Statement by U.S. Representative Diana DeGette on the Online Child Exploitation Hearing

Statement by U.S. Representative Diana DeGette on the Online Child Exploitation Hearing

- Part 5 in a series of O&I Hearings: The Role Social Networking Sites -

U.S. Representative Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) released the following statement concerning the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations hearing "Making the Internet Safe for Kids."

"Mr. Chairman, thank you for again for another important hearing on the threat to our children from the growing use of the Internet by pedophiles.

"Yesterday we focused largely on the use of the access provided by Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to those that commercialize the images of the rape of children.

"Today we will continue the examination begun with yesterday's testimony of Chris Hansen of Dateline NBC regarding the online seduction of young people by the 50,000 predators we have learned are out there stalking them. Mr. Hansen set up sting operations like those run by many Federal, state and local law enforcement agencies to nab those who continually troll for vulnerable young people to sexually abuse. His "To Catch a Predator" series snared men from all walks of life including teachers whose students are of the age group they sought to seduce and, even more shockingly, a Rabbi that counsels young people.

"Today we turn our attention to social networking groups, a relatively new Internet phenomenon where millions of kids and teens post personal information on the web to share with peers and meet new friends. The problem is that predators are now flocking to these sites as well.

"I am particularly glad that you asked Detective Frank Dannahey of the Middletown Connecticut police force to testify today. Like so many dedicated local law enforcement officers, Detective Dannahey is in the trenches investigating the ways and means by which predators prey upon our children and trying to crack down on the problem as much as possible. He will help us to understand just how easy it is for pedophiles to infiltrate large groups of kids and find out more about them then any private eye could have before the advent of a companies like MySpace. Welcome, Detective.

"MySpace has received so much attention because it is the largest of these social network sites. Estimates are that nearly 85 million users have established personal pages on their network over the past 18 months, up from 30 million when News Corp bought it last summer. Apparently, there are approximately 22 million minors who have pages on the site.

"But there is another number that should trouble us, Mr. Chairman. According to a news report, MySpace has only 54 million unique users. That leaves 31 million pages for duplicate postings. I wonder how many of these 31 million users claim to be multiple ages. One thing we know for certain is that MySpace has no mechanism in place to identify the people that request postings on their network, much less to verify their ages.

"Yesterday, we were told that Yahoo limits its chat rooms to persons over the age of 18 and Microsoft requires payment for its forum thus limiting its use to those that possess a credit card, a demographic that skews older, certainly, but not a foolproof method. I suspect that Yahoo, MSN and other sites that try to limit access only to adults are far less attractive hunting grounds for predators seeking sex with a child.

"Last month a courageous 13 year-old girl, Masha Allen, begged us to find a way to take down the images posted on web by the man who adopted her and raped her from age 5 to age 10. Her plea should be recalled today as a reminder that once pictures or personal information are posted on the web, they can be disseminated widely and retained permanently. Pedophiles can store the postings of young teens and use the information for their nefarious purposes even after parents have requested the site be removed.

"Mr. Chairman, we will hear a lot today as we did yesterday about the sincere desires and active steps taken by companies to try and remove child pornography and predators from their platforms. Every step in this direction is progress, but the continuing growth in predation on our youth clearly demonstrates that not nearly enough is being done."

http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/co01_degette/Exploitation2.html