Max Burns Campaign Puts the Rights of Sexual Predators Over the Safety of Our Children

Max Burns Campaign Puts the Rights of Sexual Predators Over the Safety of Our Children

Just weeks after the House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed bipartisan legislation to help keep America's children safe from online sexual predators, the campaign of Washington Lobbyist Max Burns yesterday criticized Savannah Congressman John Barrow's support of the "Deleting Online Sexual Predators Act" - calling the bill a "drastic reduction on individual rights."

"By attacking this important, bipartisan legislation, the Burns campaign is defending the rights of sexual predators over the safety of our children," Congressman Barrow said. "As far as I'm concerned, our children's safety should always be our number one priority."

Comments bashing Congressman Barrow's support for the "Deleting Online Sexual Predators Act" were posted yesterday afternoon on the Burns supported website, "bloggingformax.com." Burns' Campaign Manager Tim Baker recently called the website "an important part of this [campaign] effort."

"Max Burns and his campaign like to talk a lot about ‘Georgia Values,'" Barrow added. "But sticking up for the rights of perverts never was and never will be a ‘Georgia Value.'"

On Wednesday, July 26, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 5319, the "Deleting Online Predators Act," by an overwhelming majority vote of 410-15. The bill helps parents monitor their children's activity on the Internet when they are not under adult supervision at home. Some of the provisions in the bill include:

* Requiring schools receiving Federal universal service funding to prevent children from gaining access to a chat room or social networking website. Schools may disable protection measures in order to allow use by students with adult supervision for educational purposes, or by adults.
* Requiring libraries receiving Federal universal service funding to prevent children from gaining access to a chat room or social networking website without parental authorization.
* Requiring the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to create a website and issue consumer alerts to inform parents, teachers, and school officials about potential dangers on the Internet, including the dangers of children communicating with sexual predators through social networking sites and chat rooms.

According to a survey conducted by the Crimes against Children Research Center, nearly 1 in 5 children have received unwanted sexual solicitations over the Internet. A 2006 survey by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children reported that 14% of teens have actually met with someone they had known only through the Internet (Time Magazine, 6/26/06).

Parents who want to learn more about how they can help protect their children from online predators should visit http://www.netsmartz.org/index.htm, an online informational resource sponsored by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and the Boys & Girls Clubs of America.

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