Statistics
INTERNET PORNOGRAPHY
- Worldwide pornography revenue in 2006 was $97.06 billion. Of that, approximately $13 billion was in the United States (Internet Filter Review, 2006).
- Every second, $3,075.64 is being spent on pornography, 28,258 Internet viewers are viewing pornography, 372 Internet users are typing adult search terms into search engines, and every 39 minutes, a new pornographic video is made in the United States (Internet Filter Review, 2006).
- 79% of youth unwanted exposure to pornography occurs in the home (Online Victimization of Youth: Five Years Later, 2006).
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CHILD PORNOGRAPHY
- Child pornography is one of the fastest growing businesses online, and the content is becoming much worse. In 2008, Internet Watch Foundation found 1,536 individual child abuse domains. (Internet Watch Foundation. Annual Report, 2008).
- Of all known child abuse domains, 58 percent are housed in the United States (Internet Watch Foundation. Annual Report, 2008).
- The fastest growing demand in commercial websites for child abuse is for images depicting the worst type of abuse, including penetrative sexual activity involving children and adults and sadism or penetration by an animal (Internet Watch Foundation. Annual Report, 2008).
- In a study of arrested child pornography possessors, 40 percent had both sexually victimized children and were in possession of child pornography. Of those arrested between 2000 and 2001, 83 percent had images involving children between the ages 6 and 12; 39 percent had images of children between ages 3 and 5; and 19% had images of infants and toddlers under age 3 (National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, Child Pornography Possessors Arrested in Internet-Related Crimes: Findings fro the National Juvenile Online Victimization Study.
2005).
- Child pornography has become a $3 billion annual industry (Top Ten Reviews, 2005).
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CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE
- Of substantiated reports of child abuse in 2005, 23 percent for teens ages 16 and older involved physical abuse and 17 percent involved sexual abuse. Among substantiated reports for children ages 0-3, 12 percent involved physical abuse and 2 percent involved sexual abuse (America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being. Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics, 2007).
- A New Zealand Internal Affairs study suggests that there is an association between viewing child pornography and committing child sexual abuse (New Zealand's Department of Internal Affairs. Internet Traders of Child Pornography: Profiling Research. By Caroline Sullivan. October 2005. January 10, 2006).
- The sexual victimization of children is overwhelming in magnitude yet largely unrecognized and underreported. Research indicates that 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys will be sexually victimized before adulthood (National Center for Missing and Exploited Children).
- One in four women reported childhood sexual abuse and in most cases perpetrated by males (Long-Term Consequences of Childhood Sexual Abuse by Gender of Victim. Volume 28, Issue 5. The American Journal of Preventative Medicine. June 2005).
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MOBILE PORN
- In 2005, worldwide revenue from mobile phone pornography is expected to rise to $1 billion and could grow to three times that number or more within a few years (Bryan-Low, Cassel and Pringle, David. "Sex Cells: Wireless Operators Find That Racy Cellphone Video Drives Surge in Broadband Use." The Wall Street Journal. May 12, 2005.)
- According to IDC, a technology research firm, by the end of 2004 approximately 21 million 5- to 19-year-olds had wireless phones.
- Adult content on mobile telephones and other portable devices is anticipated to hit $1 billion in worldwide revenues during 2005, according to market research firm Juniper Research. (Juniper Research, "Adult to Mobile: Personal Services," February 2005)
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ONLINE SEXUAL PREDATORS
- Currently, there are over 644,865 Registered Sex Offenders in the United States; an estimated 10,000 have been lost in the system (National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, 2008).
- The predominant sex crime scenario doesn't involve violence or stranger molesters posing online as children; only 5 percent of offenders concealed the fact they were adults from their victims. Almost 80 percent of offenders were explicit about their intentions with youth. In 73 percent of crimes, youth go to meet the offender on multiple occasions for multiple sexual encounters (NJOV Study, 2007).
- Teens are willing to meet with strangers: 16 percent of teens considered meeting someone they've only talked to online and 8 percent have actually met someone they only knew online (Online Victimization of Youth: Five Years Later. 2006).
- Four percent of all youth Internet users received aggressive sexual solicitations, which threatened to spill over into "real life". These solicitors asked to meet the youth in person, called them on the telephone, or sent offline mail, money, or gifts. Also 4 percent of youth Internet users had distressing sexual solicitations that left them feeling upset of extremely afraid (Online Victimization of Youth: Five Years Later, 2006).
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YOUTH
YOUTH AND GENERAL INTERNET USE
- K-1st grade students access the Internet using various devices for a variety of purposes, including playing online games and communicating with other people. Online gaming is increasingly popular among younger students. (Rochester Institute of Technology, 2008)
- 48 percent of students K-1st grade level interact with people on Web sites, while 50 percent indicate that their parents watch them when they use a computer, leaving the other half of those youngsters more prone to being exposed to predation behaviors or other threats posed by online strangers or even persons they know or regard as friends. (Rochester Institute of Technology, 2008)
- 48 percent of K-1st reported viewing online content that made them feel uncomfortable, of which 72 percent reported the experience to a grownup, meaning that one in four children did not. (Rochester Institute of Technology, 2008)
- 32 percent of teens clear the browser history to hide what they do online from their parents. (Harris Interactive-McAfee 10/2008)
- 16 percent have created private e-mail addresses or social networking profiles to hide what they do online from their parents. (Harris Interactive-McAfee 10/2008)
- 63 percent of teens said they know how to hide what they do online from their parents. (Harris Interactive-McAfee 10/2008)
- 43 percent have closed or minimized the browser at the sound of a parental step. (Harris Interactive-McAfee 10/2008)
- 11 percent have unlocked/disabled/ parental/filtering controls. (Harris Interactive-McAfee 10/2008)
- 52 percent of teens have given out personal information online to someone they don't know offline including personal photos and/or physical descriptions of themselves (24 percent). Double the number of teen girls have shared photos or physical descriptions of themselves online as boys. (34 percent girls vs. 15 percent boys) (Harris Interactive-McAfee 10/2008)
- 20 percent of teens have engaged in cyberbullying behaviors, including posting mean or hurtful information or embarrassing pictures, spreading rumors, publicizing private communications, sending anonymous e-mails or cyberpranking someone. (Harris Interactive-McAfee 10/2008)
- A quarter of teens would be shocked (24 percent), one in five would feel hurt (19 percent) and 34 percent would feel offended if they found out their mother was keeping track of what they do online without their knowledge or permission. (Harris Interactive-McAfee 10/2008)
- Looking at a general picture of teen internet adoption, American teens are more wired now than ever before. According to our latest survey, 93 percent of all Americans between 12 and 17 years old use the internet. In 2004, 87 percent were internet users, and in 2000, 73 percent of teens went online. (Lenhart, Amanda and Madden, Mary. Teens, Privacy, and Online Social Networks. Pew Internet and American Life Project, April 18, 2007 http://www.pewinternet.org/pdf...rivacy_SNS_Report_Final.pdf).
- Home computers are still overwhelmingly located in open family areas of the home; 74 percent of teens now say the computer they use is in a public place in the home, compared with 73 percent in 2004 and 70 percent in 2000. (Lenhart, Amanda and Madden, Mary. Teens, Privacy, and Online Social Networks. Pew Internet and American Life Project, April 18, 2007 http://www.pewinternet.org/pdf...rivacy_SNS_Report_Final.pdf).
- A large majority of teens (71 percent) have established online profiles (including those on social networking sites such as MySpace, Friendster and Xanga), up from 61 percent in 2006. (National teen Internet survey was funded by Cox Communications in partnership with NCMEC and John Walsh and was conducted in March 2007 among 1,070 teens age 13 to 17. The research was conducted online by TRU. http://www.cox.com/TakeCharge/...ocs/survey_results_2007.ppt).
- The risks to children, particularly teenagers, in cyberspace include exposure to unwanted exposure to sexual material (1 in 3 youth) and harassment -- threatening or other offensive behavior directed at them (1 in 11 youth). (Online Victimization of Youth: Five Years Later. 2006. National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, Crimes Against Children Research Center, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. December 4, 2006. http://www.unh.edu/ccrc/pdf/CV138.pdf).
- 31 percent of 7th to 12th-graders pretended to be older to get onto a website. (Generation M: Media in the Lives of 8-18 Year-Olds. Victoria Rideout, Donald F. Roberts. Ulla G. Foehr. March 2005. The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. 17 November 2006, http://www.kff.org/entmedia/up...f-8-18-Year-olds-Report.pdf).
- Nearly one-third (31percent) of 8- to 18-year-olds have a computer in their bedroom, and one in five (20 percent) have an Internet connection there (Generation M: Media in the Lives of 8-18 Year-Olds. Victoria Rideout, Donald F. Roberts. Ulla G. Foehr. March 2005. The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. 17 November 2006, http://www.kff.org/entmedia/up...f-8-18-Year-olds-Report.pdf).
- Three in four (74 percent) young people have a home Internet connection (31 percent have high-speed access). Nearly one-third (31 percent) have a computer in their bedroom, and one in five (20 percent) have an Internet connection there. In a typical day, about half of young people (48 percent) go online from home, 20 percent from school, and 16 percent from someplace else (Generation M: Media in the Lives of 8-18 Year-Olds. Victoria Rideout, Donald F. Roberts. Ulla G. Foehr. March 2005. The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. 17 November 2006, http://www.kff.org/entmedia/up...f-8-18-Year-olds-Report.pdf).
- Among the 96 percent of young people who have ever gone online, 65 percent say they go online most often from home, 14 percent from school, 7 percent from a friend's house, and 2 percent from a library or other location (Generation M: Media in the Lives of 8-18 Year-Olds. Victoria Rideout, Donald F. Roberts. Ulla G. Foehr. March 2005. The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. 17 November 2006, http://www.kff.org/entmedia/up...f-8-18-Year-olds-Report.pdf).
- One in ten young people (13 percent) reports having a handheld device that connects to the Internet (The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation Study, March 2005).
- The most common recreational activities young people engage in on the computer are playing games and communicating through instant messaging (Generation M: Media in the Lives of 8-18 Year-Olds. (Victoria Rideout, Donald F. Roberts, Ulla G. Foehr. March 2005. The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. 17 November 2006, http://www.kff.org/entmedia/up...f-8-18-Year-olds-Report.pdf).
YOUTH AND INTERNET PORNOGRAPHY
- Of students aged 13 and 14 from schools across Alberta, Canada, 90 percent of males and 70 percent of females reported accessing sexually explicit media content at least once. (Thompson, Sonya. "Study Shows 1 in 3 Boys Heavy Porn Users". University of Alberta Study, 5 March 2007, http://www.healthnews-stat/com...0&keys=porn-rural-teens.)
- Of students aged 13 and 14 from schools across Alberta, Canada, 4 percent reported viewing pornography on the Internet; 41 percent saw it on video or DVD and 57 percent saw it on a specialty TV channel. (Thompson, Sonya. "Study Shows 1 in 3 Boys Heavy Porn Users". University of Alberta Study, 5 March 2007, http://www.healthnews-stat/com...0&keys=porn-rural-teens.)
- The study revealed that boys do the majority of deliberate viewing, and a significant minority now plans social time around viewing porn with male friends. (Thompson, Sonya. "Study Shows 1 in 3 Boys Heavy Porn Users". University of Alberta Study, 5 March 2007, http://www.healthnews-stat/com...0&keys=porn-rural-teens.)
- Porn has become a major presence in the lives of youth, and while a majority of teens surveys said their parents expressed concern about sexual content, that concern has not led to discussion or supervision, and few parents are using available technology to block sexual content. (Thompson, Sonya. "Study Shows 1 in 3 Boys Heavy Porn Users". University of Alberta Study, 5 March 2007, http://www.healthnews-stat/com...0&keys=porn-rural-teens.)
- The author of the study, Sonya Thompson concluded that parents need to improve dialogue with their children and their own awareness level. They need to be the ones setting the boundaries in the house. (Thompson, Sonya. "Study Shows 1 in 3 Boys Heavy Porn Users". University of Alberta Study, 5 March 2007, http://www.healthnews-stat/com...0&keys=porn-rural-teens.)
- Forty-two percent of Internet users aged 10 to 17 surveyed said they had seen online pornography in a recent 12-month span. Of those, 66 percent said they did not want to view the images and had not sought them out. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points. The results come from a telephone survey of 1,500 Internet users aged 10 to 17 conducted in 2005, with their parents' consent. (Wolak, Janis, et al. "Unwanted and Wanted Exposure to Online Pornography in a National Sample of Youth Internet Users." Pediatrics 119 (2007); 247-257.)
- In the survey, most kids who reported unwanted exposure were aged 13 to 17. Still, sizable numbers of 10- and 11-year-olds also had unwanted exposure -- 17 percent of boys and 16 percent of girls that age. (Wolak, Janis, et al. "Unwanted and Wanted Exposure to Online Pornography in a National Sample of Youth Internet Users." Pediatrics 119 (2007); 247-257.)
- More than one-third of 16- and 17-year-old boys surveyed said they had intentionally visited X-rated sites in the past year. Among girls the same age, 8 percent had done so. (Wolak, Janis, et al. "Unwanted and Wanted Exposure to Online Pornography in a National Sample of Youth Internet Users." Pediatrics 119 (2007); 247-25.)
- Overall, 34 percent had unwanted exposure to online pornography, up from 25 percent in a similar survey conducted in 1999 and 2000. (Wolak, Janis, et al. "Unwanted and Wanted Exposure to Online Pornography in a National Sample of Youth Internet Users." Pediatrics 119 (2007); 247-257.)
- Online use that put kids at the highest risk for unwanted exposure to pornography was using file-sharing programs to download images. However, they also stumbled onto X-rated images through other "normal" Internet use, the researchers said, including talking online with friends, visiting chat rooms and playing games. (Wolak, Janis, et al. "Unwanted and Wanted Exposure to Online Pornography in a National Sample of Youth Internet Users." Pediatrics 119 (2007); 247-257.)
- Filtering and blocking software helped prevent exposure, but was not 100 percent effective, the researchers said. (Wolak, Janis, et al. "Unwanted and Wanted Exposure to Online Pornography in a National Sample of Youth Internet Users." Pediatrics 119 (2007); 247-257.)In 2000, more than one-third of youth Internet users (34 percent) saw sexual material online they did not want to see in the past year compared to one-quarter (25 percent) in 2005 (Online Victimization of Youth: Five Years Later. 2006. National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, Crimes Against Children Research Center, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. December 4, 2006. http://www.unh.edu/ccrc/pdf/CV138.pdf).
- More than three-quarters of the unwanted exposures (79 percent) happened at home. Nine (9) percent happened at school, 5 percent happened at friends' homes, and 5 percent happened in other places including libraries (Online Victimization of Youth: Five Years Later. 2006. National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, Crimes Against Children Research Center, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. December 4, 2006. http://www.unh.edu/ccrc/pdf/CV138.pdf).
- According to a New Zealand Internal Affairs study, the largest single age group viewing child pornography is young people aged 15 to 19, accounting for a quarter of 202 convicted child porn users. (New Zealand's Department of Internal Affairs. Internet Traders of Child Pornography: Profiling Research. By Caroline Sullivan. October 2005. January 10, 2006. http://www.dia.govt.nz/pubform...text-align:right'/a>).
- 70 percent have accidentally come across pornography on the Web (Generation M: Media in the Lives of 8-18 Year-Olds. Victoria Rideout, Donald F. Roberts. Ulla G. Foehr. March 2005. The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. 17 November 2006, http://www.kff.org/entmedia/up...f-8-18-Year-olds-Report.pdf).
- Nine out of 10 children aged between eight and 16 have viewed pornography on the Internet. In most cases, the sex sites were accessed unintentionally when a child, often in the process of doing homework, used a seemingly innocent sounding word to search for information or pictures. (London School of Economics January 2002).
YOUTH ACTING OUT
- The number of cases in which children received court orders or warnings for sex offenses has jumped by 20 percent in the past three years; experts blame the Internet, saying that the youth behavior has been changed by ready access to sexual imagery. ("Web Is Blamed for 20 Percent Leap in Sex Attacks by Children". This is London. 3 March 2007, www.thisislondon.co.uk).
YOUTH, ONLINE PRIVACY & SOCIAL NETWORKING
- Frequently children in 4th-6th grade levels engage in social networking activities. In the process they post personal, potentially exploitable, information about themselves online. Specifically, and within the last school year: 16% posted personal interests online, 15% posted information about their physical activities and 20% gave out their real name. In addition, 5% posted information about their school, 6% posted their home address, 6% posted their phone number and 9% posted pictures of themselves. (Rochester Institute of Technology, 2008)
- A majority of teens (58 percent) don't think posting photos or other personal info on social networking sites is unsafe. (National teen Internet survey was funded by Cox Communications in partnership with NCMEC and John Walsh and was conducted in March 2007 among 1,070 teens age 13 to 17. The research was conducted online by TRU. http://www.cox.com/TakeCharge/...ocs/survey_results_2007.ppt).
- Teens readily post personal info online. 64 percent post photos or videos of themselves, while more than half (58 percent) post info about where they live. Females are far more likely than male teens to post personal photos or videos of themselves (70 percent vs. 58 percent). (National teen Internet survey was funded by Cox Communications in partnership with NCMEC and John Walsh and was conducted in March 2007 among 1,070 teens age 13 to 17. The research was conducted online by TRU. http://www.cox.com/TakeCharge/...ocs/survey_results_2007.ppt).
- Nearly one in 10 teens (8 percent ) has posted his or her cell phone number online. (National teen Internet survey was funded by Cox Communications in partnership with NCMEC and John Walsh and was conducted in March 2007 among 1,070 teens age 13 to 17. The research was conducted online by TRU. http://www.cox.com/TakeCharge/...ocs/survey_results_2007.ppt).
- Teens who have online profiles are generally more likely to say it is okay to give out certain pieces of personal information in offline situations than they are to have that information actually posted to their profile. Teens with online profiles have a greater tendency to say it is fine to share where they go to school, their IM screen name, email address, last name and cell phone number with someone they met at a party, when compared with the percentage who actually post that information online. The only piece of information they are more likely to share online rather than in person with a new acquaintance is the city and state where they live. (Lenhart, Amanda and Madden, Mary. Teens, Privacy, and Online Social Networks. Pew Internet and American Life Project, April 18, 2007 http://www.pewinternet.org/pdf...rivacy_SNS_Report_Final.pdf).
- Some 23 percent of teen profile creators say it would be "pretty easy" for someone to find out who they are from the information posted to their profile, and 40 percent of teens with profiles online think that it would be hard for someone to find out who they are from their profile, but that they could eventually be found online. Another 36 percent say they think it would be "very difficult" for someone to identify them from their online profile. (Lenhart, Amanda and Madden, Mary. Teens, Privacy, and Online Social Networks. Pew Internet and American Life Project, April 18, 2007 http://www.pewinternet.org/pdf...rivacy_SNS_Report_Final.pdf).
YOUTH, STRANGERS & SEXUAL SOLICITATIONS
- 14 percent of students in 10th-12th grade have accepted an invitation to meet an online stranger in-person and 14 percent of students, who are usually the same individuals, have invited an online stranger to meet them in-person. (Rochester Institute of Technology, 2008)
- 14 percent 7th-9th grade students reported that they had communicated with someone online about sexual things; 11 percent of students reported that they had been asked to talk about sexual things online; 8 percent have been exposed to nude pictures and 7 percent were also asked for nude pictures of themselves online. (Rochester Institute of Technology, 2008)
- 59 percent of 7th-9th grade victims said their perpetrators were a friend they know in-person; 36 percent said it was someone else they know; 21 percent said the cyber offender was a classmate; 19 percent indicated the abuser was an online friend; and 16 [ercent said it was an online stranger. (Rochester Institute of Technology, 2008)
- Nine percent of children in 7th-9th grade have accepted an online invitation to meet someone in-person and 10 percent have asked someone online to meet them in-person. (Rochester Institute of Technology, 2008)
- 13 percent of 2nd-3rd grade students report that they used the Internet to talk to people they do not know, 11 percent report having been asked to describe private things about their body and 10 percent have been exposed to private things about someone else's body. (Rochester Institute of Technology, 2008)
- 69 percent of teens regularly receive personal messages online from people they don't know and most of them don't tell a trusted adult about it. (National teen Internet survey was funded by Cox Communications in partnership with NCMEC and John Walsh and was conducted in March 2007 among 1,070 teens age 13 to 17. The research was conducted online by TRU. http://www.cox.com/TakeCharge/...ocs/survey_results_2007.ppt).
- While 16 percent of teens say they've considered meeting face-to-face with someone they've talked to only online, that marks a significant drop compared to the 30% of teens who were considering such a meeting in 2006. In 2007, 8 percent of teens say they actually have met in person with someone from the Internet, down from 14 percent in 2006. (National teen Internet survey was funded by Cox Communications in partnership with NCMEC and John Walsh and was conducted in March 2007 among 1,070 teens age 13 to 17. The research was conducted online by TRU. http://www.cox.com/TakeCharge/...ocs/survey_results_2007.ppt).
- When they receive online messages from someone they don't know, 60 percent of teens say they usually respond only to ask who the person is. Compared to the 2006 survey, there was a 10-percentage-point increase in teens ignoring such messages (57 percent vs. 47 percent). Still, nearly a third of teens (31 percent) say they usually reply and chat with people they don't know, and only 21 percent tell a trusted adult when they receive such messages. (National teen Internet survey was funded by Cox Communications in partnership with NCMEC and John Walsh and was conducted in March 2007 among 1,070 teens age 13 to 17. The research was conducted online by TRU. http://www.cox.com/TakeCharge/...ocs/survey_results_2007.ppt).
- Approximately 1 in 7 (13 percent) was solicited in 2005, compared to approximately 1 in 5 (19 percent) in 2000; however, aggressive solicitations, in which solicitors made or attempted to make offline contact with youth, did not decline. Four (4) percent of youth Internet users received aggressive solicitations - a proportion similar to the 3 percent who received aggressive solicitations in 2000 (Online Victimization of Youth: Five Years Later. 2006. National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, Crimes Against Children Research Center, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. December 4, 2006. http://www.unh.edu/ccrc/pdf/CV138.pdf).
- Four percent of all youth Internet users in 2005 said online solicitors asked them for nude or sexually explicit photographs of themselves (Online Victimization of Youth: Five Years Later. 2006. National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, Crimes Against Children Research Center, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. December 4, 2006. http://www.unh.edu/ccrc/pdf/CV138.pdf).
- In a survey conducted by the Intelligence Group, Dateline questioned 500 teenagers across the country, ages 14-18, about their computer habit. When asked if someone they've met online has wanted to meet them in person, 58 percent said "yes" and 29 percent said they've had a "scary" experience online (Most Teens Say They've Met Strangers Online, MSNBC Interactive, April 26, 2006, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12...T/print/1/displaymode/1098/).
- Half of teens ages 13-18 often communicate through the Internet with someone they have not met in person (Internet Safety: Realistic Strategies & Messages for Kids Taking More and More Risks Online. December 21, 2005. Polly Klaas Foundation. February 17, 2006. http://www.pollyklaas.org/internet-safety/pkfsummary.pdf).
- One-third of youth ages 8-18 have talked about meeting someone they have only met through the Internet (Internet Safety: Realistic Strategies & Messages for Kids Taking More and More Risks Online. December 21, 2005. Polly Klaas Foundation. February 17, 2006. http://www.pollyklaas.org/internet-safety/pkfsummary.pdf).
- Almost one in eight youth ages 8-18 discovered that someone they were communicating with online was an adult pretending to be much younger (Internet Safety: Realistic Strategies & Messages for Kids Taking More and More Risks Online. December 21, 2005. Polly Klaas Foundation. February 17, 2006. http://www.pollyklaas.org/internet-safety/pkfsummary.pdf).
- 30 percent of teenage girls polled by the Girl Scout Research Institute said they had been sexually harassed in a chatroom. Only 7 percent, however, told their mothers or fathers about the harassment because they were worried that their parents would ban them from going online" (Girl Scout Research Institute, 2002).
- 86 percent of the girls polled said they could chat online without their parents' knowledge, 57 percent could read their parents' e-mail, and 54 percent could conduct a cyber relationship. (Girl Scout Research Institute, 2002).
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PARENTS: THE FIRST LINE OF DEFENSE
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- 58 percent of moms think the government is not doing enough to keep kids safe online (Harris Interactive-McAfee 10/2008)
- 44 percent said they worry about their teens' safety when they are online in their bedroom unsupervised, and about one in four (24 percent) are more concerned about what their children do online than what they do when they are out of the house. (Harris Interactive-McAfee 10/2008)
- 58 percent of moms believe teens sharing too much personal information is a primary concern. (Harris Interactive-McAfee 10/2008)
- About two-thirds of mothers of teens in the United States are just as, or more, concerned about their teenagers' online safety, such as from threatening emails or solicitation by online sexual predators, as they are about drunk driving (62 percent) and experimenting with drugs (65 percent). (Harris Interactive-McAfee 10/2008)
- 72 percent of mothers have a verbal agreement with their teen - that is, a discussion of what is and is not allowed online(Harris Interactive-McAfee 10/2008)
- 48 percent of mothers admitted they don't always know what their kids do online. (Harris Interactive-McAfee 10/2008)
- 26 percent of moms said they have joined and "friended" their child on a social networking site, but many moms are going undercover to monitor their children. (Harris Interactive-McAfee 10/2008)
- 59 per cent said they check their child's browser history when they are done using the Internet and 15 percent use a software program to monitor what their kids do online. (Harris Interactive-McAfee 10/2008)
- Parental awareness of their teens' online activities has risen significantly. This year, 25 percent of teens say their parents know "little" or "nothing" about what they do online, down from 33 percent last year. (National teen Internet survey was funded by Cox Communications in partnership with NCMEC and John Walsh and was conducted in March 2007 among 1,070 teens age 13 to 17. The research was conducted online by TRU. http://www.cox.com/TakeCharge/...ocs/survey_results_2007.ppt).
- 41 percent of teens report their parents talk to them "a lot" about Internet safety (up five points over 2006), and three out of four say their parents have talked to them in the past year about the potential dangers of posting personal info. The level of parental involvement is higher for younger teens and girls, although it has increased across all age groups and both genders. (National teen Internet survey was funded by Cox Communications in partnership with NCMEC and John Walsh and was conducted in March 2007 among 1,070 teens age 13 to 17. The research was conducted online by TRU. http://www.cox.com/TakeCharge/...ocs/survey_results_2007.ppt).
- Teens whose parents have talked to them "a lot" about Internet safety are more concerned about the risks of sharing personal info online than teens whose parents are less involved. For instance, 65 percent of those whose parents have not talked to them about online safety post info about where they live, compared to 48 percent of teens with more involved parents. (National teen Internet survey was funded by Cox Communications in partnership with NCMEC and John Walsh and was conducted in March 2007 among 1,070 teens age 13 to 17. The research was conducted online by TRU. http://www.cox.com/TakeCharge/...ocs/survey_results_2007.ppt).
- Teens whose parents have talked to them "a lot" about online safety are less likely to consider meeting face to face with someone they met on the Internet (12 percent vs. 20 percent). (National teen Internet survey was funded by Cox Communications in partnership with NCMEC and John Walsh and was conducted in March 2007 among 1,070 teens age 13 to 17. The research was conducted online by TRU. http://www.cox.com/TakeCharge/...ocs/survey_results_2007.ppt).
- The number one media concern for parents has shifted from television to the Internet, with 85 percent of parents saying that it posed the greatest risk to their children among all forms of media (National Attitudinal Poll, Common Sense Media, June 7, 2006, http://www.commonsensemedia.or...ws/press-releases.php?id=23).
- According to the NAC parent survey of more than 4,000 respondents, 93 percent of parents stated that they know "some" or "a lot" about where their children go and what they do on the Internet. Yet only 42 percent of high school students -- and 62 percent of middle school students stated that they share where they go and what they do on the Internet with their parents (Market Wire. November 6, 2006. i-SAFE Inc. December 12, 2006 http://www.marketwire.com/mw/r...e_html_b1?release_id=180330).
- 42 percent of parents do not review the content of what their teenagers read and/or type in chat rooms or via instant messaging. 58 percent of parents do. (Parents' Internet Monitoring Study. June 2005. Cox Communications, The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and Netsmartz, December 14, 2005, http://www.cox.com/TakeCharge/includes/docs/results.pdf).
- Teenagers use chat lingo to communicate when Instant Messaging and parents don't know the meaning of some of the most commonly used phrases. 57 percent don't know "LOL" (laughing out loud), 68 percent don't know "BRB" (be right back), and 92 percent don't know "A/S/L" (age, sex, location). (Parents' Internet Monitoring Study. June 2005. Cox Communications, The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and Netsmartz, December 14, 2005, http://www.cox.com/TakeCharge/includes/docs/results.pdf).
- 95 percent of parents did not recognize other common chat room lingo that teenagers use to let people they are chatting with online know that parents are around including: POS (parents over shoulder); P911 (parents alert). (Parents' Internet Monitoring Study. June 2005. Cox Communications, The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and Netsmartz, December 14, 2005, http://www.cox.com/TakeCharge/includes/docs/results.pdf).
- 23 percent of parents have rules about what their kids can do on the computer. (The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation Study, March 2005).
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ADULTS
- 40 million U.S. adults regularly visit Internet pornography websites, and 10% of adults admit to Internet sexual addition (Internet Filter Review, 2006).
- 20% of men admit accessing pornography at work (Internet Filter Review, 2006).
- 70% of women say that they keep their cyber activities secret; 17%of women admit to struggling with pornography addiction (Internet Filter Review, 2006).
- 9.4 women access adult websites each month, and 13% of women admit to accessing pornography at work (Internet Filter Review, 2006).
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CHRISTIANS AND SEXUAL BROKENNESS
- Of promise keepers, 53% viewed pornography in the last week (Internet Filter Review, 2006)
- 47% of Christians say that pornography is a problem in the home (Internet Filter Review, 2006).
- 50% of all Christian men and 20% of all Christian women are addicted to pornography. 60% of the women who answered the survey admitted to having significant struggles with lust; 40% admitted to being involved in sexual sin in the past year; and 20% of the church-going female participants struggle with looking at pornography on an ongoing basis (Market Wire. August 7, 2006. ChristiaNet.com. December 7, 2006 http://www.marketwire.com/mw/r...e_html_b1?release_id=151336).
- One out of every six women, including Christians, struggles with an addiction to pornography. That's 17 percent of the population, which, according to a survey by research organization Zogby International, is the number of women who truly believe they can find sexual fulfillment on the Internet (Today's Christian Woman, September/October 2003).
- " ' More than 80 percent of women who have this addiction take it offline,' " says Marnie Ferree. " 'Women, far more than men, are likely to act out their behaviors in real life, such as having multiple partners, casual sex, or affairs' " (Today's Christian Woman, September/October 2003).
- 51% of pastors say cyberporn is a possible temptation. 37% say it is a current struggle (Christianity Today, Leadership Survey, December 2001). 4 in 10 pastors have visited a porn site (Christianity Today, Leadership Survey, December 2001).
Click here to visit our Stats Archive of previously posted CHRISTIANS AND SEXUAL BROKENNESS Statistics
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HUMAN SEX TRAFFICKING
- The International Labor Organization (ILO)--the United Nations (UN) agency charged with addressing labor standards, employment, and social protection issues--estimates there are 12.3 million people in forced labor, bonded labor, forced child labor, and sexual servitude at any given time; other estimates range from 4 million to 27 million (Trafficking in Persons Report. Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, 2006).
- Each year sexual traffickers lure, coerce, trick, drug, kidnap, and sell millions of vulnerable women and children into the multi-billion dollar sex trade. In their daily lives victims of sexual trafficking endure unspeakable acts of physical brutality, violence and degradation including rape by so-called customers and pimps; undergo forced abortions; acquire drug and alcohol dependencies; live in fear of their lives and in fear for the lives of their family and friends; suffer acute psychological reactions as a result of their extreme physical and emotional trauma; and contract sexually transmitted diseases which all too often bring life-long illness or hasten death. If they survive, the physical, psychological and spiritual impacts of these experiences on victims are devastating and enduring (Initiative Against Sexual Trafficking, Accessed October 31, 2007).
- UNICEF reports that across the world, there are over one million children entering the sex trade every year and that approximately 30 million children have lost their childhood through sexual exploitation over the past 30 years (Commercial sexual exploitation position statement. UNICEF UK. 2004, January 28).
- From fiscal year 2001 through fiscal year 2005, the Civil Rights Division and United States Attorney's Offices filed 91 trafficking cases, a 405% increase over the number of trafficking cases filed from fiscal years 1996 through 2000. In these cases, Department attorneys charged 248 trafficking defendants, a 210% increase over the previous five fiscal years. In addition, 140 defendants of trafficking related crimes were convicted, a 109% increase over the previous five years (U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division. 2006, February).
- Foremost among the health risks of prostitution is premature death. In a recent US study of almost 2,000 prostitutes followed over a 30-year period, by far the most common causes of death were homicide, suicide, drug and alcohol related problems, HIV infection and accidents - in that order. The homicide rate among active female prostitutes was 17 times higher than that of the age-matched general population (Canadian Medical Association Journal. 2004, July 24).
- Among children and teens living on the streets in the United States, involvement in commercial sex activity is a problem of epidemic proportion. Approximately 55% of street girls engage in formal prostitution (Department of Justice, Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section. Accessed October 31, 2007).
- Studies indicate that child prostitutes serve between two and thirty clients per week, leading to a shocking estimated base of anywhere between 100 to 1500 clients per year, per child. Younger children, many below the age of 10, have been increasingly drawn into serving tourists (Department of Justice, Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section. Accessed October 31, 2007)
- $19 Billion generated annually on the street from human trafficking (Christine Dolan, The Global Coalition to End Human Trafficking NOW).
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PUBLIC OPINION
- Eight out of ten Americans (81%) believe federal laws against Internet obscenity should be vigorously enforced, and seven out of ten (70%) believe that strongly. A higher percentage of women support vigorous enforcement of federal laws against Internet obscenity than men -- 90% versus 72% (Wirthlin Survey, 2002).
- On the other hand, seven out of ten Americans (70%) say they do not believe these laws are currently being vigorously enforced (Wirthlin Survey, 2002).
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MISCELLANEOUS
- "A study conducted by Microsoft and RT Strategies Inc. http://www.rtstrategies.com found that while 74 percent of respondents believe they have the skills to protect themselves online, more than half (57 percent) are not sure they fully know enough to effectively protect their information" (Government, Technology and Advocacy Leaders Launch National Get Net Safe Tour Educate Consumers About Online Safety, May 16, 2006).
- A seven-day nationwide fugitive roundup led by the USMS and hundreds of partners from other state, local, and federal agencies led to the arrest of 9,037 individuals .Among those arrested during Operation FALCON II were 1,102 violent sexual offenders, the largest number ever captured in a single law enforcement effort. Operation FALCON II was conducted from April 17-23, 2006" (Department of Justice, More Than 1,100 Sex Offender Arrests By U.S. Marshals' "Operation FALCON II" 27 April 2006).
- According to Sex on TV 4, a Kaiser Family Foundation study (November, 2005), the number of television sexual scenes has almost doubled since 1998. 70% of all shows have some sexual content -- averaging 5 sexual scenes per hour compared to 56% and 3.2 scenes per hour respectively in 1998.
- According to Sex on TV 4, a Kaiser Family Foundation study (November, 2005), among the top 20 most popular shows among teens, 70% include sexual content and almost half (45%) include sexual behavior.
- An estimated 204.3 million people, or 74.9 percent of the U.S. population above the age of two and living in households equipped with a fixed-line phone, have Internet access (Nielson Media Research).
- 57% of U.S. Internet users incorrectly believe that when a website has a privacy policy, it protects their personal information from being shared with other sites or companies (Annenberg Center).
- Although no connection between legal porn viewing and criminal behavior has ever been proven, police have seen a steady increase in porn associated with crimes (Lt. Matt Bilodeau, spokesman for the Cache County Sheriff's Department, Associated Press, 10/17/04).
- The adult-film industry is bigger than ever, making some 6,000 movies a year and grossing more than $4 billion - roughly as much as the National Football League (New York Post, Russell Scott Smith, 9/25/03).
- Today, there are nearly 600,000 registered sex offenders in the United States; however, as many as 150,000 are 'lost' in the system having failed to comply with registration duties and remain undetected due to law enforcement's inability to track their whereabouts. (NCMEC, July 26, 2006)
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