Online Sexual Abuse of Minors – A Plague

Online Sexual Abuse of Minors – A Plague

צילום אילוסטרציה (123rf)

This post is also available in: heעברית (Hebrew)

The scale of online sexual abuse of minors is extremely worrying * A special project by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to combat online sex crimes

Illustration photo (123rf)
Illustration photo (123rf)

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security began a large-scale, national campaign targeting online sex criminals, those who sexually abuse children surfing the internet.

According to DHS data last year alone special agents recorded a million hours of activities aimed at sexual abuse of minors online. 4,000 investigations were launched around the United States, and during the first stage the agents discovered 250 who were actively sexually abused. The DHS investigators compared the scale of online sexual abuse to a plague. The key solution, according to them, is raisining awareness of the dangers of this type of online behavior.

iHLS – Israel Homeland Security

The new campaign is called iGuardian. The first stage focuses on alerting children and their parents. Special agents and law enforcement representatives will visit schools and youth centers around the nation, meeting children and parents and teaching them how to avoid online dangers. The aim is to give parents and children the proper tools for avoiding dangerous websites, in addition to making the right decisions concerning safe internet surfing.

As part of the project the DHS investigators will cooperate with 61 task forces operating throughout the nation and focusing on stopping crimes against children. According to law enforcement records online sex offenders use highly advanced technologies to prey on their victims. “We don’t want to prevent young people from using the internet,” said DHS representatives, “the aim of the project is to guide, to teach them how to use the net in a safe and secure fashion.”

Source: DHS website