[Nancy1999]

Looks like both our presidential candidates are supporting this bill. John McCain is my senator, and I got this e-mail relating to the bill.

Thank you for contacting me regarding the S. 519, the Securing Adolescents From Exploitation-Online Act of 2007, otherwise known as the SAFE Act. I appreciate you sharing your concerns and for the opportunity to explain my position.

The Internet has helped usher a new wave of prosperity and communication into the 21st century. However, technology also has contributed to the greater distribution and availability, and, some believe, desire for child pornography. According to a report by the Texas State legislature, over 14 million pornography sites on the Internet house an estimated one million pornographic images of children with 200 new images being posted daily. These acts are heinous crimes against the most innocent members of our society, and I will do whatever I can do ensure purveyors of child pornography are caught and jailed.

On February 7, 2007, I was joined by Senators Charles Schumer and John Kyl in introducing S. 519, which is designed to enhance the current system for internet service providers to report online child pornography if they discover it on their systems. It would make the failure to report child pornography a federal crime and would impose higher fines and sentences on companies that do not report child pornography. Furthermore, the SAFE Act would increase the efficiency of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children's (NCMEC) congressionally-mandated Cyber Tipline, making the Tipline a better investigative tool for law enforcement increasing consistency, information sharing, and communication. While the SAFE Act would do much to protect our children domestically, the bill also recognizes that child exploitation is a global problem. For this reason, the SAFE Act would permit NCMEC to share relevant information with foreign law enforcement entities.

Protecting our children is a top priority for me. Earlier this year, I also joined with Senator Schumer in introducing S. 431, the Keeping the Internet Devoid of Sexual-Predators Act of 2007, known as the KIDS Act, which would establish a database of e-mail addresses and other Internet identifying information of convicted sex offenders. The database information would then be available to commercial social networking sites for the purpose of screening their sites' to ensure convicted sex offender are not using them to prey on children. The bill would also make it a crime for an adult to misrepresent his or her age if attempting to engage in a sexual relationship with a minor. I look forward to working with my colleagues in an effort to eradicate the victimization and exploitation of our children, the most innocent members of society.

Thank you again for sharing your concerns with me. Please feel free to contact me on this or any other matter of concern.

Sincerely,

John McCain

United States Senator