[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 185 Agreed to Senate (ATS)]
108th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. RES. 185
Expressing the sense of the Senate with respect to raising awareness
and encouraging education about safety on the Internet and supporting
the goals and ideals of National Internet Safety Month.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
June 25, 2003
Ms. Murkowski (for herself, Mr. Stevens, and Mr. Inouye) submitted the
following resolution; which was considered and agreed to
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Expressing the sense of the Senate with respect to raising awareness
and encouraging education about safety on the Internet and supporting
the goals and ideals of National Internet Safety Month.
Whereas, in the United States, 48 million children between the ages of 5 and 17
use computers;
Whereas 5 to 17 year-olds in the United States currently spend 5 billion hours
on-line annually;
Whereas 70 million youth under the age of 18 worldwide are on-line;
Whereas the majority of teenagers' on-line use occurs after school, at home,
when working parents are not at home;
Whereas 90 percent of those age 15 to 24 use the Internet, with almost half of
them using it once a day or more;
Whereas approximately 3 out of 4 young people have access to the Internet at
home, and nearly 1 in 3 has access from their own bedroom;
Whereas 9 out of 10 children between ages 8 and 16 have viewed pornography on
the Internet, with most being accessed unintentionally when, often in
the process of doing homework, a child used a seemingly innocent
sounding word in an Internet search for information or pictures;
Whereas 62 percent of parents of teenagers are unaware that their children have
accessed objectionable websites;
Whereas 89 percent of sexual solicitations were made in either chat rooms or
Instant Messages;
Whereas 30 percent of the girls responding to a Girl Scout research study
reported that they had been sexually harassed in a chat room, but only 7
percent told a parent about the harassment, most fearing their parents
would overreact and ban computer usage altogether;
Whereas, in 1996, the Federal Bureau of Investigation was involved in 113 cases
involving Internet crimes against children, but in 2001, the FBI opened
1,541 cases against suspects of Internet crimes involving child
pornography or abuse; and
Whereas June as National Internet Safety Month will provide national awareness
of the dangers of the Internet while offering education about how to be
safe, responsible, and accountable on the Internet: Now, therefore, be
it
Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that--
(1) National Internet Safety Month provides an opportunity
to educate the people of the United States on the dangers of
the Internet and the importance of being safe and responsible
on-line;
(2) national and community organizations should be
recognized and applauded for their work in promoting awareness
of the dangers of the Internet and for providing information on
developing the critical thinking and decision-making skills to
be safe on-line; and
(3) Internet safety organizations, law enforcement,
educators, and volunteers should increase their efforts to
raise the awareness of on-line safety.
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