Mark Kirk: “to respond to my Democratic colleague, I agree with her that parents cannot be with their children all of the time, but…”

“to respond to my Democratic colleague, I agree with her that parents cannot be with their children all of the time, but sexual predators should not be with the children at any time, and that is the principle by which this legislation stands. Americans have a right to send their children to safe schools and libraries. In Lake County, Illinois, we have seen what can happen when Internet predators make contact with children. Last October, Joseph Caprigno molested a 14-year-old boy that he met on the Internet. Caprigno, a 40- year-old man, arranged to meet the boy in a 7-11 parking lot through an Internet chat room. In January, a 20-year-old man, Michael Zbonski, molested a 16-year- old he met on MySpace.com. Frighteningly, he not only communicated with this girl for 2 years via MySpace, he also admitted to sexual relationships with one of the victim's underage friends. The Deleting Online Predators Act is a commonsense piece of legislation that empowers parents to play a more active role in their children's activities online. This bill calls on the Federal Trade Commission to issue consumer alerts and to establish a unique Web site to better educate parents as to the dangers posed from Internet predators. Parents are the first and most important line of defense against these predators, but it is imperative to arm them with timely and accurate information to protect their children.…”