2009: A critical year for protecting children from online exploitation
Mary Graw Leary, writing at Public Discourse:
The crisis for our youth at this time in our history threatens a generation of internet-savvy minors. Reported instances of suspected online child sexual exploitation continue every year, surpassing 500,000 such events in 2007. Child pornography is a multi-billion-dollar industry, appearing in many media, including on computers and cellular phones, items used regularly by a majority of youth. Sex trafficking, meanwhile, has been labeled the largest subcategory of modern day slavery by the State Department. How we as a government and as a society respond to the increased risk of sexual exploitation of children will no doubt have effects long outlasting any one administration.