Political Quotes

“new technologies offer a wide variety of resources for research and communication; however, we must face the reality that technology can also be used or harm. For example, computers may be used to generate pornographic depictions of children. In addition, the Internet offers predators unparalleled access to our children and can provide an avenue for abuse and exploitation. The Internet has become a attractive arena for child sex abusers, child pornographers and pedophiles because it is easy for them to share images and information about children and to make contact with children. As advances in technology began to threaten the protection of children by interfering with the effective prosecution of the child pornography laws that cover the visual depictions of real children, Congress in 1996 attempted to address this concern with the ``Child Pornography Prevention Act.'' The 1996 language included a prohibition of any virtual depictions as well as pictures of youthful-looking adults. However, in a disturbing decision on April 16, 2002, the Supreme Court ruled in Ashcroft v. the Free Speech Coalition that this language was overbroad and unconstitutional, paving the way for child molesters to hide their abuse behind technology; for example, with altered photographs of their victims. Computer technology exists today to disguise depictions of real children to make them unidentifiable and to make depictions of real children appear compute generated.”