How accessible is the Internet to Kids?
--For 1999, Internet use population was 11.7 million
(14.5%=age 1-12), and 11.1 million (13.7%=age 13-17).
    --(eMarketer, 9/99)

--47% of American teens are on-line, and the two top activities are email (83%) and search engines (78%).
    -- (Newsweek, 5/10/99)

--75% of parents say they know where children spend time on-line -- while 58% of teens said they have accessed an objectionable Web site, 39% offensive music, 25% sexual content, and 20% violence.
    --(WebSense, USA Today, 10/10-12/99)

--70% of public libraries offer Internet access. (http://www.freep.com, 09/00)

--Estimated 26.8 millions of children that will have Internet access in 2001.
--Estimated 77 millions of children that will have access to the Internet in 2005.
    --(http://www.freep.com, 09/00)

--Teens use the Internet an average of 8.5 hours per week, and only 1.8 of those hours are related to schoolwork.
    --(PRNewswire)

--60% of parents surveyed said they wonÕt let their children use Internet chat.

--71% of today's parents stop paying attention to their child's Internet activities when the child reaches the age of 14-15.*

--62% of today'' children make regular use of the Internet.*

--35% of today's parents make regular use of the Internet.*

Dozens of Web sites exist for the sole purpose of teaching children step-by-step techniques for deleting, defeating, or circumventing blocking and filtering software. (Example: http://www.peacefire.com Ð check it out!!!)*
(* all these statistics are compiled by Brooke Jones)

Sexually explicit and offensive material:
--On-line pornography is the first consistently successful e-commerce product. (C-Net; 4/28/99)

--There are now more than 40,000 individual URLÕs containing child pornography, pedophilia, or pro-pedophilia content. (Safeguarding our Children- United Mothers &CyberAngels)

--53% of teens have encountered offensive Web sites that include pornography, hate, or violence. Of these, 91% unintentionally found the offensive sites while searching the Web. (astounding statistics, but donÕt they seem a little too scary to be true?!) (Yankelovich Partner survey, The Safe America Foundation; 9/30/99)

--62% of parents of teenagers are unaware that their children have accessed objectionably Web sites. (Yankelovich Partners study, 9/99)

--Pornographers disguise their sites (i.e. "stealth" sites) with common brand names, including Disney, Barbie, ESPN, etc., to entrap children. (Cyveilance Study, 3/99)

--The majority of teenagers on-line use occurs at home, right after school.

--Public libraries have become a breeding ground for the sexual exploitation of children (Donna Rice Hughes, Senate Hearing Testimony, 3/28/00)

--Study of 452 public libraries reported 2,062 incidents of Internet pornography accessed at libraries. ("Dangerous Access, 2000Edition" by librarian David Burt.)

--41 cases of child porn being accessed

--472 incidents of children accessing pornography

--962 incidents of adults accessing porn

--106 incidents of adults exposing children to porn

--5 attempts to molest children in libraries

--92% of adults surveyed say that pornography should be blocked on schoolcomputers (see our sections called FAULTY FILTERS to read the arguments against this opinion) (study by Digital Media Forum)

--85.5% of public libraries don't use pornography filters on computers because of free speech and other concerns. (http://www.freep.com, 09/00)

--23,000 Web sites out of 3.5 million checked advocate sex with children. (that's actually only .66%, so it is not as bad as it seems). (http://www.freep.com, 09/00)

--In the survey of 5,001 youths, which was presented to Congress, 19% of those 10-17 years old reported getting an unwanted sexual solicitation in the past year.

--25% had an unwanted exposure to pictures of naked people or people having sex. Nearly half the advances (48%) were from someone they believed to be younger than 18. (NatÕl Center for Missing and Exploited Children, 6/00)

--31% of kids age 10-17 from households with computers say they have seen a pornographic Web site. (Poll by National Public Radio, 1999)

--70% of sexual offenders who commit crimes linked to the Internet, get away with an average of 30 such crimes before being caught.*

--The number of incidents of child molestation that can be directly linked to on-line contact has risen at a terrifying rate. As a result, the FBI now labels on-line chat rooms as "virtual playgrounds for pedophiles."*
(* all these statistics are compiled by Brooke Jones)

On-line Victimization:
a Report on the Nation's Youth findings:

--66% of those reporting a sexual advance were female.

--70% of incidents happened while the youngster was on a home computer.

--65% occurred while in a chat room, 24% came by instant message.

--29% of kids told a friend or sibling; 24% told a parent.

--25% reported at least one unwanted exposure to sexual pictures.

(Sources: David Burt of Oregon and Filtering Facts; Clark, Martire and Bartolomeo; American Library Association; Computer Economics; Family PC; Vice President Al Gore; UNESCO)

Web sites we used in our research:

http://web.lexis-nexis.com
http://www.kusd.edu/favorite/bookmarks/asperger.html
http://www.safekids.com/child_safety.htm
http://www.surfsafety.com
http://www.protectkids.com
http://www.FamilyClick.com
http://www.nationalcoalition.org
http://www.freep.com/tech/qkidnos20nf.htm
http://www.allsands.com
http://www.insidedenver.com/shooting
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/shooting
http://www.enough.org
www.cme.children/legacy/html
www.epic.org
www.peacefire.com
www.kidson-line.org
www.nsba.org
www.wickedwildweb.com/filtering.aspv www.childnet-int/publicat/vienna.htm

Other references:

--Karen Thomas, USA Today --A book by James Randall Robison, Wicked Wild Web: A Parent's Guide To The Internet.
--Children and Computers, Letter to the Editor by James J. Staudenmeier, Jr., MD (Uniformed Services University, Bethesda, MD)
--Report of Surgeon General, Dr. C. Everett Koop, on Pornography and Public Health. (1987), The American Psychologist, 42(10), 944-945
--Book by Donna Rice Hughes: Kids On-line: Protecting your Children in Cyberspace
--Bremer, J, M.D., Rauch, P. K., M. D. (1997) "Children and Computers: Risks and Benefits." Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. (Vol. 37, No. 1, 1998, pages: 559-eoa)
--A book by Cate H. Fred, The Internet and the First Amendment, 21-22