MSNBC NEWS COVERAGE: PEDOPHILE CAUGHT IN ACT

Shocking Statistics

• One in five U.S. teenagers who regularly log on to the Internet say they have received an unwanted sexual solicitation via the Web. Solicitations were defined as requests to engage in sexual activities or sexual talk, or to give personal sexual information.
  – Crimes Against Children Research Center
• 25% of children have been exposed to unwanted pornographic material online.
  – Crimes Against Children Research Center
• Only 1/3 of households with Internet access are actively protecting their children with filtering or blocking software.
  – Center for Missing and Exploited Children
• 75% of children are willing to share personal information online about themselves and their family in exchange for goods and services.
  – eMarketer
• Only approximately 25% of children who encountered a sexual approach or solicitation told a parent or adult.
  – Crimes Against Children Research Center
• One in 33 youth received an aggressive sexual solicitation in the past year. This means a predator asked a young person to meet somewhere, called a young person on the phone, and/or sent the young person correspondence, money, or gifts through the U.S. Postal Service.
  – Your Internet Safety Survey
• 77% of the targets for online predators were age 14 or older.  Another 22% were users ages 10 to 13.
  – Crimes Against Children Research Center

• With an estimated 24 million children now online, one out of five have been solicited for sex in the last year. (Congressional Study)
• One in four children were sent pictures of people who were naked or having sex.
• An estimated 725,000 children have been “aggressively” asked for sex, defined as an offer to meet in person.
• A top Disney executive was recently arrested and charged with using the Internet to solicit sex with a minor
• 75% of children are willing to share personal information online about themselves and their family in exchange for goods and services.
• Only 25 percent of the youth who encountered a sexual approach or solicitation told a parent
• One in five U.S. teenagers who regularly log on to the Internet say they have received an unwanted sexual solicitation via the Web. Solicitations were defined as requests to engage in sexual activities or sexual talk, or to give personal sexual information.
• 77% of the targets for online preditors were age 14 or older. Another 22% were users ages 10 to 13
• 75 percent of the solicited youth were not troubled, 10 percent did not use chat rooms and 9 percent did not talk to strangers
• Only 17 percent of youth and 11 percent of parents could name a specific authority, such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), CyberTipline, or an Internet service provider, to which they could report an Internet crime.
• Experts, both within the FBI and in the private sector, revealed that the utilization of computer telecommunications was rapidly becoming one of the most prevalent techniques by which some sex offenders shared pornographic images of minors and identified and recruited children into sexually illicit relationships.
• Only 1/3 of the households with Internet access are proactively protecting their children!

REPORT CHILD SOLICITATION OR EXPLOITATION:

CyberTipline (www.cybertipline.com) or call (800) 843-5678