History of EIE

The national Enough is Enough campaign was formally launched in November of 1992 by a group of women concerned about the harmful effects of illegal pornography and its link to the sexual exploitation of children, women and men.

Founded by Sara Blanken and led by it's first President, Dee Jepsen, an award-winning author and wife of former U.S. Senator Roger Jepsen, EIE became a driving force informing and educating policymakers and the public on the issues of pornography and child predation. The founders were quickly joined by growing multitudes of individuals from every category of ethnic, economic, geographic, religious, and political background, including more than 3O% of the states' First Ladies.

In 1994, EIE changed its focus when its leadership recognized that the Internet would become a floodgate for the distribution of illegal pornography as well as the new playground for sexual predators to prey upon children.

Under the new mission of making the Internet safer for children and families, EIE pioneered the national effort to coordinate and organize an unprecedented national campaign to protect children from the Internet dangers of pornography, child pornography, child stalking and sexual predation.

Understanding the multifaceted elements of such an effort, EIE developed a three-pronged strategy that involves the public, the technology industry and law enforcement sharing the responsibility to protect children on the Internet. This approach has been adopted by many industry and government leaders.

From Congress's first attempt to address the problem of Internet pornography and sexual predation of children in the Communications Decency Act of 1996 to the Childrens' Internet Protection Act of 2000 (CIPA), the Supreme Court's first landmark decision upholding Internet regulation requiring schools and libraries to filter Internet pornography from children, EIE has successfully demonstrated the need for federal legislation and industry to take corrective action to protect children and families from online dangers.

In 2000, under the leadership of Monique Nelson, EIE launched a non-profit initiative targeting children through schools and youth organizations -- Web Wise Kids. The mission of the organization is to equip kids with an understanding of how to make wise choices on the Web.

In 2002, Donna Rice Hughes became the chairman and president of EIE and continues to champion EIE's mission to make the Internet safer for children and families since 1994 when she became EIE's communication director and spokesperson.

In September 2005, EIE launched The National Internet Safety Awareness and Parental Empowerment Program with the U.S. Department of Justice and other partners.

In September 2008, EIE launched the pilot version of the Internet Safety 101® multi-media teaching series in Virginia, delivering critical Internet safety resources to parents, educators and other caring adults. In 2010, EIE launched the national version of the Internet Safety 101® Program and corresponding website. EIE continues to be a leading voice and authority on the issue of protecting kids online.