I 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3222 
To promote Internet safety education and cybercrime prevention initiatives, 
and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 15, 2009 
Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (for herself and Mr. CULBERSON) introduced the 
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To promote Internet safety education and cybercrime 
prevention initiatives, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Adolescent Web 
Awareness Requires Education Act’’ or the ‘‘AWARE 
Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 
(1) The Internet is an invaluable tool that is 
critical to the ability of the Nation to compete in a 
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global economy. The Internet provides instant access 
to research and boundless information and connects 
individuals around the world. 
(2) About 93 percent of youth ages 12 through 
17 years use online services regularly and nearly 45 
percent of children ages 3 to 11 years will use the 
Internet on a monthly basis in 2009. Eighty-nine 
percent of teens have a profile on social networking 
sites. Eighty percent of teens ages 13 through 17 
years use cell phones, most of which have built-in 
cameras. 
(3) Bullying in schools can take many forms, 
including sending insulting, threatening, or offensive 
messages via Internet sites, email, instant mes-
saging, cell phone text messaging, telephone, or any 
other electronic messaging system. 
(4) In a recent survey, 1 in 5 teenagers stated 
that they had used their cell phones to send explicit 
photos of themselves to a peer, a practice commonly 
known as ‘‘sexting’’. In most States, such conduct 
can subject young adults to felony child pornography 
charges and the potential punishment of registering 
as a sex offender. 
(5) The Internet has facilitated the growth of 
a multibillion dollar global market for child pornog-
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raphy, far exceeding the capacity of law enforcement 
to respond at the Federal, State, and local level. 
(6) Internet safety education, coupled with 
technology tools, is the most effective way to resolve 
and prevent these crimes and other dangers com-
mitted on the Internet and in other new media. 
(7) According to an empirical study of 1,379 
fourth grade students in Virginia, the first State to 
mandate Internet safety education in its schools, the 
students improved their responses to 8 of 10 Inter-
net safety scenarios after completing an Internet 
safety education program, with the greatest improve-
ment in uncomfortable content and cyberbullying. 
(8) The enactment of the Children’s Internet 
Protection Act (Public Law 106–554; 114 Stat. 
2763A–336) mandated that schools implement 
Internet safety policies and technology protection 
measures in order to receive discounts to obtain af-
fordable telecommunications and Internet access. 
Most schools have now developed acceptable use poli-
cies and have implemented filtering and other tech-
nology-based solutions to help protect children. 
(9) However, less than 25 percent of educators 
feel comfortable teaching students how to protect 
themselves from online predators, bullies, and iden-
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tity thieves, according to a recent study by the Na-
tional Cyber Security Alliance and Educational 
Technology Policy, Research, and Outreach. The 
same study found that 90 percent of educators have 
received less than 6 hours of professional develop-
ment on issues related to online security in the past 
year. As a result, many students receive little or no 
education on safe and responsible use of the Internet 
and other new media. 
(10) The widespread use of the Internet, cell 
phones, interactive gaming, and other electronic 
communication devices by children both inside and 
outside of schools suggests that acceptable use poli-
cies and filtering alone cannot resolve Internet safe-
ty concerns and that a greater focus on education 
would be beneficial. 
(11) In a national poll on children’s health, par-
ents ranked Internet safety fifth among their top 
health concerns for children. Yet according to a 
Common Sense Media poll conducted in 2006, al-
most 90 percent of parents say that they lack the 
knowledge about how to protect their children on-
line. For this reason, educating parents about Inter-
net safety is key to empowering them to understand 
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actual risks and to take an active role in protecting 
their children. 
(12) The problem of online harassment, or 
cyberbullying, of youth by other youths is wide-
spread and results in a range of children’s experi-
ences from minor irritation to severe emotional 
harm. The Bureau of Justice Statistics has found 
that online harassment tends to begin in third and 
fourth grade, peaks in seventh and eighth grade, 
and continues in reduced amounts throughout high 
school, college, and professional school. 
(13) Gang members increasingly are using the 
Internet as a recruitment tool to entice would-be 
members and as an intimidation tool to threaten 
rival gangs. Gang members use the Internet, in par-
ticular, to promote their message. 
(14) More research is needed in several areas of 
youth online safety, including— 
(A) the prevention of minor-to-minor solici-
tation and other inappropriate use of the Inter-
net; 
(B) the prevention of the creation of prob-
lematic content by youths; 
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(C) the protection of lesbian, gay, bisexual, 
and transgender youth and youth with disabil-
ities that may be particularly vulnerable; 
(D) the interplay between socioeconomic 
class and risk factors; 
(E) the role that pervasive digital image 
and video capture devices play in harassment of 
youth by other youth and youth production of 
problematic content; 
(F) the intersection of different mobile and 
Internet-based technologies; and 
(G) the online activities of registered sex 
offenders. 
(b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are to— 
(1) facilitate research and identify best prac-
tices in Internet safety education for youth, parents, 
and education officials; and 
(2) establish a competitive grant program for 
State education agencies, local educational agencies, 
and nonprofit organizations to institute best prac-
tices relating to Internet education and the research- 
based recommendations derived from the study con-
ducted under this Act. 
SEC. 3. GRANT PROGRAM. 
(a) AUTHORITY TO MAKE GRANTS.— 
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