Protecting kids from online threats
(posted October 9, 2006)
Saying that the Foley scandal in Washington underscored the growing threats to children online, Joe outlined a broad new Internet safety agenda today to help parents keep their kids safe from sexual predators and other harmful influences.
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In a speech today at the WDRC Listener Lunch hosted by Brad Davis in East Windsor, Joe denounced Foley’s use of email and instant messaging to prey on teenage Congressional pages as reprehensible, saying it was one of every 21st Century parent’s worst nightmares:
This is a real and dangerous threat, as parents here in Connecticut well know. You’ve probably seen the headlines. . . the 27-year-old man in Chaplin who was arrested for an alleged sexual assault committed against a 13-year-old girl from Hebron, whom he had met on the web site called MySpace. . . . and the arrest of two men who used MySpace to lure and assault two girls from Fairfield County, just 11- and 14-years-old.Joe also said that if there were ever a time to put people ahead of politics and focus on finding solutions, this was it:
Those two examples, along with the Foley case, represent just the tip of an iceberg of indecent activity spurred on by the Internet. One study reporter that about one out of every six children online receive a sexual solicitation. That is a frightening statistic – and an even more frightening reality for today’s parents.
Sadly, my opponent in the Senate campaign, Ned Lamont, could not resist the urge to politicize this awful incident. He spent much of last week twisting my statements and launching more false political attacks against me. And as usual, he offered no constructive ideas to address the larger problem here of keeping kids safe online.After highlighting his long record of fighting to help parents raise their children with good values and protect them from harmful media influences, Joe noted that the Internet presented a whole new set of challenges and a whole new focus on keeping kids safe online.
Let’s face it: technology is changing more rapidly than our ability to protect our kids. I believe the time has come to fight back. Not to stop the march of progress – but to help parents keep pace.With this in mind, Joe outlined several ideas aimed at stopping Internt predators and empowering parents to control the media their children consume:P1020135.JPG
Demand More Corporate Responsibility from Media Companies. Big media companies should do more to help parents protect their children online and limit their exposure to sexual predators and inappropriate content. In particular, these companies should fund a national campaign to educate parents about the online risks faced by children and how they can best protect their families.
Demand More Parental Responsibility. Saying parents have to be the last line of defense, Lieberman called on parents to be more vigiliant in monitoring their children’s online activities. It’s no longer enough to keep the computer in family room when most parents have no idea what chat acronyms mean. Parents need to tell their kids not to share personal information and to tell them when they receive online sexual solicitation.
Pass the Internet Safety and Child Protection Act. Joe Lieberman is a cosponsor of the bipartisan Internet Safety and Child Protection Act, which will help complement industry initiatives by:
* Requiring adult websites to conduct online ID checks using age-verification software.
* Tax online pornography to fund an Internet Safety and Child Protection Trust Fund.
* Establish Internet Crimes Against Children Task Forces in each state.
* Funding research into new filtering technologies.
* And supporting education programs on child Internet safety.
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Posted by: Eric Blankenbaker on 10/9/2006 at 4:44 PM
posted by CT Bob at 5:05 PM
30 Comments:
This is very funny Bob! I bow to the power of an extremely creative imagination!
Joe Lieberman's campaign is a disgrace. For a sitting Senator to allow his staff, on his official site, to refer to "The full Lamonty" or call his opponent's supporters "LaMonsters" is childish and undignified, to say the least. After closely following Senator Lieberman's carreer since 2000, I've lost all respect for the man. Not only has he endorsed this administration's worst policies, he has, through his conduct in the primary up to now, lowered his stature to zilch.
Very sad.
All hot air and no substance ....
War in Iraq because of WMDs.
Fact: North Korea has now exploded a nuclear device and Iraq is in civil war and maybe the POTUS is still looking for WMDs under his desk. Maybe Joe can give him a hand.
Internet Safety Act.
Fact: Under their very own nose in Congress, there is a predator. And he is protected by the Washington insiders. If you want yr kid safe, change the whole bloody Washington establishment, includinng Joe LIE-man
somebody should have asked Joe, if he is so concerned about kids, why does he continue to approve of the ones getting blown to bits in iraq with his approval!!
Could somebody explain why anyone is voting for Joe? It really is not understandable to me
He had brought fewer dollars back to this state than any senator but NJ, everytime he opens his mouth we find out 4 years ago he said something else. He was wrong about Iraq. He won't hold Bush accountable. He is even afraid to defend the Constitution...I MEAN HE TOOK AN OATH TO DEFEND IT AND HE VOTED FOR THE SUSPENSION HEABUS CORPUS!
I am frustrated and I just don't get how any one can think of voting for him. He is a disaster for the country .
The last person to try and protect kids on the internet was Mark Foley.
And look what that got the kids of America.
No thanks, Mr. Lieberman.
Good God. He's espousing quite literally bigger government to enforce a nanny state, to replace parental supervision over kids' internet usage.
How very neo-conservative Republican of him!!
It'll be a cold day before I let some dork who can't even master the basics of website management (conceptually, not actual administration) interfere with my kids' use of the toobz. Cripes, my kids' have more actual knowledge about internet usage and safe surfing than this entrenched Senator.
I hope the people of Connecticut choose somebody with real understanding of the issues facing parents and internet usage -- like Ned Lamont.
Why on earth would an enabler of child predators like Tom Reynolds, Denny Hastert, and Joe Lieberman can ever be elected is beyond me. Are all his supoorters child predators too? I cannot believe that CT has so many twisted people. Maybe most of his supporters don't know that Joe Lieberman is a staunch supporter of those who enable child predators. Yes that is it.
Joe, Go get some psychiatric help. Don't demean Connecticut just to get elected.
When will Joe Lieberman call for the speaker and the others who covered up the child abuse to step down?
They covered it up and you are helping them do it.
Joe goes nuts when Bill Clinton has an extra-marital affair and lectures the president on the Senate floor about morals but then thinks that the Foley case shouldn't be politicized? isn't that just pure hypocrisy?
Lets face it, the only problem Joe really is interested in trying to solve is the problem of why he keeps loosing...
I just got the email from FDL, thanks Jane!
Joe Lieberman is a lier and an oportunist on a level that is almost impossible to comprehend because he seems to have bought his own bullsheet for so long that he doesn't even see it in his own actions. No one could prevaricate to his levels and think that no one seems to notice a total absence of fact to his statements, unless they were just a little bit insane. I honestly think the man is insane; but Conneticut, in his insanity, he thinks you're stupid. Wake up, smell the coffee and vote for someone with a backbone and a concern for your state. Lamont looks like a good guy. Many other states would be proud to have a candidate like yours.
You do not go far enough, Sen. Lieberman -- and your approach excuses a very modest response in response to Foley's terrible emails and physical approaches to the Senate Pages.
It should be the Senate's first job to protect the pages, who are children in the care of the Senate.
In my local high school, if a teacher had sent salacious emails to a student, the principal would be required to take IMMEDIATE ACTION, including (but not limited to):
*report the teacher and the incident to the superintendent, school board and district attorneys
*suspend the teacher, pending a determination of the appropriateness of the email exchange
*set up a hearing to determine if the suspension of the teacher should become a termination
*interview the student and other students who might have been contacted to determine the extent of the exchanges
*arrange for counseling for the students involved
It is not appropriate for Hastert (or you, Sen. Lieberman) to wait longer for some further adjudication of these events.
We mothers are horrified at what has been allowed already.
ccmask, yes, sorry to confirm your fears. Joe is indeed still a loser.
On the plus side, in another 29 days we're going to get to kick Joe's ass for the SECOND time in THREE MONTHS!
As a parent I agree that it's certainly time to find a way to protect kids from internet predators.
This post seems a little misleading though when the the Foley situation is really about a man who was given, as a representative of our government, email addresses of people he met through his elected position. And though his actions were exposed to people of his political party was still allowed to persist with them. I sure hope it's not considered partisan to say that the measure the Senator is supporting will accomplish nothing in the face of party and elected authorities working in concert to cover up such actions.
PS
I thought your opponent was a guy named Lamont and not Hamsher (I'm not a Conn. voter though so maybe I'm not up on all the independent candidates in the race.)
I'm a longtime supporter of Senator Lieberman and look forward to his re-election in November. Sen. Lieberman has been a tireless advocate for the poor and has championed the cause of increasing opportunities and improving the lives of minorities, women and children. His work on behalf of Hurricane Katrina victims inspired me to volunteer for his campaign this year and it's been a great experience.
I also have a question and comment to make about Senator Joe Lieberman's hypocrisy.
Senator Lieberman, why do you have so many "digs" at the Democratic Party and it's members but never say anything against the Bush Administration?
You come across as a coward and a man of little Morals when you would rather attack to people trying to find out about Foley rather than attack the person who is most at fault.
You've been hanging around and taking lessons from this despicable Administration too long, FAR TOO LONG!!
Considering the fact that you were a member of the Democrat Party and their job in Parliament, as the opposition, is to ask the tough questions and try to keep the Governing Party in check. Your record on giving the Bush Administration a free reign on whatever it wants to do is legendary and wrong. Morally Wrong.
Politicians like you who put MONEY before anything else are the worst type of people. You will have to atone for your sins Senator and it's never too late to stop playing politics when you are in a position to really help people.
Just recently, you even had the audacity to have a swipe at the Democrats when Foley was sending inappropriate emails to a young Page!!
Not only did you NOT take a stand against this inappropriate behaviour, but you unbelievably came out publicly AGAINST the Democrats for asking questions about it.
This latest media release is once again, too little too late!
You really need to step back and get your priorities right. Your MORAL compass is not working, and having Mr. Dan Gerstien as your publicist may be good for those who act without Honour but he is making you look more and more of the Senator who gives a damm about anything but the money.
Stop this Political decision making and make your decisions on Moral Values for once.
BTW, please continue to attack Ned Lamont. His numbers go up every time your monkey Say's something against him.
Ned didn't twist anything about Lieberloser's statements. There is a really kewl video showing Lieberman being questioned about his statements of the day before about the Lamont scandal. He flat out lies, says he didn't say that the scandal was a media frenzy. The video cuts to Leiberloser saying exactly that.
Lieberloser goes on to say something a bit more responsible, but it really irks me that he lies so effortlessly about his own statements.
The biggest lie of all is that Lamont is "going negative" on him. If only he would because Lamont has been if anything being way too respectful.
Senator Joe Lieberman is a Politician who has lost his values.
He is nothing more than a GREEDY, SELFISH SUIT who is in this for whatever he can get.
The fact that he would not accept the decision from the voters of CT tells one and all exactly what this politician is all about....and that's certainly not to help the community, it's to feed from the trough and try and fill his empty soul.
It's not money you should be chasing leiberman.
All of those who voted in favor of this recent torture bill should be hung from a tree. Altogether, all of them who voted to weaken habeas corpus should be executed first for treason, second for violating their oath to defend and protect the constitution--their one, most important duty to all of us. They are traitors to our country. It's a very sad time we live in that these cowards are in charge.
Could someone please explain how a tax on porn is going to stop child predators?
If you're a pedophile the last place you'd want to go is an "adult" web site. The real risk to children is at general interest sites and family friendly communities.
For the past decade the adult industry has funded a non-profit (ASACP) that reports online child pornography directly to the FBI. The irony here is that Hugh Hefner and Larry Flynt have done more to stop child predators than the current Republican leadership. But for some reason Joe wants to penalize the porn industry while letting the slime bags who covered for Foley off the hook.
I remember reading about this ID check for adult sites in a report put out by a bunch of DINOs (The Third Way). There are two huge problems with this idea. 1) Their definition of "adult web site" is so slippery it could lead to manditory ID checks for non-pornographic sites. 2) Joe wants a politically connected, DC-based data mining firm called VerifyME (see: http://www.aristotle.com/) to process these ID checks. That means a company that's in the business of selling voter information to policitians would know who you are and which sites you've visited. This is a hundred times worse than letting the gov't have access to our search records.
And why do we need to fund research for new filtering software when effective filtering software is already on the market? Is this another chance to throw money into the gaping maw that is Halliburton?
Wow. The comments here are enough said. Leiberman, it's time to give it up. If you can't rally your supporters to post on your blog, and it's all critics...it's time to go.
It seems like you're a quintessential example of what's wrong with our system right now...
http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5604/145/400/zarmina1.0.jpg
Thanks for the Democracy, Joe. It's to Die for!
You are free to go to the dustbin of history now.
"If you can't rally your supporters to post on your blog, and it's all critics...it's time to go."
Schools back in session, so the paid Lieber Kids are too busy to support Joe. But if that thug who tried to pick a fight with Ned during the "Cheeseburgergate" debacle isn't too busy, maybe he could drop by and start a flame war.
I was at cheeseburgergate; Goodstein definitely was not with the lieberkidz @UCONN friday, I was checking diligently. IMO he's gone, way too recognizable; a liability. I suppose he always could flame on though; maybe he's fttf, mndem, rita, michael, etc. etc. [on the lamont blog].
J
LOL, a tax on porn. The problem isn't the people - it's those damn TOOBZ!!
J
This GQ article says all you need to know about Joe...
THE KISS OF DEATH by Kenneth Cain
http://men.style.com/gq/features/full?id=content_5003&pageNum=1
Quote: “Lieberman called me [Al Sharpton] personally to come to Connecticut. Probably the biggest irony of this whole campaign to me is Joe ‘DLC’ Lieberman calls me for support. How do you criticize Al Sharpton for being in Connecticut when Lieberman called and asked me to come? And I did come. I just didn’t come for him. So it’s kinda odd to make a pariah outta somebody you asked to help you."
"Sadly, my opponent in the Senate campaign, Ned Lamont, could not resist the urge to politicize this awful incident. He spent much of last week twisting my statements and launching more false political attacks against me."
Examples, please. You do have specific examples, don't you Joe? Please tell me you're not just making this up for political purposes.
Why, exactly, is Joe running? If I wanted a Senator who would vote in favor of torture, who supports the Iraq war, who never criticizes the President, who criticizes prominent Democrats like Howard Dean and Nancy Pelosi, who scolds Bill Clinton for his affair with a consenting adult while defending the Republican leadership for their cover-up of pedophelia, I'd just vote for a Republican.
Joe's got nothin' here.
Why does Joe always accuse everyone else of being 'partisan' when he spends every waking moment bashing Lamont. Lamont responded very reasonably to the Foley scandal - calling for the Republican leaders who carried out the coverup to resign. That's just good sense. It's not partisan, but Joe's accusations are. How can Joe defend Hastert?
Joe LIVERLIP is vile and corrupt to the bone.A sneak and Repug trying to fool Democrates into voting for him.Don't believe his lies vote for Ned,let Joe join Zell Miller another traitor to the party.GOOD LUCK NED ******* SO LONG JOE YOU GODDA GO.
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