huridocs-tech U.N. group to combat online child porn

Edited/Distributed by HURINet - The Human Rights Information Network
---------------------------------------------------------------------
## author     : jwalenci@acc.jbu.edu
## date       : 26.02.00
---------------------------------------------------------------------
U.N. group to combat online child porn
By Paul Festa Staff Writer, CNET News.com February 25, 2000

With legislation to protect minors from online sexual
predators stalled in the courts, a United Nations-led
Internet child protection effort is attracting attention
from top U.S. technology companies, law enforcement agencies
and educational institutions.

Dubbed "Innocence in Danger," the U.N. initiative is
focusing on pedophilia and child pornography and will
proceed under the auspices of a group called Wired Kids,
which also addresses "digital divide" issues of equitable
access and education for children.

Participants include Microsoft, AT&T, America Online, Lycos,
the American Library Association, the National Education
Association, the FBI, the Department of Justice, the Federal
Trade Commission and the National Center for Missing and
Exploited Children.

The activity springs from a conference called in Paris in
September 1998 following a massive European sting against
alleged traffickers in online child pornography. Innocence
in Danger falls under the domain of the United Nations
Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

High among the new group's goals is to provide a
clearinghouse for information related to online child porn
and pedophilia that child protection groups around the world
can share. The group's founders envision an "online virtual
think tank."

These efforts have already led to academic research on
children's online behavior. Based on a Net survey of more
than 10,000 respondents, three American UNESCO appointees
are preparing to release a study suggesting that young women
and girls are not approaching the Internet with sufficient
caution. Not surprisingly, they conclude that stronger
regulations are needed to improve safety.

The Wired Kids project gets under way amid a roiling
international debate about the role of the Internet in the
sexual exploitation of children. In the United States, the
issue has pitted civil liberties groups against children's
rights proponents in a series of high- profile legal
skirmishes over the openness of the Internet.

The issue has most recently been in the spotlight following
the mistrial late last year of former Infoseek executive
Patrick Naughton on charges of using the Internet to seek
sex with a minor. Naughton is scheduled for retrial in
March; he has denied wrongdoing.

Children's advocates have recently faced legal setbacks in
the United States on several fronts.

In December, a federal appeals court struck down the Child
Pornography Prevention Act of 1996, finding the law went too
far when it outlawed materials that either "appear to be" or
"convey the impression" they are sexually explicit pictures
of children.

In addition, the Child Online Protection Act (COPA), which
restricts access to online material that is deemed "harmful
to minors," has been tied up in the courts for more than a
year.

Risky behavior Throwing a new element into the debate is a
broad survey of children's and teen-agers' behavior
suggesting that tougher laws may be needed.

Conducted by two professors at the University of South
Florida and an attorney specializing in children's online
safety issues, the study surveyed 10,800 girls between the
ages of 12 and 18 who opted to participate through the
Seventeen Online Web site. The researchers set out to
document what they suspected was a lack of caution taken by
girls and young women online. Their suspicions were
confirmed.

The study determined that many young women and girls turn to
the Internet as a sexual outlet: 60 percent of the girls
surveyed reported having engaged in some kind of sexual
activity while online, phrased by the respondents as
"cybersex."

In addition, the survey found that girls frequently meet
people in person whom they have encountered online. Fifteen
percent of those online 10 to 12 hours per week said they
had met an online acquaintance offline, and 24 percent of
those online at least 12 hours per week reported doing so.

The study did not account for what transpired at the offline
meetings. But the authors deemed it an indication that girls
were not being careful enough about their online activities.

The Internet as it stands today poses a risk for "young
people who may be naive regarding the intentions of others,"
report the authors. "Since children and youth typically are
trusting and curious about online relationships, they are
vulnerable to crime and exploitation."



----------------------------------
Send mail for the 'huridocs-tech' list to 'huridocs-tech@hrea.org'.
Mail administrative requests to 'majordomo@hrea.org'.
For additional assistance, send mail to: 'owner-huridocs-tech@hrea.org'.
Archives of previous messages posted to the list can be found at:
http://www.hrea.org/lists/huridocs-tech/markup/maillist.html