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Treat Big Tech like Big Tobacco to protect our kids

Thu, 15 Jun 2023 06:00:13 -0400

Just like Big Tobacco targeted young kids knowing their products were harmful, Big Tech is doing the same thing with another product line. When are we going to wake up?

The time to act is NOW!

When the surgeon general warned that smoking could cause physical health problems, it ushered in momentous change across America. That change resulted in the tobacco industry being required to fund a massive education campaign.

Now, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy is warning that social media can cause mental health problems and other risks for children. Feelings of isolation and depression fueled by social media platforms further exacerbated the isolation and depression stemming from COVID-19. The extent to which children are trafficked and preyed upon, depicted in sexually abusive ways, and exposed to depravity on these platforms is sickening.

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Given this deteriorating digital environment, will the surgeon general's warning again usher in momentous change? It’s time to urge Big Tech to fund a national education campaign like Big Tobacco.

Big Tech’s negative impact on society will continue to be significant and long-lasting unless the above-mentioned harms to children are proactively addressed. Unregulated social media companies generate marketing dollars using algorithms to drive traffic to their sites, which are invested in more sophisticated algorithms generating more money.

The collateral damage is the suffering of our children. Regulation is needed.

First, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act 1996 (CDA), which inadvertently provided legal immunity for Big Tech, MUST be repealed. Congress’ original goal with Section 230 was well intended as a "Good Samaritan Defense" for good faith efforts taken by technology companies to prevent children from accessing pornographic content.

However, profit-hungry technology companies in cahoots with clever lawyers and misguided federal courts abused this protection, creating an anything goes loophole granting Big Tech sweeping immunity and lack of accountability.

In a July 23, 2013, letter, most of the attorneys general urged Congress to amend Section 230 by allowing states to prosecute websites hosting unlawful content. The AG’s commonsense suggestion was ignored.

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It is conceivable that Section 230 could be repealed with a single sentence: "Section 509 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 is hereby repealed." That section is found in 47 USC Section 230 in toto.

Further, the Biden administration must recognize the significant harms to our children in the digital world, listen to the surgeon general’s warning, and ensure that Attorney General Merrick Garland prioritizes the aggressive prosecution of existing federal laws criminalizing sexual predation, obscene pornography and the online sexual exploitation and abuse of children.

Congress needs to vehemently redirect this course and pass bipartisan legislation to rein in this nonsense. On May 4, the bipartisan Eliminating Abusive and Rampant Neglect of Interactive Technologies (EARN IT) Act of 2022 was re-introduced in the Senate, and passed unanimously out of the Senate Judiciary Committee. If enacted, this law will remove blanket immunity for Big Tech companies that knowingly facilitate distribution of child sex abuse material (CSAM) on their platforms.

It is critical that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., calls for a floor vote this session to pass EARN IT, which also affords innocent victims of content depicting their abuse, as well as state attorneys general, to seek legal recourse against online platforms that engage in the distribution and circulation of CSAM.

Several other bipartisan bills were recently re-introduced in the Senate, including the Kids Online Safety Act, requiring social media platforms to implement stronger safety measures to mitigate harm to minors, and The Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act, establishing greater online privacy protections for children and minors.

I urge Congress to consider a blanket repeal of Section 230, pass the above-mentioned legislation, establish a regulatory regime, and require Big Tech to fund a multibillion-dollar education campaigns similar to the one required of Big Tobacco.

In the meantime, it’s critical that parents continue to be the first line of defense to protect their children online; there are free resources available at internetsafety101.org.

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Recently, actress Kate Winslet issued a warning on British Television’s Academy Awards: "To people in power and to people who can make a difference, please criminalize harmful content, please eradicate harmful content - we don't want it. We want our children back. We don't want to lie awake terrified for our children's mental health."

The U.S. Surgeon General has issued a warning. Actresses are issuing warnings and parents are crying out for help. The children’s voices themselves need to be heard in Congress, the Oval Office and Big Tech boardrooms.

These are nonpartisan issues that deserve wide bipartisan support. How many warnings will it take for them to listen and act?

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Donna Rice Hughes: One woman's case for Donald Trump

Sat, 05 Nov 2016 10:00:00 -0400

This election has two distinctly different directions for America. My heart is heavy! I, like so many Americans, am concerned for the future of this land that I love.

We are at a crossroads. Every vote matters. Never, in my lifetime has there been so much division, so much hostility, so much frustration, so much blatant bias and so much lingering confusion.

As a college educated woman, I represent the demographic that is supposedly the swing vote in this election. As a pro-life Christian conservative, the choice for me is very clear but I realize the choice is not as clear to those who remain undecided. So it is to the undecided, particularly women and people of faith, I offer the following as guideposts to better discern how to make a wise and thoughtful decision.

There is no perfect candidate, and the media magnifies their flaws. For some, the choice is for the lesser of two evils, because of their personalities instead of their vision.

Each candidate has a distinctly different philosophy of the role of government and the issues we face. Secretary Clinton is a liberal- leaning Democrat and a refined career politician representing the political establishment. Mr. Trump is a successful business man, an outsider who speaks his mind and who often wears his emotions on his sleeve.

Supporting Mr. Trump for president does not mean I have ignored his past or indefensible comments, but I do accept his apologies. I completely understand why some women would still be undecided.

These issues are personal to me. I survived childhood sexual abuse and a date rape at age 22. As President of Enough Is Enough for the last 23 years, I have been on the frontlines fighting to prevent the sexual exploitation of children and women, fighting to stop the pornification of our culture, and fighting to curb sexual predation.

However when I met Mr. Trump two years ago at CPAC, he was a kind and gracious gentlemen. He applauded me in front of a crowd of people for taking the high road during the 1987 presidential scandal. He had not yet announced his presidency, but he told me that he had to run.

I immediately saw his passion for America, the conviction in his eyes, and a fire in his belly that was driving him to run in spite of the cost.

God is in the business of using flawed people who He humbled and molded into great leaders.

Our country is framed by our Constitution as one nation, under God. I believe the philosophy of Mr. Trump and Governor Pence most closely mirrors a government for the people and by the people. President Reagan said it best over 50 years ago, 'The issue of this election is whether we believe in our capacity for self-government or whether we abandon the American Revolution and confess that a little intellectual elite in a far-distant capital can plan our lives for us better than we can plan them for ourselves.” Our parties themselves represent two distinctive worldviews.

We as Christians must closely examine each party platform to discover which position best line up with our Judeo-Christian worldview and the Word of God.

One of the most important and unavoidable issues is the issue of life. Abortion on demand is one of the great scourges on our nation.

I strongly believe that our Founders’ intent when writing the Declaration of Independence that all of humankind are endowed by their Creator with the inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, meant from womb to tomb.

The Trump/Pence ticket stands strong on so many of these issues that truly matter, from Israel to a prosperous thriving economy. I believe that they will lead America forward, and best solve the challenges of a failed economy, inexcusable unemployment, a broken immigration system, an unfair tax system, corruption in politics, unfavorable trade deals, shaky foreign policy, failed Obamacare, out of control national debt and a diminished military which must be strengthened in order to defend against radical Islamists terrorists and terrorist nations who have declared war on America and our ally Israel.

As CEO of Enough Is Enough (EIE), I also view Internet safety as a key issue since it’s the 4th ranked health concern for U.S. children. This summer, as the “law and order” candidate, Donald Trump signed The Children’s Internet Safety Presidential Pledge, developed by EIE. The Pledge was sent to all Presidential Candidates, calling upon them, if elected President to make a pledge to defend the innocence and dignity of America’s children by enforcing the existing federal laws and advancing public policies designed to prevent the sexual exploitation of children online and to make the Internet safer for all. In all fairness to Secretary Clinton, she sent a letter supporting the goals of the Pledge which is encouraging.

In addition, I am encouraged that Mr. Trump has chosen a solid group of conservative, principled and talented leaders to serve by his side during his campaign. He has assembled an evangelical advisory council of top Christian leaders who are advising him on key issues; and, he is listening. Most of these people are not part of the political elite. We are not only voting for President and VP but we are in effect voting for over 7000 political appointees and individuals who will serve in his administration. In a recent article, Mariam Bell wrote: “We vote FOR the 4,000+ political appointees who will run all the agencies, departments and programs. We vote FOR the 3,000+ appointments to boards and commissions the next president will make. We FOR all those 300+ who will be appointed to the judiciary, including the Supreme Court — whose rulings will impact our country for the next fifty years, not just four. The next president will appoint a cabinet and has already selected a vice president.”

Finally it is perhaps the most crucial of all considerations for the voter. The President serves for only 4-8 years, a Supreme Court Justice serves for life with the average term being 30 years. Our next President will likely appoint at least 3 justices, who will determine the trajectory of our Nation for generations to come. Mr. Trump has committed to appoint pro-life constitutionalist judges like Antonin Scalia. Secretary Clinton on the other hand said she would appoint pro-abortion judges, claiming, “I will defend Planned Parenthood. I will defend Roe v. Wade, and I will defend women's rights to make their own health care decisions.” Code for I will not defend the sanctity of life for unborn Americans.

Former Attorney General Ed Meese said in a speech to the Federalist Society that “An activist jurisprudence, one which anchors the Constitution only in the consciences of jurists…. is a chameleon jurisprudence, changing color and form in each era.” He also said that a true approach “must respect the Constitution in all its parts and be faithful to the Constitution in its entirety.” Trump and Pence agree, and so do I.

Responsible citizens must vote. Every vote matters. It cannot be wasted. In the famous words of John F. Kennedy, ask not, what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” Start by voting!

Bravo, McDonald's, for protecting children and families from Internet porn

Wed, 13 Jul 2016 11:46:00 -0400

One of America’s most profitable companies and most beloved brands, McDonald’s, has shown that corporations can behave responsibly for the safety of all of its customers. Recently, the company decided it would filter its public Wi-Fi to block both pornography and child pornography (child abuse images) from being viewed in its restaurants.

Internet safety is now the fourth top-ranked health issue for U.S. children. Internet pornograrphy has been called the largest unregulated social experiment in history with peer-reviewed research showing that online porn is in fact a public health crisis.

Recently, both the state of Utah and the proposed platform for the GOP have declared pornography a public health issue.

There is much scientific research on the deleterious effects of Internet pornography on the developing brains of children and teens and fueling role of porn on child sexual exploitation and predation.

In fact, nearly half of all teens believe that sending naked pictures and sexually explicit images of themselves or others are part of everyday life. Two-thirds of teenage girls and half of all teenage boys believe it would be easier growing up if pornography were harder to access.

Parents need to know which family restaurants are safer from online threats.

Additionally, according to federal officials, public Wi-Fi services are increasingly being used to traffic child pornography, the sexual solicitation of children, and other criminal activities such as identity theft, hacking and terrorism. These criminal felonies are difficult to deter because of the anonymity offered by open Wi-Fi hotspots.

My organization, Enough Is Enough, launched the “National Porn Free Wi-Fi” campaign” in the fall of 2014, with nearly 50,000 petitions and 75 partner organizations encouraging McDonald’s and Starbucks to lead corporate America in filtering Wi-Fi. Both companies were early adopters in the U.K., where they voluntarily filtered pornography and child pornography on their public Wi-Fi networks under the private public U.K. initiative led by Prime Minister Cameron.

McDonald’s responded rapidly and positively to the initial outreach to their CEO in spring 2014, and began exploring options for WiFi filtering. To date, over two years later, Starbucks has yet to respond.

In the first quarter of 2016, McDonald’s began to implement their new filtered Wi-Fi policy in their corporate-owned restaurants in the U.S., and made the same service available to their franchisees. While McDonald's wasn't aware of any pornography related incidents in their stores, their move to offer filtered Wi-Fi is clearly a major step in the right direction. The bottom line -- the majority of McDonald’s restaurants now offer safer Wi-Fi access for their patrons.

Parents now can have peace of mind that when they or their children go to McDonald’s, they will have a safer and more friendly Wi-Fi experience, free from pornography, from child porn and from potential sexual exploitation and predation.

McDonald’s deserves widespread praise for this act of corporate responsibility and commitment to children and family safety.

By proactively filtering pornography and child porn on their Wi-Fi, McDonald’s now joins others such as Chick-fil-A and Panera Bread in demonstrating their commitment to provide safe and secure Wi-Fi resulting in a family friendly environment for all of their patrons. Other companies that offer free public Wi-Fi need to realize that that corporate responsibility is also good customer service.

Implementing a safe friendly Wi-Fi policy and effective filtering is a win-win for restaurants, hotels, resorts, airports, airlines, shopping malls, theme parks and other companies that offer free public WiFi . Safe and secure WiFi effectively helps to :

Prevent children, teens and other patrons from being exposed to pornography and child pornography.
Prevent children and teens from easily bypassing filters and other parental control tools set up by their parents on their Internet devices.
Prevent sexual predators from accessing illegal child and flying under the radar of law enforcement.
Avoid a potential hostile work environment for company employees.
Protect hard-earned family-friendly brand; and
Maintain consistency regarding corporate best practices and family-friendly policies.

The ubiquity of online devices and the constant customer flow in public restaurants make this action necessary. The action taken by McDonald’s is commendable and an example to businesses around the world. Other companies would be wise to follow McDonald’s lead.