Internet Safety Month Approved by Senate

On May 22, the Senate approved a resolution (S. Res. 486), by unanimous consent, designating June 2006 as “National Internet Safety Month.”

Sponsored by Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), the resolution contains a number of findings, including:

• In the United States, more than 90 percent of children between the ages of 5 years old and 17 years old, or approximately 47 million children, now use computers;
• Approximately 26 percent of the children in grades 5 through 12 are online for more than 5 hours a week;
• Approximately 12 percent of those children spend more time online than they spend interacting with their friends;
• Approximately 53 percent of the children and teens like to be alone when “surfing” the Internet;
• Approximately 29 percent of those children believe that their parents would express concern, restrict their Internet use, or take away their computer if their parents knew which sites they visited while surfing on the Internet;
• Approximately 32 percent of the students in grades 5 through 12 feel that they have the skills to bypass protections offered by the installation of filtering software;
• Approximately 31 percent of youths have visited an inappropriate website on the Internet;
• Approximately 33 percent of the students in grades 5 through 12 have chatted on the Internet with an individual whom they have not met in person;
• Approximately 11.5 percent of those students have later met with a stranger with whom they chatted on the Internet;
• Approximately 39 percent of youths in grades 5 through 12 have admitted to giving out their personal information, including their name, age, and gender, over the Internet; and
• Approximately 14 percent of those youths have received mean or threatening email while on the Internet.The resolution calls on internet safety groups, law enforcement, educators, and parents to expand their efforts to ensure online safety.

  Sen. Murkowski said, “Never before has the problem of online predatory behavior been more of a concern…Most disturbing are the patterns of Internet crimes against children. In 1996, the Federal Bureau of Investigation was involved in 113 cases involving Internet crimes against children. In 2001, the FBI opened 1,541 cases against people suspected of using the Internet to commit crimes involving child pornography or abuse. Now is the time for America to focus its attention on supporting Internet safety, especially bearing in mind that children will soon be on summer vacation and will spend more time online.”