out 
112

that social interaction takes place in a wide variety of contexts online and has been an 

integral part – if not the most compelling part – of internet experience since the first 

email was transmitted in 1971. 

Online social networks are popular among teenagers

Our working definition of online social networks is broad. They are “web spaces 

where individuals can post information about themselves, usually by creating a profile or 

website, and where they can connect with others in the same network.” This definition 

encompasses online dating sites, some instant messaging tools, collaborative software 

spaces, as well as popular social networking web sites like Xanga and Live Journal, 

which are built mainly around connecting friends via their blogs, and places like 

MySpace, Facebook, Tagged.com, and MyYearbook. 

Social networking sites are not the same as chatrooms, though some of these sites do 

have discussion forums where live chat can take place. The vast majority of 

communication in online social networks takes place asynchronously and within the 

network of “friends” that the user has established. 

Other research has recently documented the popularity of social networking sites 

among teens. A March 2006 survey of 1,160 online teenagers between the ages of 13 and 

17 found that 61% of teens have personal profiles on sites like MySpace, Friendster or 

Xanga, and about half of them have posted pictures of themselves somewhere online.1

 

Teenagers’ use of these networks appears to dwarf that of adults. A Pew Internet 

Project survey conducted in September 2005 found that just 16% of young adult internet 

users between the ages of 18-29 had used an online social or professional networking 

site. Older users are even less likely to use the sites. 

Social network sites are popular because they enable new expression and activities that 

appeal to teenagers

There are two primary functions of social networking sites that are especially 

appealing to teens: 

• First, the sites enable users to create and share content with others -- generally, 

this is content that is expressive of users’ identities. 

• Second, the sites enable users to communicate with others using a wide array of 

messaging, blogging and posting tools. 

New online tools help teens explore their identities

Our surveys of teens show that 57% of online teens have created some kind of 

content for the internet. This includes blogging, creating websites, posting photos, written 

material, videos, songs, or other artwork. Teens also remix content they find online into 

something new and share that online with others. Much of this content when posted on 

social networking or other websites is expressive of their view of the world – a view that 

can be playful, angry, riveting, revolting, angst-ridden, hilarious, or full of idealism. In 

other words, this is a terrain where teens display their moods and act out their vision of 

themselves – sometimes doing it in ways that ignore or downplay risks to their privacy 

and safety

Psychologist Erik Erikson argues that much of the “work” of being an adolescent 

involves youths’ testing of their identities as they establish their place in the world. The 

online environment offers many opportunities to do this type of developmental “work.” 

It’s easy to create material and change it when the mood strikes. Most importantly, it 

enables feedback from peers – the group about which teens are most keenly interested. 

 

1

 See the press release from Cox Communications and link to full results here: 

http://www.cox.com/takecharge/survey_results.asp 
113

The internet and social networking sites are the latest iteration in a long line of 

technologies that have changed the way teenagers communicate and socialize. As 

historian Beth L. Bailey notes in her book, From Front Porch to Back Seat, the invention 

of the automobile, which brought youth radically new levels of mobility and privacy in 

the early 20th Century, is often credited as the technological catalyst that spurred a new 

and controversial social practice among young men and women called “dating.”2

 

Staying in touch with peers is a big draw

The second element of online social networks that contributes to their popularity is 

that they provide another channel for teens to communicate with others, especially with 

those who are connected through a visible web. The act of developing friendships and 

romantic relationships is also the “work” of teenagers, and the internet and its 

communications applications allow them to do this. 

 Our data show that 89% of teens are email users and 75% are instant message users. 

During recent focus groups, we heard from teens that both of these methods of 

communication were being supplanted in many teens’ lives by the communications tools 

embedded in social networking websites -- such as “bulletins,” messaging, and 

commenting. 

Teens, especially younger youth and girls, are developing new awareness about the 

risks of some disclosures on social network sites

While social network sites are attractive for all the content and communication they 

enable, there has been considerable public attention focused on the dark side of all this 

public disclosure by teenagers. What may seem like harmless disclosures of information 

can sometimes compromise teens’ privacy and, in the worst cases, allow them to be 

tracked and targeted. 

Our most recent work suggests that growing numbers of teens are aware of these 

problems and are taking steps to address them. We have just completed a series of focus 

groups with middle and high school students and it was striking to note that safety on 

social networking sites has become a major concern of many if not most teens we 

interviewed, particularly younger teens and girls. 

Time and again, these teens detailed their concerns about online predators and the 

steps they took to keep themselves safe. Sometimes they feel it is sufficient to hit the 

delete key in response to unwanted messages or requests from strangers. Other times, the 

teens in our groups said they would post false ages on their sites. Often, they would say 

they were younger than they actually were because privacy protections at some social 

network sites are stronger for younger users. Finally, these teens told us that they are 

more aware now of the dangers of posting information in their profiles that might help 

lurkers find them. 

Even as they detailed their fears and concerns about the perceived dangers of these 

sites, they also talked about how important these sites were to them – not just as place to 

learn about and share new music, video, or photos, but also as a place that helps them 

develop and maintain friendships that they rely on for support. 

Parents and children agree there is a generational divide in many households

Looking more closely at safety issues, parents and children also agree about some of 

the fundamental truths that characterize the online generational divide. Both parents and 

 

2

 Bailey discusses the shift from the old practice of “calling” whereby a male suitor would arrive at 

the house of a young woman “expecting to be received in her family’s parlor, to talk, to meet her 

mother, perhaps to have some refreshments or to listen to her play the piano” to the new practice of 

“dating” whereby the young woman would expect to be “taken ‘out’ somewhere and entertained.” 

See p. 13 for this reference and p.19 for a discussion of the automobile’s influence in this transition.
114

their children agree that parents are generally less tech savvy than their children. In 

addition: 

• 81% of parents and 79% of teens agree that children are not as careful as they 

should be about the information they give out online 

• 62% of parents with online teens and 62% of online teens agree that children do 

things online that they wouldn’t want their parents to know about. 

Many parents try to take steps to safeguard their children

Still, 54% of parents report having some type of filtering or monitoring software 

installed on a computer in the home. Two thirds of parents also take non-technical steps 

to protect their children online, by checking up on their web use, setting rules and time 

limits and placing the computer in a public place in the home. 

In the end, the picture we get is that teens and their parents are aware of the doubleedged nature of technology, and they welcome access to tools and techniques that help 

them make informed choices about what they do online. 

Thanks again for the opportunity to speak to the committee today and I look forward 

to answering any questions you may have. 
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MR. UPTON. Ms. Yoke.

MS. YOKE. I would like to ask your permission to insert this 

document into the record. 

MR. UPTON. Without objection. 
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[The Information follows:] 
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125

MS. YOKE. Chairman Upton and members of the subcommittee, 

thank you for inviting me to testify on behalf of the American Library 

Association. I sincerely appreciate the chance to comment on the 

Deleting of Online Predators Act. 

My name is Beth Yoke, and I am Executive Director of the Young 

Adult Library Association, the division in ALA that strives to ensure the 

Nation’s teens have access to excellent library service and resources. 
126

Before taking this position with ALA, I was a young adult librarian and 

instructor of future school instructors in Fairmont, West Virginia. 

I would like to summarize our main points. But first let me say that 

no one is more concerned with the safety of children online than 

librarians, especially youth librarians, media specialists like those with 

whom I work. Librarians believe, and, more importantly, know from 

experience that education about safe Internet practices for both youth and 

parents is the best way to protect young people. 

With that in mind, let me go through our key points. 

First, the technology used in DOPA is overly broad. DOPA uses the 

term “social networking sites” to describe virtually all interactive Web 

applications in which users converse or interact with each other. As 

written, it would block access to many valuable websites that utilize this 

type of communication, websites whose benefits far outweigh their 

detriments. 

Second, DOPA ignores the value of interactive Web applications. 

New Internet Web applications for collaboration, business and learning 

are becoming increasingly important, and young people must be prepared 

to thrive in a work atmosphere with meetings that take place online and 

online networks are essential communications tools. 

A number of businesses are increasingly leaning to the use of 

interactive Web applications as a primary mode of business 

communication. This is exactly what kids must be ready for: a 

professional environment where only the Web-savvy thrive. 

Finally, one example that wasn’t included in my written testimony. 

A young adult with whom I recently spoke told me, quote, “My dad is a 

truck driver. And before social networking sites existed, it was hard for 

him to feel connected with our family when he was away. If the library 

blocks social networking sites, I will no longer be able to have live chats 

with him by computer, to share photos with him, or share moments 

across the country.” No doubt thousands of other teens have equally 

compelling stories to tell. 

Third, education, not laws blocking access to social networking 

access is the key to safe use of the Internet. Librarians and schools-- 

MR. UPTON. We will freeze the clock. We will let you finish. 

MS. YOKE. Libraries and schools are where kids learn education. 

Legislation like DOPA sends the wrong message at the wrong time. 

MR. UPTON. It means we could have a series of votes but it is likely 

we are going to have one. Go ahead. 

MS. YOKE. Instead of allowing librarians and teachers to instruct 

students about how to use all kinds of applications safely and effectively, 

it creates barriers to information, literacy instruction. This flies in the 

face of logic and hundreds of years of educational theory. Why would 
127

we limit access to interactive Web application in the first place where 

students came to use them actively? 

Fourth, local decision-making is the way to address the law. Many 

of the problems that DOPA seeks to remedy are already addressed at the 

local level. Federal legislation like DOPA robs education communities 

of control. Decisions, about what is best for an individual community is 

best made by the community itself. 

Fifth, DOPA would restrict technology in the communities that need 

public access most. According to research, African Americans and 

Hispanics are much more likely to rely exclusively on the library 

computer for Internet access than are their white and Asian counterparts. 

DOPA, as presently drafted, would require libraries and schools 

receiving E-rate discount to block computer users from accessing 

interactive Web actions of all kinds, thereby limiting opportunity for 

those who do not have Internet access at home. 

Research shows that use of the Internet is used to improve reading 

and other academic successes, but as Bruce Bower states, “children most 

likely to benefit from home Internet access are the least likely to have it.” 

The American Library Association would like to affirm the 

importance of online interaction and collaboration as an indispensable 

tool for education and communication in today’s information society. 

They also affirm the role of social networking sites of essential literacy 

skills. We at the American Library Association stand ready to work with 

you to assure that our children are protected, educated, informed and 

made as safe as possible. 

Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Beth Yoke follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF BETH YOKE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ALA YOUNG ADULT 

LIBRARY SERVICES ASSOCIATION

Librarians believe, and more importantly know from experience, that education 

about safe Internet practices – for both youth and parents – is the best way to protect 

young people. We believe that the overly broad technological controls that would be 

required under DOPA are often ineffective given the fast-moving nature of modern 

technology. Further, such technological controls often inadvertently obstruct access to 

beneficial sites. In essence, we believe that this legislation would lead to the blocking of 

essential and beneficial Interactive Web applications and would further widen the digital 

divide. 

I. The terminology used in DOPA is flawed. 

DOPA uses the term “social networking sites” in an overly-broad way to describe 

virtually all Interactive Web applications in which users converse or interact with each 

other. As written, HR 5319 would block access to many valuable applications. 
128

II. DOPA ignores the value of Interactive Web applications. 

New Internet-based applications for collaboration, business and learning are 

becoming increasingly important, and young people must be prepared to thrive in a work 

atmosphere where meetings take place online, where online networks are essential 

communication tools. 

III. Education, not laws blocking access, is the key to safe use of the Internet. 

Libraries and schools are where kids learn essential information literacy skills that 

go far beyond computer instruction and web searching to include the development of 

critical thinking skills necessary to make good choices online. 

IV. Local decision-making – not federal law – is the way to solve the problems 

addressed by DOPA. 

Many of the problems that DOPA seeks to remedy are already addressed at the local 

level. Decisions about what is best for an individual community should be made by the 

community itself. 

V. DOPA would restrict access to technology in the communities that need public 

access most. 

African Americans and Hispanics are much more likely to rely exclusively on the 

library computer for Internet access than are their white and Asian counterparts. DOPA, 

as presently drafted, would require libraries and schools receiving E-rate discounts 

through the Universal Service Program to block computer users from accessing 

Interactive Web applications of all kinds, thereby limiting opportunities for those who do 

not have Internet access at home. 

Chairman Upton and Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for inviting me 

today to testify on behalf of the American Library Association (ALA). I sincerely 

appreciate the opportunity to comment on H.R. 5319, the Deleting Online Predators Act 

(DOPA). ALA has three primary concerns about DOPA: 1) that the broad scope of this 

legislation will limit access to essential Interactive Web applications; 2) that the 

legislation would widen the digital divide by limiting access for people who use library 

and school computers as their primary conduits to the Internet; and 3) that education and 

parental involvement are and have always been the best tools to keep kids safe online and 

to ensure that they can make the right decisions. 

I am the Executive Director of ALA’s Young Adult Library Services Association 

(YALSA). The American Library Association is the oldest and largest library association 

in the world with some 65,000 members, primarily school, public, academic, and some 

special librarians, but also trustees, publishers, and friends of libraries. The Association’s 

mission is to provide leadership or the development, promotion, and improvement of 

library and information services and the profession of librarianship in order to enhance 

learning and ensure access to information for all. 

Before taking this position with ALA, I was a young adult services librarian and an 

instructor of future school library media specialists and youth librarians at West Virginia 

University. I can say with authority that no one is more concerned with the safety of 

children online than librarians – especially youth librarians. 

Youth librarians believe, and more importantly know from experience, that 

education about safe Internet practices – for both youth and parents – is the best way to 

protect young people. We believe that the overly broad technological controls that would 

be required under DOPA are often ineffective given the fast-moving nature of modern 

technology. Further, such technological controls often inadvertently obstruct access to 

beneficial sites. In essence, we believe that this legislation will lead to the blocking of 
129

essential and beneficial Interactive Web applications and will further widen the digital 

divide. 

The terminology used in DOPA is flawed. 

It is very difficult to define many of the terms used in the debate over Internet usage. 

DOPA uses the term “social networking sites” in an overly-broad way to describe 

virtually all Interactive Web applications in which users converse or interact with each 

other. As it is currently written, the definition (even with the educational exemption) 

would include: educational tools used to provide distance education, community forums 

that allow children to discuss issues of importance, online email programs through which 

family members can communicate with each other and with teachers and librarians at 

their local schools and libraries and even find one another in cases of emergency. There is 

enormous value to be found in these interactive online environments. Blocking access to 

them denies young people the opportunity to benefit from all the Internet has to offer 

while not necessarily ensuring kids’ safety online. As written, HR 5319 is simply too 

broad and would block access to many valuable applications. We urge you to consider 

changes in the bill language. 

There are many examples of online education applications that would be blocked 

under DOPA. One example reported in Education Week indicated that more than 10 

million students were part of an online field trip to the Carlsbad Caverns National Park in 

Carlsbad, N.M. — without leaving their classrooms. 

The April 25 field trip, coordinated by Ball State University in Muncie, Ind., was to 

consist of two live virtual tours of the cave featuring scientists, park guides, and First 

Lady Laura Bush. Students in grades 3-8 were invited to call in or e-mail questions to be 

answered on the air, or to participate in an online discussion during the 90-minute 

broadcasts. The organizers billed the event as the largest simultaneous visit ever to a 

national park. It was also described as the largest “electronic field trip” ever broadcast by 

BSU, which has organized more than 50 such trips since 1996.1

Use of the site WebCT.com, an online education application, has helped thousands 

of people get their degrees through distance learning. WebCT is a site that allows users 

to enroll in and participate in classes online. It can also act as a forum for class 

discussions. Users create profiles and become students in a virtual classroom through 

online bulletin boards, real-time chat, student blogs, and more. In the rural areas of states 

like Texas, Wyoming, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and West Virginia – where I 

worked, distance from major hubs once created an enormous barrier to learning. 

Today, applications, like those available through WebCT, make it possible for 

young adults to complete degrees online at schools that are hundreds of miles away as 

well as access other non-credit courses for personal interests. It is our analysis that 

DOPA would make this type of distance learning impossible, since the bill requires that 

interactive applications, like courses available through WebCT, can only be used in 

libraries or schools if there is adult supervision. But what does “adult supervision” mean? 

Or how is “education” defined in the pertinent exemption? Is it formal for-credit only 

courses? And, why would we create barriers for young people who want to take 

advantage of online educational opportunities? 

There are countless positive uses for networking applications that are not necessarily 

related to formal education. Networking applications include support groups for 

teenagers with physical or emotional disabilities, forums for the exchange of ideas, and 

even tools to help kids become acclimated to new surroundings. For example, when 

teenagers leave for college they often use networking sites to find other students with 

similar interests. 

 

1

 Tonn, Jessica. “Expert Sees Need for School Staff To Access Social-Networking.” Education 

Week. Vol. 25 Issue 33, p16. 
130

Finally, with specific regard to “social networking sites,” young adults all over the 

country have begun to use these sites as a primary means of communication, whether 

with their peers or with young adult authors, musicians, artists, and with libraries. Some 

libraries are taking advantage of this by using some of these sites to stay in touch with 

their communities. For example, Sean Rapacki from the Wadsworth Public Library in 

Wadsworth, Ohio informed us that his staff has created a MySpace profile page FOR the 

library, allowing library staff to communicate with young adult patrons much more 

effectively. 

DOPA ignores the value of Interactive Web applications. 

Today's interactive online environment is an essential and growing part of 

economic, cultural, civic, and social life. New Internet-based applications for 

collaboration, business and learning are becoming increasingly important, and learning to 

use the online environment effectively and safely is now an essential component of 

education. 

The popularity of interactive online environments is extending to the corporate 

world, as a number of businesses – including corporate leaders like Ernst & Young and 

IBM – are increasingly moving to the use of interactive Web applications as a primary 

mode of business communication. These companies recognize that technology can be an 

essential way to achieve a home/work balance and maximize efficiency.2

 As the 

corporate, professional, and civic use of interactive Web applications grows, there is an 

increasing need for today's young people to be prepared to thrive in a work atmosphere 

where meetings take place online, where e-business is a driving force behind the world 

economy, and where online networks are essential communication tools. This is exactly 

what kids must be ready for: a professional environment where only the web-savvy 

thrive. 

The Internet is changing how we live, learn, work, and interact with one another. If 

today’s young people are to succeed in the workplace of the future, they must learn 

information literacy skills for the technologies of today and tomorrow. Libraries are far 

and away the best places to learn these skills, and social networking sites, which 

introduce kids to the world of online interaction, are key to successful development in 

that field. 

Education, not laws blocking access, is the key to safe use of the Internet. 

Libraries and schools are the locations where students develop the information 

literacy skills that are vital to success in today's world. Information literacy includes “the 

abilities to recognize when information is needed and to locate, evaluate, effectively use, 

and communicate information in its various formats.3

“ These are skills that public 

librarians and school library media specialists are in a unique position to foster in young 

people. In today’s world, information literacy skills go far beyond computer instruction 

and web searching. In a fully developed information literacy program, students learn how 

to find, evaluate, and use online information and also learn how to use critical thinking 

skills to make good choices online. 

This type of information literacy instruction is going on in schools and libraries all 

across the country. Legislation like DOPA sends exactly the wrong message at the wrong 

time – instead of allowing librarians and teachers to instruct students about how to use all 

kinds of applications safely and effectively, it creates barriers to information literacy 

instruction. This flies in the face of hundreds of years of educational theory – why would 

you limit access to interactive Web applications in the one place where students can learn 

to use them safely? 

 

2

 “Life Beyond Pay-Work-Life Balance,” The Economist, July 7, 2006. 3 Information Literacy: Skills for the Information Age. Westport: Libraries Unlimited. Page 5. 
131

Fortunately, thousands of public and school libraries across the country, along with 

websites like Ms. Aftab's WiredKids.org, are doing an outstanding job in helping parents 

teach children how to use the Internet safely and responsibly. For example, Baltimore 

County Public Schools and the Baltimore County Public Library co-sponsored a Family 

Guide to Child Safety on the Internet, a valuable resource for helping parents teach their 

kids the do's and don'ts of web surfing.4

Local decision-making – not federal law – is the way to solve the problems 

addressed by DOPA. 

As advocates for effective use of information, librarians and teachers are fully 

committed to helping young people have safe online experiences; furthermore, we teach 

young people the information literacy and critical thinking skills they need to use the 

Internet safely and effectively. We reach the goal of educating kids to safely use online 

tools with information literacy education programs as described above, and through 

locally-developed online safety policies, which in many cases include the use of 

technological barriers like filters. In other words, many of the problems that DOPA seeks 

to remedy are already addressed at the local level. 

About 80% of all public library funding is local, library programs are developed to 

be responsive to local requests, and the policies governing libraries are developed with 

local trustees and community members; comparable policy decisions are made by school 

boards. Federal legislation like DOPA robs libraries and communities of local decisionmaking and control. Decisions about what is best for an individual community should be 

made by the community itself. 

DOPA would restrict access to technology in the communities that need public 

access most. 

According to recent statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau the digital divide is large 

and does not appear to be shrinking. Currently, roughly one out of seven African 

Americans and only one out of eight Hispanics subscribe to broadband service at home. 

Meanwhile, 26.1% of whites and a full one third of Asians have broadband at home.5

Further, according to a Gates Foundation report on the role of libraries in Internet access, 

African Americans and Hispanics “rely exclusively on the library computer for Internet 

access to a greater degree than their white and Asian counterparts,” with approximately a 

fifth of African American users and nearly 16% of Hispanic users exclusively relying on 

library-based computers. Also, nearly a third of those in the lowest income bracket who 

use library computers rely exclusively on them.6 These data indicate that public access 

computing in libraries is playing an important role in closing the digital divide. 

Since DOPA, as presently drafted, would require libraries and schools receiving Erate discounts through the Universal Service Program to block computer users from 

accessing Interactive Web applications of all kinds, opportunities for those who do not 

have Internet access at home would be further limited. 

There is a great deal of research being conducted on young people and their use of 

the Internet and interactive applications. There is much to learn from this research about 

educating young people and helping them to safely use the Internet. For instance, 

research shows that use of the Internet, including interactive sites, leads to improved 

reading and other academic successes. Sadly, research reported by Bruce Bower 

 

4

 http://www.bcps.org/offices/lis/ 

5

 http://www.census.gov/prod/2005pubs/p23-208.pdf 6 Toward Equality of Access: The Role of Public Libraries in Addressing the Digital Divide. Pages 

19-20. http://www.gatesfoundation.org. 
132

indicates that “children most likely to benefit from home Internet access are the very 

children least likely to have [it].”7

The ALA would like to affirm the importance of online interaction and collaboration 

and the development of essential information literacy skills. We at ALA stand ready to 

work with you, to assure that our children are protected, educated, informed and made as 

safe as possible. 

Biography for Beth Yoke 

Beth Yoke earned a B.A. in History from Gettysburg College in 1991, a teaching 

certificate from Tulane University in 1995 and a Masters in Library and Information 

Science from Louisiana State University in 1998. From 1991-1993 she taught in Orleans 

Parish Schools, New Orleans, LA, as a member of the Teach for America corps. From 

1993-1997 she continued her teaching career in Orleans Parish Schools. While pursuing 

her masters in Library and Information Science, Yoke worked at in the research and 

development library for Albemarle Corporation in Baton Rouge, LA. After completing 

graduate school, Yoke worked as a high school librarian in Stafford, VA then as a 

university librarian at Fairmont State University in Fairmont, WV. At Fairmont State 

Yoke coordinated the online school library media certification program and became 

active in the West Virginia Library Association, where she served as first as chair of the 

School Library Division and later as WVLA’s Second Vice-President. Since 2004 Yoke 

has served as Executive Director of the Young Adult Library Services Association 

(YALSA), the fastest growing division of the American Library Association. 

MR. UPTON. Mr. Zellis, we will hopefully conclude with you and we 

will break and go vote, so go ahead. 

MR. ZELLIS. Chairman Upton and members of the committee, ladies 

and gentlemen, thank you for the opportunity to be here today to talk 

about the serious issue that affects our most treasured resource, our 

children, and our efforts to protect them from the dangers of social 

networking sites that exist on the World Wide Web. 

My name is David Zellis and I am the highest-ranking prosecutor 

next to the elected district attorney in Bucks County. I have spent the 

last 22 years fighting in the courtroom to put criminals behind bars. My 

courtroom experience involves every type of case including capital 

murder. I also worked hand in hand with law enforcement as they 

investigated criminal activities. One could say that during my tenure as a 

county prosecutor I have seen it all. Despite my exposure to all kinds of 

criminal behavior, I, like many of my colleagues, have been shocked and 

dismayed by the latest rage, politely known as social networking sites, 

but commonly known as MySpace, Friendster, Facebook, and Xanga. 

It was not many years ago the police arrested and I prosecuted child 

molesters for making advances toward our children on the street corner 

or some park. It was not that long ago the drug dealing took place on the 

street corners and I locked those drug dealers up. And it was only a short 

time ago that bullying meant beating up a kid on the playground. 

 

7

 “Growing Up Online,” Science News, Vol. 169 Issue 24, p376.
133

Times have changed. The Internet and these social networking sites 

have redefined, reinvented, and reinvigorated child predators, drug 

dealers, and bullies. Now sexual predators troll the social networking 

sites rather than the streets and get all of the information they need in 

order to groom children for the ultimate purpose of victimizing them. 

Drug dealers in suburban communities like Bucks County can now 

conduct business in cyber space instead of on the street corner, and 

bullies do not have to throw a punch when they can go on the Internet 

and engage in cyber bullying and inflict more pain and suffering on kids 

than a night on the school yards used to cause. 

Bucks County, Pennsylvania is a diverse northern suburb or 

Philadelphia-- 

MR. UPTON. Keep going. 

MR. ZELLIS.--with over 600,000 residents. It represents a typical 

suburban community. We have areas where crime is higher than other 

areas, but on the whole, the streets of Buck County are very safe. The 

Information Superhighway, however, poses a significant challenge to law 

enforcement, schools, parents, and legislators as we try to balance the 

benefits and the dangers that lurk in cyberspace. 

There are four recent cases that occurred in Bucks County that 

poignantly illustrate the dangers posed by such sites as MySpace. In the 

first case, a 14-year-old boy had his profile posted on MySpace. In April 

of 2006 he was contacted by a male posing as a teenager, who convinced 

the 14-year-old to lie to his mother and have her drop him off at the local 

mall. The male met the 14-year-old at the mall and then took him to a 

motel where he had sexual intercourse with the child. This scenario has 

happened on a number of occasions and was only discovered when a 

school official overheard the 14-year-old’s conversation with a friend 

and reported it to law enforcement. 

Following the arrests, the male perpetrator was identified as a 

25-year-old. The 14-year-old who had never been in trouble before and 

prior to this had no sexual experience. The sexual predator now sits in 

the Bucks County prison awaiting trial. 

The next case is one of the first cases in which law enforcement 

arrested someone for selling drugs on MySpace. Not only was this 

juvenile selling drugs on MySpace but he was pictured on MySpace with 

an assortment of guns. 

The third case involves a 13-year-old girl who posted her pictures on 

MySpace. A male began conversing with her on the Internet. 

Fortunately, the child’s mother contacted law enforcement and the police 

took over the conversations with this sexual predator and ultimately 

arrested him. He was identified as a male who was working in an 

OB-GYN office. 
134

Finally, we have seen street gangs taking advantage of the 

opportunities provided through social networking sites, and such street 

gangs as the Bloods and the Crips used the site’s social networking 

recruitment tools in the suburbs. Too often as a society we think that 

sexual predators’ Internet crime is somebody else’s problem, not ours. 

Those of us in law enforcement know that nothing could be further from 

the truth. 

These four examples within the last 6 months indicate the kinds of 

criminal activity in cyber space know no boundaries and now happens on 

a national/international level. My office is not only prosecuting such 

cases in court, but we are proactively engaged in prevention activities. 

We have gone into the elementary, middle, and high schools to educate 

students about the dangers involved in social networking sites. We have 

held town meetings around the county about how to keep their children 

safe on the Internet. These programs have been well received by 

students and parents and it has become clear to us that parents and most 

kids do not want pornography or sexual propositions to interfere with 

their use of the Internet. 

During the course of our town meetings with parents, we have found 

a hunger on the part of parents to learn as much as they possibly can, 

because parents legitimately feel they are playing catch-up to their 

children when it comes to the Internet. One of the critical components of 

the Deleting Online Predators Act is requiring the Federal Trade 

Commission to create a website which can be used as a resource for 

parents, teachers, and others regarding the dangers on the Internet to 

child users. 

In addition, to require that the Federal Trade Commission issue alerts 

is critical to providing parents and teachers with worthwhile information 

that they crave. 

This begins to address one of the most significant concerns, and that 

is that no one is controlling the Information Highway. 

Finally with respect to the Deleting Online Predators Act, if you 

knew that a child molester was going to the library or to the school and 

grooming children for future sexual exploitation, would you allow such 

behavior to go on? Of course not. But that is exactly what is going on 

when children in the school or at the library are permitted to freely 

access commercial networking sites like MySpace and chat rooms while 

sexual predators lurk in their midst on cyber space. We cannot and 

should not permit our children to fall prey to the exploits of sexual 

predators while they are at school or at the library. We have seen 

firsthand that when law enforcement officers pose as a teenager online, 

sexually explicit instant messaging and solicitation occur quickly and 
135

rampantly. There can be no doubt that a child’s innocence, and perhaps 

even more, can be lost in an incident on the Internet. 

On behalf of Bucks County, we endorse the act because it educates 

parents and children about the dangers of the Internet and limits access to 

certain sites during the school days. Our children’s safety must come 

first. 

[The prepared statement of David W. Zellis follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF DAVID W. ZELLIS, FIRST ASSISTANT DISTRICT ATTORNEY,

OFFICE OF THE BUCKS COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY, COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA

 Chairman Upton, members of the committee, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for 

the opportunity to be here today to talk about a serious issue that affects our most 

treasured resource, our children, and our effort to protect them from the dangers of 

“social networking sites” that exist on the World Wide Web. 

 As the highest ranking prosecutor next to the elected District Attorney, I have spent 

the past twenty-two (22) years fighting in the courtroom to put criminals behind bars. 

My courtroom experience involves every type of case, including capital murder. I also 

work hand in hand with law enforcement as they investigate criminal activity. One could 

say that during my tenure as a county prosecutor “I have seen it all”. Despite my 

exposure to all kinds of criminal behavior, I, like many of my colleagues, have been 

shocked and dismayed by the latest rage, politely known as “social networking sites”, but 

commonly known as MySpace, Friendster, Facebook and Xanga. 

 It was not that many years ago that police arrested and I prosecuted child molesters 

for making advances toward children on the street corner or in the park. It was not that 

long ago that drug dealing took place on the street corners, and I locked those dealers up, 

and it was only a short time ago that “bullying” meant beating up a kid on the 

playground. Times have changed. The internet and these social networking sites have 

redefined, reinvented and reinvigorated child predators, drug dealers and bullies. Now 

sexual predators troll the social networking sites rather than the streets, and get all the 

information they need in order to groom children for the ultimate purpose of victimizing 

them. Drug dealers in suburban communities like Bucks County can now conduct 

business in cyberspace instead of the street corner. And bullies do not have to throw a 

punch when they can go on the internet and engage in cyber bullying and inflict more 

pain and suffering on kids than a fight in the school yard used to cause. 

 Bucks County, Pennsylvania, is a diverse northern suburb of Philadelphia. With 

over 600,000 residents, in many ways it represents a typical suburban community. We 

have areas where crime is higher than other areas, but on the whole the streets of Bucks 

County are very safe. The information superhighway, however, possesses a significant 

challenge to law enforcement, schools, parents and legislators, as we try to balance the 

benefits and the dangers that lurk in cyberspace. 

 There are four recent cases that occurred in Bucks County that poignantly illustrate 

the dangers posed by such sites as MySpace. In the first case, a fourteen year old boy had 

his profile posted on MySpace. In April of 2006 he was contacted by a male posing as a 

teenager, who convinced the fourteen year old to lie to this mother and have her drop him 

off at the local mall. The male met the fourteen year old at the mall and then took him to 

a motel, where he had sexual intercourse with the child. This scenario happened on a 

number of occasions, and was only discovered when a school official overheard the 

fourteen year old’s conversation with a friend, and reported it to law enforcement. 

Following the arrest, the male perpetrator was identified as a twenty-five year old. The 
136

fourteen year old had never been in trouble before, and prior to this had had no sexual 

experience. The sexual predator now sits in the Bucks County Prison awaiting trial. 

 The next case is one of the first cases in which law enforcement arrested someone 

for selling drugs on MySpace. Not only was this juvenile selling drugs on MySpace, but 

he was pictured on MySpace with an assortment of guns. 

 The third case involves a thirteen year old girl who posted her pictures on MySpace. 

A male began conversing with her on the internet. Fortunately, the child’s mother 

contacted law enforcement and the police took over the conversations with this sexual 

predator and ultimately arrested him. He was identified as a male who was working in an 

OB/GYN office. 

 Finally, we have seen street gangs taking advantage of the opportunities provided 

through social networking sites, and such street gangs as the Bloods and Crips use the 

sites as a recruitment tool in the suburbs. 

 Too often as a society we think that sexual predators and internet crime is somebody 

else’s problem, not ours. Those of us in law enforcement know that nothing could be 

further from the truth. These four examples which occurred in Bucks County within the 

last six months indicate that the kind of criminal activity in cyberspace knows no 

boundaries, and now happens on a national and international level. 

 My office is not only prosecuting such cases in court, but we are proactively 

engaged in prevention activities. We have gone into elementary, middle and high schools 

to educate students about the dangers involved in social networking sites. We have held 

town meetings around the county to educate parents about how to keep their children safe 

on the internet. These programs have been well received by students and parents, and it 

has become clear to us that parents and most kids do not want pornography or sexual 

propositions to interfere with their use of the internet 

 During the course of our town meetings with parents, we have found a hunger on the 

part of the parents to learn as much as they possibly can, because parents legitimately feel 

that they are playing “catch up” to their children when it comes to the internet. One of 

the critical components of the Deleting Online Predators Act is requiring the Federal 

Trade Commission to create a website which can be used as a resource for parents, 

teachers and others regarding the dangers on the internet to child users. In addition, the 

requirement that the Federal Trade Commission issue consumer alerts to parents and 

other regarding the potential dangers of internet child predators is critical to providing 

parents and teachers with worthwhile information that they crave. This begins to address 

one of the most significant concerns, and that is that no one is controlling the information 

highway. 

 Finally, with respect to the Deleting Online Predators Act, if you knew that a child 

molester was going to the library or to a school and grooming children for future sexual 

exploitation, would you allow such behavior to go on? Of course not. But that is exactly 

what is going on when children in school or at the library are permitted to freely access 

commercial networking sites like MySpace and chat rooms, while sexual predators lurk 

in their midst in cyberspace. 

 We cannot and should not permit our children to fall prey to the exploit of sexual 

predators while they are at school or at the library. We have seen first hand that when a 

law enforcement officer poses as a teenager on line, sexually explicit instant messaging 

and solicitations occur quickly and rampantly. There can be no doubt that a child’s 

innocence and perhaps even more can be lost in an instant on the internet. 

 On behalf of Bucks County District Attorney Diane E. Gibbons, we wholeheartedly 

endorse the Deleting Online Predators Act because it educates parents and children about 

the dangers of the Internet and limits access to certain sites during the school day. Our 

children’s safety must come first. 
137

MR. UPTON. Thank you. I am going to have to stop. We have less 

than 5 minutes to go on this vote. We will come back about 12:15. 

[Recess.] 

MR. FERGUSON. [Presiding] Chairman Upton will return shortly. I 

had some questions for the Attorney General but I don’t see him. I know 

he has to go at some point. So I wanted to make sure we got to him first. 

I am going to start with Mr. Zellis. We appreciate you being here 

today, and all of our witnesses. How much of an impact do you believe 

that limiting access to social networking sites and chat rooms at schools 

and/or libraries would have in terms of the crimes you see in your own 

experience in Bucks County? 

MR. ZELLIS. It is very hard to say. If we could save one child then it 

is worth it, because that one child, that innocent child who may fall prey 

during the school hours or at a public school to a sexual predator because 

the legislation wasn’t enacted, would just be a catastrophe for that child, 

for that family, and for that child for the rest of his or her life. 

MR. FERGUSON. But in terms of your own experience, it is tough to 

say with specificity as to how this legislation might be able to assist you 

in catching some of these folks. 

MR. ZELLIS. I did check around my office before coming down 

today to -- 

MR. FERGUSON. Keeping it from happening. 

MR. ZELLIS. And we are not aware of any case to date in our 

jurisdiction that involves a child falling prey as a result of being online at 

school or in the library. But that could change this afternoon. That could 

change tomorrow. This is an evolving problem in our community. 

MR. FERGUSON. Thank you. 

Mr. Attorney General, thank you again for being with us here today. 

How aware do you find that parents are with regard to the content and 

the potential danger at these sites? Clearly kids are ahead of parents 

many times when it comes to new technology. Do you find that parents 

at this point are doing a good enough job, or how widespread is the 

problem of kids being ahead of their parents with regard to this 

technology, particularly with these social networking sites? 

MR. ABBOTT. Let me fully answer that, if you don’t mind, if I could 

follow up and add on to the last comment. And I came in maybe after 

the question was already asked, but my perception was any of these kids 

who are assaulted online, at school, then go out and get assaulted. I may 

not have perceived that correctly. But here is the deal of where that 

would typically work. They would be online on one of these social 

networking sites at school or at home. They will chat perhaps for days 

before they will eventually decide to go ahead and make the decision, 
138

yeah, I can trust this other 14-year-old boy. I will show up at the mall 

and meet him. 

It is not something that typically happens like that. They chat for 

5 minutes at school. Meet you after school, for someone they have never 

met before. So the school location would be one of several different 

locations. School, home, and maybe a friend’s house. These children 

will chat for a while before they will eventually make the decision to 

show up and wind up getting assaulted. 

MR. FERGUSON. So in terms of the legislation, if you close off one 

of those opportunities, perhaps it will have some impact. Is that what 

you are saying? I was asking about the bill that we are talking about 

today in terms of schools and libraries. 

MR. ABBOTT. The reality is, if you close off one opportunity, it 

doesn’t mean that children will not access the networking websites. It 

means they will do it at home or do it at a friend’s house, someplace 

other than schools. So shutting it down at school--put it this way. 

Putting restrictions on children’s access to this, putting things like age 

verification in there, things like that will all be steps in the right 

direction. But if the goal is to shut it down at one place and pretend that 

that is going to solve the whole problem, that probably won’t achieve a 

whole lot because kids go to friends’ houses or homes or wherever else, 

perhaps in an unsupervised situation, and wind up getting caught in the 

same bad scenario. 

But I would think that limitations on access, age verification, like we 

have talked about before, to ensure that children for one are not going to 

be subjected to pornographic or otherwise age material, other kind of 

restrictions would be helpful for children. 

But if I could, let me address your question about education because 

we find that parents are woefully uneducated about this. They feel like 

they are not up to speed. Like was testified earlier, we have put on 

several town hall meetings where we have seen literally hundreds of 

parents come in to one meeting and they are absorbing this information 

as quickly as possible, eager to learn everything they possibly can to find 

ways that they can do something to help protect the children. 

And I will tell you this: It kind of demonstrates exactly where a 

parent stands on this. What we do when we put on our town hall 

meetings, we tell parents about the problem. We go into it and all that 

kind of stuff, and about 15 minutes through the presentation we log onto 

MySpace and we plug in only the school where we are putting on the 

town hall presentation or only the zip code that we are in, and we put in 

only an age bracket of about 2 years that would include juniors and 

seniors; and all of a sudden these pictures come up; pictures and names 

that parents recognize and students recognize, and you can hear audible 
139

gasps in the audience about parents not realizing that their children are 

on these websites. Sometimes very provocative pictures, and parents are 

aghast at what is going on. 

So they are pretty much--some parents are completely unaware. 

Some of them--many people have heard about MySpace now, but don’t 

know what it does. They need a vast amount of information quickly to 

help protect their children. One thing--I know you want to ask a 

question, if I can make this one key point. 

MR. FERGUSON. I know your time is short but my time is short. I 

have a more specific question about language in the bill. 

Some have raised concerns about language in the bill about this 

prohibiting minors from being able to easily access--and those are words 

from the bill--easily access obscene content or otherwise easily be 

approached by predators online. In your written testimony, you had 

raised some concerns with this language. You didn’t mention it in your 

verbal testimony. Can you expand a little bit on your thoughts on the 

language “easily access”? 

MR. ABBOTT. As a lawyer who litigates cases in court, as a former 

judge, I believe the word “easily” would be categorized as vague. It is 

hard to know exactly what that means. Frankly, I can’t tell you what it 

means. And if we had 12 different jurors we could have 12 different 

decisions about what it means. 

Now, the position I would advocate probably would be one different 

than some other folks on this panel. I think an easy solution for it is to 

delete the word “easily,” so that it just goes straight to “access.” But the 

word “easily” is potentially vague, and here is what would wind up 

happening if the bill passed with this current language. We would all 

spend years in court litigating what “easily” means, and the evidence will 

be put on, no, we are not easily accessible and the evidence would be put 

on, yes, you are. So it would lead to litigation that would frustrate 

implementation of the bill. 

MR. FERGUSON. I recognize Ms. Eshoo for questions. 

MS. ESHOO. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to thank all of the 

panel. I have learned a great deal from listening to you this morning--

from law enforcement, Attorney General, and Mr. Zellis; the horror of 

what is taking place. And I certainly want to salute you for the work that 

you are doing to bring these predators to justice. To all of the other 

panelists, thank you. 

Ms. Aftab, it seems to me a lifetime of work that you are doing. 

Mr. Davis, I think that you have really offered a solid model of how to 

address this, and I want to thank you for your work. To Chris Kelly and 

the work that you are doing, which I think really is the model for any 

social networking operation, the work that you are doing and that they all 
140

have someone like you. We need to clone you. To the Pew Center, and I 

think what you have put out should be kept in the top drawer of 

everyone’s desk here because it is unbiased, solid information about how 

everything works. To the libraries, who are absolutely terrific. 

Now it seems to me that the intention of the authors of the legislation 

is really very good but it is really not the prescription to handle this. 

The language in the bill as I see it, on page 2, I think it is line 24, 

“may easily access or be presented with obscene or indecent material,” I 

don’t really know what that means legally. And I think the Attorney 

General just suggested that the world “easily” be dropped. 

But if we just go with “access,” I think, Mr. Attorney General, we 

need to appreciate that Google will be completely knocked out of 

business in schools and libraries; Yahoo, anyone in the Internet business, 

is in one fell swoop going to be erased. And that is not pragmatic. That 

is not what we are going to do. But we are still left with the challenge of 

addressing this. 

What I would like to press, whomever would like to come up with a 

prescription here, what your prescription would be. It seems to me, just 

off the top of my head, I think that if the Congress had actually put into 

place broadband for everyone in the country and we had money in it, 

then we could restrict the money. And that would be I think a win-win. 

But since we don’t have a national broadband policy, that is not in the 

offing right now, that being able to restrict any funding that would be 

attached to that is not something that we are going to be exercising. 

Now, having said that, knowing the language of the bill not really 

being workable, I mean it is again the case of the intentions are great but 

it is not the way we are going to resolve it. 

Let me ask the law enforcement people, number one. Maybe you 

don’t agree with me. If you don’t, say so. What is your prescription for 

a solution to this? 

MR. ABBOTT. A couple of things. And these are things that may be 

coming from left field with regard to these particular bills, but these are 

the things that we in the law enforcement field need to see and need to 

see from the social networking sites and basically anyone, and that is we 

must have better retention of IP records or logs. Literally, as we speak, 

records of predators are being lost and deleted. Retention periods must 

be extended to give law enforcement time to issue the legal processes 

that are needed to obtain the records for evidentiary purposes. That is for 

one. 

For another, education has been talked about a lot as absolutely 

necessary. The providers of this software, the providers of these sites, 

can take the lead in ensuring the education is provided. They are on the 

site. So those would be two things. 
141

Age verification, again, I believe would be very helpful. 

MS. ESHOO. Chris, do you want to speak to this, please-- 

MR. KELLY. Age verification, we use kind of a proxy process for 

age verification in terms of associating people with an associated high 

school. That seems to be about as effective as we have been able to get 

it, as we talked about on the dialoguing. There is a lot of public record 

checking. But we found that the approximate e-process through the high 

school association is relatively good in terms of keeping in terms of 

keeping under-13s off the site, and that is a standard that has been set by 

Congress, obviously, in whether or not you need verifiable parental 

consent at that stage. So that for age verification, that seems to be 

somewhat workable for us. 

But we don’t have the only model in the industry and we do think 

that there are a number of good things facilitated by some of the other 

sites. I mean, we like our model the best, but we don’t think the others 

should be outlawed. 

MR. ABBOTT. If I could very briefly say one thing about their 

website. I don’t believe that any of these sites are perfect, but I believe 

that the program that Facebook has created is superior. If you compare it 

to the real world of neighborhoods, where all of you live, you have seen 

so-called safe neighborhood programs. They do as well of a job as I 

have seen at creating safe neighborhoods, neighborhoods that are 

confined. And that I think is a superior approach to what we have seen 

elsewhere. Perhaps you can look at some aspects of their model and 

require those similar components to be required above the board. 

But don’t get me wrong; I am not going to concede your model is 

perfect. It is a great first step. 

MS. ESHOO. I think what we have to keep in mind, Mr. Chairman, is 

that there isn’t any such thing as good technology and bad technology. 

Technology is neutral in that sense. It is how it is used and how we help 

shape the direction of it. But we really can’t go after the technology 

itself. This is really a sticky wicket because we have some constitutional 

issues involved in this as well. 

So, I am over my time. Now I will stop. I really want to thank the 

Chairman for the hearing and for the testimony today because I find it is 

enhancing. So thank you. 

MR. FERGUSON. Mr. Shimkus. 

MR. SHIMKUS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman; and I appreciate you all 

coming. 

This is a legislative hearing, but sometimes we digress and address 

things. My good friend Anna and I work on a lot of these issues 

together; and this is very similar, I think, to the discussions we had years 
142

ago when we started doing the actual purchasing of items and goods over 

the Internet, remember, with digital signatures. VeraSign was in here. 

So my first--one of my questions was--Anna, you were already 

mentioning to Chris--was age verification; and my comment, based on 

listening to the testimony, is a program like VeraSign or some 

authentication, which has really been successful, and it was a private 

sector, it was technologically neutral, but it had some standards by which 

we could allow some current commerce to flow and identification really 

be taken-- 

I mean, how many times do we do stuff now--I mean, there is 

identity theft. We still have problems. I mean, we are still in a central 

world. There is still going to be bad guys who figure out--but for most of 

us, when you can do on some standards-- 

So you kind of addressed it, Chris, but, I mean, is that the approach 

that we have--is this a third-party age verification process? You can out 

there, in essence, do that? I mean, you shake your head, no, Parry, but 

we do it for commerce. 

MS. AFTAB. If I may, the reason I am shaking my head no, we can 

do it technologically, but the kids won’t buy it. So I have just finished 

polling 14,000 pre-teens and teens over the last 4 months in person, face 

to face; and they are scared. I have never seen kids scared before. 

MR. SHIMKUS. These are the same kids who are going to download 

a piece of music for, what, 75 cents a song, 25 cents a song. 

MS. AFTAB. Or for free. 

MR. SHIMKUS. But probably have more discretionary income than 

any kids in any generation before. 

MS. AFTAB. Because they are not paying for music. 

But, Mr. Shimkus, what they all say to me, we want authentication. 

We want the site to know who everyone is. 

One girl who lives on a Marine base in Yuma said the answer is to 

keep all boys over the age of 14 off MySpace. 

MR. SHIMKUS. Let me interrupt you there. But wouldn’t there then 

be a market? 

MS. AFTAB. Yes, except-- 

MR. SHIMKUS. I am a market Republican, believe market principles, 

wouldn’t someone set up a Facebook for girls? 

MS. AFTAB. Well, what happens is-- 

MR. SHIMKUS. With authentication--I mean, we still have girl’s 

schools. We still have guy’s schools. 

MS. AFTAB. The kids don’t want parents involved in authentication. 

They don’t want schools involved in authentication. 

MR. SHIMKUS. They are kids. They are kids. 
143

MS. AFTAB. You can authenticate them, but they won’t go there. So 

they will go someplace else. 

There is a model that Facebook is using which is for the school, 

school e-mail addresses. Xanga is now using some new models that are 

having kids identify each other. YFly, the new one with Nick Lachey, 

will do that, but the kids will go someplace else because they don’t want 

their parents and schools to know who they are. They want the site. 

MR. SHIMKUS. I do have the basic problem with the premise that 

kids are adults, and that brings a parenting aspect back into this. As 

much as we are going to push industry and individuals and government 

to solve this problem, it is still a parental issue. 

MS. AFTAB. Yeah. I just want to be clear. I am not saying that we 

should let kids run it. What I am going to tell you, as much as we can set 

these things up, it won’t work because the kids won’t do it. They will 

just go underground someplace else tomorrow. And that is our only 

concern, as we have been facing this. 

MR. KELLY. If I may jump in a minute. 

MR. SHIMKUS. Please save me. 

MR. KELLY. You want to have some means by which they are 

associated with the community and that enables not just the basic sort of 

identity verification but it has the community aspect over time of saying 

this person is a member of this community or not. 

MR. SHIMKUS. That is what you do. 

MR. KELLY. That is what we do at this point. By only allowing that 

to be associated with particular high schools, we have a proxy for age at 

that point because there just aren’t many 12-year-olds or under in high 

schools. It is not perfect, nonetheless, but it gets the job done better than 

a lot of other means and, without driving kids away. So it is a balance 

there, as Parry articulates, between imposing a great number of burdens 

on kids in terms of authentication of their identity and driving them to 

sites that just wouldn’t have anything at all. 

MR. SHIMKUS. Well, and the Attorney General mentioned that you 

have a particular--I mean, he praised what you all do, and that may be a 

good model. 

Again, my premise is our kids; and if we don’t get them in some 

arena by which they can do this that is somewhat controlled then there 

are no controls. 

MR. KELLY. Our preferred method is to validate with e-mail 

addresses, and we can only do that right now for 15 percent of high 

schools. We are constantly looking at effective non, deterring ways to 

get kids into validated networks in a meaningful way without driving 

them away. 
144

MR. SHIMKUS. Yeah. I have three small boys, and I am watching 

this development. I taught high school for 4 years, and I grew up, so I 

am trying to remember my history of growing up versus what my kids 

are going through. 

And when I taught psychology, talking over the phone was the way 

that you shared information discretely with your friends for hours--I 

don’t want to typecast it to girls, but I think primarily it was--but they 

wouldn’t have shared as much information if they knew it was a party 

line. 

What the problem is, people don’t understand that this is a party line, 

and it is huge. 

Let me ask--if you know the answer, don’t answer the question. I 

want to ask everybody. Is there a safe site for kids for information 

services now on the Internet? Just go from left to right. 

MR. ABBOTT. For information services? 

MR. SHIMKUS. For information. 

MR. ABBOTT. A safe site? 

MR. SHIMKUS. A safe site. 

MR. ABBOTT. I don’t have one at hand. 

MR. SHIMKUS. Okay. Good. That is a no. 

Parry, do you know the answer? 

MS. AFTAB. Can I give you maybe? I mean, Toontown with Disney 

is interactive safely because it is a dropdown menu, but, otherwise, no. 

Because it is not-- 

MR. SHIMKUS. Okay. Next. 

MS. COLLINS. Well, the National Center for Missing and Exploited 

Children, we actually have a website set up for kids, netsmartz.org--with 

a Z. It has information on safety for kids. 

MR. SHIMKUS. Can you hyperlink out of it? 

MS. COLLINS. Actually, we are in control of the website, so, no. 

MR. SHIMKUS. Okay. That is good. 

MR. DAVIS. I would vote for her site. 

MR. SHIMKUS. All right. 

MR. KELLY. We would never claim to be perfectly safe. 

MR. SHIMKUS. The question is, is there one out there for 

information? 

MR. KELLY. I mean, information, there are quite a number-- 

MR. SHIMKUS. That you can’t hyperlink out once you go on the 

Internet to get information. 

MS. AFTAB. Where people can post information safely? 

MR. SHIMKUS. No, just information. 

MR. KELLY. To get information safely. 

MR. SHIMKUS. The librarian should have this, I hope. 
145

MR. KELLY. Netsmartz does a fantastic job. 

MR. SHIMKUS. All right. You guys are failing. 

Next, next, next. 

MS. LENHART. For information about online safety. 

MR. SHIMKUS. Not information on online safety. For information, 

period. 

MS. LENHART. Well, as long as there is no interactivity. 

MR. SHIMKUS. Is there a site that has no interactivity? 

MS. LENHART. Sure, sure. 

MR. SHIMKUS. Next, next. 

MS. YOKE. I very much appreciate your question. 

MR. SHIMKUS. I am not setting it up for her, but I just pulled out this 

thing, and I have got the list. 

MS. YOKE. Sure. The ALA believes that education is what will 

keep kids safe; and because of the fact that virtually any and every 

website that is out there on the Internet can link to something else and 

nothing can ever be 100 percent safe, leaving your house in the morning 

does not leave you 100 percent safe, that it is education that will help 

parents and kids stay safe. 

Driving, for example, can be dangerous, but the solution has not 

been to ban teens and young adults from ever getting behind the wheel. 

The solution has been to provide them with things such as drivers 

education in high schools across the Nation. And we also-- 

MR. SHIMKUS. You are letting me down. There was a simpler 

answer for you. 

MS. YOKE. We also would agree that driving on the information 

highway can also be dangerous. So what we need to do is give kids the 

skills, tools, and resources so that they can become safe and make good 

choices on the information highway. 

MR. SHIMKUS. Okay. Next. You failed. Dagnab it. I set you up for 

it. Home run. 

MR. ZELLIS. I am on my seat waiting for the answer. 

MR. SHIMKUS. Okay. The answer is--Mr. Markey mentioned in 

opening statements, Attorney General, when you do your town hall 

meetings--I hope you mention this--especially for kids--we set it for kids 

under the age of 13. Now that I have kids--they are way past that, but it 

is good for kids 6, 7, 8, 9--www.kids.us. It is a safe site for kids for 

information. 

Now there are over 20 users, and the American Library Association 

is a member: Americanlibraryassociation.kids.us. ABC.kids.us, 

American Library--I said that--games.kids, info.kids, connects.kids, 

music.kids, newyork.kids. Texas should be on here. Shimkus should be 

on here. 
146

So I am taking myself--there are no hyperlinks. There are no chat 

rooms. It is information-based only. 

My sister has just got her degree in education as a third or fourth 

career. I went to her class on information technology, took my 

4-year-old with me; and the way my 4-year-old climbs up on the desk, he 

hits E for Internet Explorer and what is his default? Kids.us. Can he go 

anywhere from there? No. It is a safe site for kids that we passed here in 

legislation that it is part of my job to make information available, to talk 

about it because it works; and I just hope you take that back with you. 

My time is way expired. Thank you. 

MR. FERGUSON. The gentleman from New York, Mr. Engel, for 

questions. 

MR. ENGEL. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. 

My youngest child is 12, very, very bright young man, but I always 

tell him he is like an addict when it comes to the computer. I mean, he 

comes home from school, and the first thing he does is he goes down to 

the basement and starts with the computer, and he is not doing his 

homework, he is chatting or whatever, and it is just a terrible thing. 

We had a bill that I am doing with the chairman which actually 

passed the House. It has nothing to do with this. It is a spoofing bill. 

And one of the things that I said was the problem is we are always 

playing catch-up. Because the bad guys are doing things and then we 

find out about it and then we play catch-up to try to thwart them. 

It is very similar here. I think the bill is fine. Targeting schools and 

libraries as a condition of E-rate funding is fine, but I think that it is only 

a very small, little part. I guess we have to start somewhere, but I think 

the bill really doesn’t solve the problem. Because, just as our children 

are the first generation to grow up with the personal computer, we are the 

first generation of parents to be raising children with these computers. 

So the whole thing is frustrating. 

I am thinking, why aren’t we doing a massive education campaign 

for parents to learn how to protect their children in the online world? I 

mean, I am so far behind my children it is really almost a joke. 

Mr. Shimkus talks about his 4-year-old, well, my 12-year-old is my 

youngest; and he can just run circles around me. When I get stuck on the 

computer, I call him and he--oh, dad, all you need to do is this. 

So, Ms. Aftab, in your written testimony you say, while this may 

appear on its face to be an easy answer, it is neither easy nor the answer. 

And I agree with you. I pulled that out because I thought that I 

would agree with you. 

So I don’t know what to say. I want to just give you an opportunity 

to expand on that, because I think that sort of sums up the way I feel. 

And I have a couple of questions if anyone else would care to answer. 
147

MS. AFTAB. Thank you very much, Mr. Engel. 

I think that everyone is worried. Law enforcement is worried, 

regulators are worried, legislators are worried, parents are worried, 

schools are worried, kids are worried. We have to do something. 

It sounds easy to turn around and say the one thing we can control, 

schools and libraries, through the E-rate, turn it off. But since all of the 

social networks, the social network technologies are going to be used by 

all of the ISPs, by all of the big sites, by Disney and Viacom and 

everybody else, it is the future of the Internet. This is where everything 

is going. So we would be turning off, effectively, the entire Internet with 

this, number one. 

Number two, it is not really addressing the issue. The kids, when 

they are involved with sexual predators, require grooming time. It is 

hard to do that in the library when everyone is fighting for a computer or 

in the classroom when teachers are watching what you are doing, and we 

find the schools who really know what they are doing they are not only 

blocking social networks. They are blocking ESPN, other sites that are 

not school oriented. Because, during the school day, kids are supposed 

to be studying. 

So there may be easier ways of dealing with it that aren’t as hard to 

craft that won’t turn off the entire Internet and will be more effective to 

the real issue. 

To my knowledge, around the country, I have not found a case where 

a child has been groomed and sexually exploited because of their access 

from a school computer or a library computer on a social network. I 

think, instead, if we target getting the FTC involved on a global site that 

is doing Internet safety, they have got online on guard already, we are 

partnering with them, getting more stuff into the hands of parents, getting 

kids aware that even smart kids can be targeted and that whatever you 

post online is public, and that that cute 14-year-old boy may not be a cute 

14-year-old boy, if we can get out there and get everyone involved 

talking together, we can stop the turf wars, find out what our group does 

well, find out what NickNick does well. Get the Facebook and the others 

to put out PSAs, work with the AGs. I think if we pulled together 

globally--and I think that this committee can help us do that--we can 

come up with answers. We can make a real difference, and that could be 

easier. 

MR. ENGEL. Thank you. 

Let me ask Ms. Yoke, from the ALA point of view, H.R. 5319, as it 

is currently drafted, would the ALA support it? 

MS. YOKE. Well, the goal of DOPA, keeping children safe, is a lot 

of bull. ALA argues that a more effective and long-term solution would 

be for Congress to authorize and provide appropriate funding for Internet 
148

education programs that would provide resources and support for 

adequate numbers of qualified school library media specialists and public 

librarians to serve the young people in our communities by providing 

information literacy instruction, Internet safety instruction and so on. 

ALA suggests that Congress does not need to pass another bill 

calling for technological measures to control Internet content. Existing 

CIPA provisions as well as the local policies and activities of our school 

and public libraries are sufficient. If Congress feels that it must pass 

such a bill, we would ask that libraries be included in the FCC Advisory 

Committee, the terminology be clarified and that local decisions be 

respected. 

MR. ENGEL. Thank you. 

I would just like to ask, with the Chairman’s indulgence, one 

question. I mentioned the spoofing bill and said we are always playing 

catch-up. The Internet, obviously, from what everyone is saying, and we 

know this, is becoming an enabling technology for predators. Are any of 

you aware or can share with us what other technologies are out there or 

in research and development that we can use to combat and track down 

predators? Anyone aware of anything that is out there? Yes. 

MS. AFTAB. Social networks can be very helpful in tracking 

predators. By putting a button on the profiles, the kids can very easily 

report inappropriate communications with them; and it is a great way of 

doing it. I know Facebook is very responsive to abuse reports. The YFly 

site has a “report a creep” button. If someone talks to them, they will 

report it to law enforcement. It is a great way of mobilizing people and 

reporting bad things. 

In addition, if you can have a central site so that people know where 

to report different kinds of crimes. The CyberTipLine is fabulous for 

missing child issues and child pornography issues, but it may not be 

appropriate for cyber bullying. People need to know where to go when 

bad things happen to make them stop, and I think that using social 

networks and other sites like that to let people know where to report 

them can be very helpful. 

MR. KELLY. We have built very extensive reporting tools into our 

site and background monitoring tools for potentially 

inappropriate activities on the network that will highlight accounts that 

could be being misused in terms of too many friend requests, especially 

too many rejected friend requests, somebody just trying to make the 

initial connections, and that basically enforces the protections of the user 

information that we have built into the architecture of our system. 

MR. ENGEL. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 
149

MR. FERGUSON. The author of the bill that we are discussing today, 

the gentleman from Pennsylvania, Mr. Fitzpatrick, is recognized for 

questions. 

MR. FITZPATRICK. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

First of all, I appreciate all the suggestions of the members of the 

panel, some very good ones about the need to educate children about the 

dangers of surfing on the Internet, who is out there lurking beyond where 

they can see. It is not just educating children, as we have heard from 

many of the members, educating the parents, Members of Congress, 

educators. We certainly need to do all that. 

And, Mr. Davis, I certainly applaud the steps that Fairfax County 

Public Schools have taken. As you indicate in your testimony, you have 

implemented software technology. I think you indicated you may have 

procedures in place. You are educating children as well. 

But the purpose of this hearing in discussing the Deleting Online 

Predators Act is to talk about the efficacy or would it make sense to 

protect children unsupervised while in a school computer lab setting 

from being able to access sites like MySpace.com. We do know from 

the testimony of the prosecutors who were here that there are cases of 

predators who are out there and predators who have used the site to get to 

children, and so we know the predators are on the sites. They are on 

MySpace, and MySpace is in the school. 

You seem to be saying, Mr. Davis, it is okay for MySpace.com to be 

in the schools as long as we have a policy and we try to monitor it. 

Wouldn’t it be better in the school setting, just in the educational setting, 

to be prohibiting access to that site because we know that there are 

predators on that site, a predator we would not--as Mr. Zellis indicated, 

we would not let a sexual predator walk through the front door of the 

school, but we are permitting them access to the school and classroom 

setting through the Internet. What kind of policies can you have in place 

to protect children from that access? 

MR. DAVIS. Okay. I am not saying that it is okay for students to 

have access to this in schools. In fact, FCPS, we have blocked access to 

these sites for our students. 

What I am getting at is that the benefits of imposing this--for one, 

school systems that are already subject to or are using E-rate funds are 

subject to the Children’s Internet Protection Act, are addressing this 

issue. I would expect my colleagues across the country to already be 

looking at these sites and already making a decision whether that is 

appropriate for their school to block or not to block that site. 

FCPS, we have decided to block that site. I know neighboring 

jurisdictions have made that decision as well. 
150

So, no, I am not saying that it is okay. My fundamental point is that 

the benefits would be marginal. Marginal benefits, though, as indicated 

down here earlier, if it protects one child that is very important. I truly 

believe that our students have to be prepared to deal with these dangers 

in life, because that is where they are going to experience it. 

There was a comment made earlier about technology and its role in 

this. Often, technology is accused of having created this problem, and 

we look to technology to solve this problem. But, in fact, it is people 

who have created this problem, and it is the people who create these 

problems that we need to target with legislation. 

MR. FITZPATRICK. I guess my next question would be to the 

prosecutors on the panel. Mr. Abbott, who has taken leave for a 

moment. He is gone. 

Mr. Zellis, I guess this question could be to you. You spend your 

lifetime prosecuting criminals and you see during the course of your time 

as a district attorney in Bucks County the methods that predators prey on 

children has changed now in the age of the Internet. I mean, would that 

be a safe thing to say, that the use of social networking sites has given 

predators a new entree to children and is it creating greater challenges for 

prosecutors such as yourself? 

MR. ZELLIS. As I stated before, it has reinvigorated and has given 

them a new outlet for preying on children. What happens is this is done 

totally unbeknownst to the parents. As we went around the county, 

parents are beside themselves when, as the Attorney General said, in 

Texas--and it was no different in Bucks County--we did live online 

presentations, and it just took a few minutes to put up on display 

somebody posing as a teenager--teenage girl in this instance--and there 

were hits galore; and it frightened and shocked every parent in the town 

hall meeting. 

So we have made adjustments as prosecutors. I know the court 

system has made adjustments in dealing with it. But we are playing 

catch-up. 

MR. FITZPATRICK. In your opinion, in interviewing child victims as 

witnesses for cases in Bucks County or perhaps other anecdotal evidence 

you may have seen, are children prepared for the dangers that they 

encounter while surfing on the Internet? 

MR. ZELLIS. I don’t think any child is prepared for it. I think the 

notion that children have to learn what the real life is like, I don’t think 

any child could be prepared for what they are seeing on the Internet, and 

these are children who don’t even expect it. They are just typing out 

instant messages to a friend, and all of a sudden somebody pops in there. 

And it might be pornography, it might be explicit language, or it could 

just be somebody who is trolling around and trying to groom children. 
151

So, ultimately it is a major, major problem, and you don’t expect 

when you are sending your child to school after monitoring their 

computer use at home or after sending the child to the library after 

monitoring their use at home they are going to be exposed to this in the 

school or library. I certainly wouldn’t expect that of my children, and I 

watch their computer use at home. So to think I would send them to 

school or to the library, they would have unfettered or easy access to 

these social networks that they don’t have access to at home, I think gets 

one’s blood boiling; and I think for the most part most Americans think 

that kids don’t have easy access to these social networks when they go to 

school or they go to the library. 

MR. FITZPATRICK. It sounds like in Bucks County you have done a 

number of town hall meetings. You have done Internet safety courses. 

Is that your experience? Is that what parents are telling you? 

MR. ZELLIS. Yes, it is. I think parents want to know more, and that 

is why I think the FTC part of the legislation is so critical to this 

legislation. But I also think that parents would be shocked to find out 

that their kids are going to school and while we are telling the parents 

you have to monitor them at home and watch what they are doing on the 

Internet that in school that they have easy access to these sites. 

MR. FERGUSON. We are going to go to Mr. Kirk for questions. 

MR. KIRK. Thank you, Mr. Chairman; and, once again, thank you 

for having me on this committee. I applaud this legislation by 

Congressman Fitzpatrick and this hearing. 

The one thing in our panel we have no formal representative of what 

I would regard as the most important group, parents, and I think the 

feeling that I hear from them is overwhelming with regard to this 

legislation. So my guess is, Mr. Zellis, that since you are a prosecutor, 

you are probably the closest thing to a parental representative here as we 

can get. 

I am encouraged by a different corporate policy by one social 

networking site and discouraged by another. Facebook is here. And 

because Facebook’s corporate culture--if you can talk about a 2-year-old 

company having a corporate culture--Facebook’s corporate culture is, 

because it required the dot edu address at the beginning, meant that we 

were overwhelmingly dealing with adults who had crossed the age of 18. 

And I think that we should have as free and open access on the Internet 

as adults as possible, but our law does not say that with regard to 

children. There is compelling State interest to protect children and their 

abilities and their rights. 

And while Facebook is expanding into the high school arena, that 

concerns me. Because now you are starting to deal with children. It 

seems to be very responsive and responsible corporate policy to deny 
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access to anyone who is not in the same school e-mail group. So only a 

sexual predator who is actually going to school or a teacher can now get 

access to those kids, but it would be a worry. 

MR. KELLY. We are very worried about that. 

MR. KIRK. Right, as you should. Because there is a lack of common 

sense here. 

In Highland Park, Illinois, we have spent an awful lot securing the 

doors of the school. As a Congressman, when I come to school, I have to 

report to the administrator before I can go anywhere, and I am usually 

challenged by three or four people walking through the school. And yet 

MySpace can get an Internet predator into the school library unhindered. 

That should be an enormous problem. 

When we look at the legislation that is currently drafted, I can see 

that easy access is a definitional point, and I might suggest one that 

would make me comfortable, that easy access to be defined as any site 

that has over 100,000 children online. At that point, I really pretty much 

know who I am talking about. And the hundred grand worth of children 

is a pretty big group to then begin to think about the United States’ legal 

tradition of forcing anyone who makes money off of children to offer a 

unique level of protection. 

I just think about when we are in the business of making school 

buses or in selling toys to children, we have unique legal burdens; and if 

you get in the business of making money off of children, you have a 

unique legal burden. I mean, this legislation calls for screening. 

The other approach, if it was written by the other party from the start 

and we could go down this road, is just to let trial lawyers rip you to 

pieces, open up a whole series of Federal liabilities and Federal lawsuits 

that could be leveled against you and go at it that way. 

So I would just say that the Facebook direction is the way to go, 

except I might hold your business plan at less high school and more the 

rest. 

With regard to privacy rights of kids, we also talk about I think it 

was one Pennsylvania mom that said, I know that all Americans have 

rights, but with regard to my children at home, I am their judge, jury, and 

executioner. And I think that largely reflects the view of a parent. 

My question is for David. In your testimony, you just outlined that 

MySpace.com has now been a center of drug activity, of gang activity, 

and of Internet predators, that if it was any other business in any other 

area would be of unique concern to county law enforcement. Isn’t it 

entirely appropriate that the State get involved, especially when we are 

dealing with children? 

MR. ZELLIS. Absolutely. In fact, I brought a picture of a MySpace 

posting which deals with a gang member; and at the bottom it says, 
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which gang you should be in? And it is the Crips. It is a recruitment tool 

used in suburban Bucks County or any suburbia around the country. So, 

these pose new and unique challenges to all of us. 

We had in Bucks County one of the first cases involving the sale of 

drugs to--and it was a minor who--so the whole idea of the age as being 

the be-all and end-all--this was a juvenile who had a posting with drugs, 

with guns; and he was in the business of selling drugs on MySpace. 

MR. KIRK. We just heard in Levittown, Pennsylvania, of a gang 

putting a hit out on the class president; and the high school graduation 

had to be cancelled. 

I would just say in Bucks County--I know the answer to this, but in 

Bucks County is it legal for a gang to come into a library and recruit 

children? 

MR. ZELLIS. No. 

MR. KIRK. Right. Nationally, we know from the Drug Enforcement 

Administration and ATF that the average drug gang shooter is in the 

seventh grade. So since we have done so much to protect gang recruiting 

and prevented that from happening in a library or in a school, shouldn’t 

we prevent it from happening in a library or a school via the Internet? 

MR. ZELLIS. One would hope. 

MR. KIRK. Right. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

MR. FERGUSON. I want to thank all of our panelists for being here 

today. This is an extremely important discussion that we are having. It 

is my hope that we will continue to discuss this topic. We certainly 

thank our out-of-town guests for coming in and thank Mr. Fitzpatrick and 

Mr. Kirk for joining us today. 

With that, this hearing is adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 1:03 p.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.] 
154

SUBMISSION FOR THE RECORD OF ELIZABETH RACINE

Dear Mr. Chairman: 

My name is Elizabeth Racine; I am the mother of three teenagers, and have been a 

writer, editor, and researcher for the past 21 years, specializing in family and parenting 

issues. I’ve appeared in print over 300 times, with articles in Newsday, The Chicago 

Tribune, as well as in Catholic Parent Magazine, Today’s Catholic Teacher, and 

Momentum Magazine. I began using the Internet extensively in 1994 for my own research 

projects as well as for those of my editorial clients. Starting in the year 2000, I taught 

eighth grade in Catholic schools for four years before returning to full-time freelancing. 

As my own children began using the Internet, I have vigorously monitored their 

online usage, as well as that of my students, with varying degrees of success. Over the 

past 12 years I have grown increasingly concerned-- and now alarmed-- about not only 

what is available for viewing online, especially to our children, but also what our children 

are posting online as well. 

For the past few years I have been giving talks to parents, teachers and clergy about 

these dangers. My real-life stories and images have shocked audiences, who previously 

had no idea that this problem existed. 

I have served as a resource person for many Catholic reporters, and recently 

appeared on Fox 29’s special report on Internet abuses by children. Despite the increasing 

news coverage, there is still a vast amount of Internet activity that goes unreported. 

Lately I have been meeting with members of the House of Representatives and the 

Senate to educate and advise them on these Internet risks to our children, in hope that 

they will increase legislation and regulation to help protect them. 

I am grateful for Mike Fitzpatrick’s Bill, H.R. 5319, the Deleting Online Predators 

Act of 2006. While it is not foolproof, it is a starting point, a beacon of hope for those, 

like me, who have seen the Internet’s underbelly and are alarmed over what is happening 

to our children online. 

My goal in writing to you today is to help you better understand this attack on our 

children. It is my great hope that Congress will assist parents, like me, who are intensely 

concerned about our children’s moral and spiritual development. It is time that Congress 

steps in to help parents protect their children. 

I began using the Internet in 1994, and my interest in the Internet changed abruptly 

when my then-7-year-old son came to me one day while I was in the garage. 

“Mommy...” he started, lower lip trembling, “I saw something on the computer...” 

he looked up helplessly when he couldn’t find the words. Worried, I asked him to explain 

what happened. 

“I was playing games on Lego.com and then when I was done, I wanted to find more 

games for boys to play –so I typed in ‘boys.com...’” 

And then he stopped. Seeing his agitation, I ran to the computer to see what would 

possibly be upsetting him (this was 1997, long before public awareness of rampant 

pornography). I typed in boys.com and was greeted by an image of a young boy, about 12 

or 13, performing oral sex on a man. My 9-year-old daughter then piped in that she 

decided to check girls.com also, and found an equally appalling photo on that site. 

Words cannot adequately describe the dark feeling in the pit of my stomach or the 

primordial mother-bear rage that went through me over this loss of my precious 

children’s innocence. This feeling still wells up in me; my eyes again fill with tears as I 

write these words. No matter how many times I try, I cannot tell this story without crying, 

which is embarrassing, even though I have told this story numerous times to parent and 

teacher groups, trying to get parents to pay attention to what their children are doing 

online. I endure this willingly in order to protect the children who are being sought so 

desperately by an industry—indeed, a society-- that is professing to try to keep them safe, 

but is more concerned with “free speech” instead of the protection of children. 
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Pornographers and its millions of consumers, are only too happy to snare them into the 

web of addiction to pornography to keep them coming back for more. Parents and 

teachers need to be made aware of the need to protect our children, at home and at school 

and the library, so that their innocent web wanderings don’t turn into a nightmare. 

We moved to our current home in the year 2000, where we enrolled our children in 

Catholic school. My 12-year-old daughter began using Instant Messenger along with her 

classmates. I would check to see what was going on—I would use drop-down menus and 

see what profiles on the kids were posting, and which ones they were viewing. I was in 

for the shock of my life...one boy had a profile on AOL Hometown, and his profile 

included graphic porn cartoons and links to porn sites, when all these porn sites started 

opening rapid-fire on my computer. If you’ve ever had this happen, you don’t soon forget 

it...a link opens, and then ten, twenty, even thirty windows pop open on your screen, and 

you can’t stop them—and they are all pornographic. I was aghast, and very angry—how 

can MY computer be subject to this? 

I became a substitute teacher at their school the first year, and was asked to become 

a teacher the following year. I would be teaching 8th grade—the same grade that my 

daughter would be enrolled in. She would not be in my class, but her friends would. I still 

read more and more Internet entries, and came across a saved conversation between my 

daughter and her “friends.” The language and the cyber bullying that went on were 

atrocious. And here it was, coming from 12-year-olds!! Their parents had no idea that 

they were posting this material. 

This was in 2001. My school became the recipient of a grant from the Connelly 

Foundation to receive a laptop cart, enabling the children to have access to a wireless 

Internet system. Because of my prior research, I knew first-hand the dangers of 

inappropriate content on the web, and our school had in place a technology person who 

had a blocking software program installed. We had very strict rules about the kids 

accessing websites in the classroom, and what to do if something inappropriate came up 

on the screen—the kids were to close the laptop and raise their hand if the blocking 

screen came up, or if something appeared that was out of order. As we visited educational 

websites together as a class, I can’t tell you the number of times a child received a red 

“Blocked” screen, telling me that they had come upon a site with content deemed 

inappropriate—due to their typing in the educational site’s name incorrectly for 

example—a common ploy of pornographers, who like to purchase the URLs of 

misspelled site names in hopes of luring in unsuspecting visitors. For example, one of my 

students tried to access the educational site we were using in class (Funbrain.com), but 

accidentally transposed two of the letters in its name (FunBrian.com). His computer 

brought up a red screen, which meant it was blocked. 

Also, it is common for pornographers to purchase expired domain names, especially 

educational websites or those with Catholic or religious titles. This is a hot market--they 

bank on the fact that people would innocently click on their stored bookmarks and then 

would be brought to a porn website instead of the religious site they were looking for. 

I have researched kids’ use of blog sites, now called Social Networking sites, since 

my own children began using them in 1999. The first ones were the profile sites on 

Instant Messenger, which could then host “sub-profiles.” These sub-profiles allowed 

children to post all sorts of information about themselves, and I immediately saw the 

danger in them, since kids could write whatever they wanted on them, and many posted 

pornography. I tried to alert parents to this danger and met with varying levels of 

response—some were happy to know so they could correct matters, others said I was out 

to get their kids and that I was lying about what had been posted! Since I was teaching at 

the time, this put me in a very awkward position. 

With the exponential growth of the latest social networking sites, MySpace being 

the most popular, I have had my own accounts on all of them, and have been solicited by 

porn stars – all the big name porn stars try to lure visitors to their own MySpace pages, 
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which feature very suggestive photos, and then, of course, links to the porn site. I have 

posted one such solicitation below, which leads to a live web-cam site. I received another 

one today, which invited me to join a MySpace group which is pornographic. I visited 

the group to see what it was about, and I saw comments posted by lots of kids who were 

under 18, and who were upset that they had been solicited! So there is hope there, but I 

can’t imagine how many more kids were only too happy to visit the web cam site and 

participate in the goings-on. 

The link in her site leads to the following websites: 

www.imlivenow.net and www.ezezdates.info 

On the www.imlivenow.net site, there are pictures of Melissa along with this 

message: 

“These pictures are not very revealing because kids may 

see this page. On my webcam I get naked and nasty ;] 

All you have to do is Click here for your FREE Password 

Anyone who has spent any amount of time trolling the pages on MySpace, Xanga, 

or other social networking sites cannot help but see what a cesspool it is...it’s no surprise 

to me that there is an increasing number of child predator solicitations, leading to rape 

and even murder. The thing I CANNOT believe is that all schools are not required to 

have a blocking mechanism in place for the students’ safety and well-being. Kids are 

very interested in these sites and very excited to interact with their friends online—and 

their hormones are raging and most of them cannot pass up the temptation to view porn. 

They are oblivious to the danger, even when they are educated. 

Even from a schoolwork standpoint, as a teacher, I can’t imagine trying to teach and 

having to compete with kids who might be more interested in clicking over to their 

MySpace account during a class assignment, and having that eat up their academic 

learning time. And from what I read on MySpace, they do it ALL THE TIME during 
157

class. A teacher cannot visually see every computer at every moment, so it is only too 

easy for kids to do this. 

Libraries are another place that blocking software should be mandatory. Recent 

news stories show that news crews have filmed men masturbating right there in the open 

at the library while viewing porn on the library computer—only a few feet away from the 

children’s room. My stomach lurches when I hear of this taking place—how can we not 

put an end to that sort of thing? What kind of sick society allows that to happen, when the 

answer is readily available in the form of blocking technology. 

WKYC in Cleveland had an expose on this recently: 

http://www.wkyc.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=52623 

We can't really show you, we have video of Cooper pleasuring himself while 

watching porn at the Berea Library, just across the room from the children's section. 

Take our word for it. And his. 

"I wasn't thinking. I made a mistake," Cooper admitted. 

If Cooper doesn't trust himself, should we? Well, apparently, the Berea Library 

does. 

Berea Library Manager Cindy Bereznay said she saw Cooper masturbating the last 

time he was in her library. 

Bereznay said they caught Cooper in the act a few years ago. 

"I told him I would have to call the police if it continued," she said. 

And Cooper ran out of the building. 

I realize that H.R. 5319 is not foolproof, because blocking technology is not 

foolproof. Unfortunately, blocking technology can be circumvented, and there are 

numerous sites being made available to children to allow them to get around their school 

or home blocking software—these sites are run by adults, which I can hardly believe. 

But, just because the mechanism isn’t foolproof does not mean we shouldn’t implement 

it. Just as seatbelts are not a guarantee that no harm will come to someone who wears 

one, so blocking technology is to children. Blocking inappropriate content will protect 

children more than the alternative, which is to allow everything to come to them 

unfiltered. It is better to do something rather than to do nothing. In the near future, an 

organization called CP80 (www.cp80.org) will unveil its simple yet ingenious plan to 

protect our children while it still allows for free speech. 

In the meantime, I implore Congress to evaluate seriously these threats to our 

children and make their protection their foremost concern. H.R. 5319 is a solid 

beginning, and I ask that it be implemented, along with other bills that seek to protect our 

children online. 
158

SUBMISSION FOR THE RECORD OF MICHAEL A RESNICK, ASSOCIATE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR,

NATIONAL SCHOOL BOARDS ASSOCIATION
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