Online Exploitation of Children is Big Business
Protecting children from sexual exploitation is a relatively new concept in the United States, considering no federal laws relating to child pornography existed prior to 1978!
Recent advances in the Internet and digital technology have dramatically increased the ability and ease with which perpetrators can photograph, videotape, store and trade their sexual abuse of children. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, a nonprofit mandated by Congress to catalog child sexual abuse images, reported in 2007 it had identified 9.6 million images and videos of child pornography and believed there were millions more yet to be identified. The child pornography industry generates over 3 billion dollars annually, and more than 200 new images of children being sexually abused are circulated each day to drive market demand. California law currently requires people in certain professions, including commercial film and photographic print processors, to report child abuse or neglect. In today’s Digital Age, however, laws designed for traditional ‘print’ media are simply no longer adequate. It's time we update the law! | Assembly Member Toni Atkins Introduces AB 1817 - Mandating Computer Technicians to Report Child Sexual Abuse!
(Sacramento) - Assembly Member Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) has introduced legislation (AB 1817) to require commercial computer technicians to be mandated reporters of child abuse or neglect.
“Computer technicians are on the front lines for discovering child sexual abuse and pornography,” said Atkins. “Making them mandated reporters protects children and aids law enforcement in finding and stopping the predators who abuse them.” Like their counterparts in print media who process commercial film and photos, commercial computer technicians are uniquely positioned to discover child pornography in the course of their work. Download AB 1817 here! Download Assembly Member Atkins' Fact Sheet here! Read San Diego Union Tribune coverage here! |