A study by the NOP Research Group found that of the four million children aged seven to 17 who surf the net, 29% percent would freely give out their home address and 14% would freely give out their e-mail address if asked. (Telegraph.co.U.K January 2002)
- Nine out of 10 children aged between 8 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)
Sex is the #1 searched for topic on the Internet. (Dr. Robert Weiss, Sexual Recovery Institute, Washington Times 1/26/2000)
One in five children who use computer chatrooms has been approached over the Internet by pedophiles. (Detective Chief Superintendent Keith Akerman, Telegraph.co.uk January 2002 )
89% of sexual solicitations were made in either chat rooms or Instant Messages. (Pew Study reported in Journal of the American Medical Association aka JAMA, 2001)
13 million youth use Instant Messaging. (Pew Study reported in JAMA)
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)
Among the 95% of all 15-17 year-olds who have ever gone online:
· Seventy percent have accidentally stumbled across pornography online, 23% “very” or “somewhat” often.
· A majority (55%) of those who were exposed to pornography say they were “not too” or “not at all” upset by it, while 45% were “very” or “somewhat” upset.
· A third (33%) of those with home Internet access have a filtering technology in place there. Among the 76% of all 15-17 year-olds who have sought health information online:
· Nearly half (46%) say they have been blocked from non-pornographic sites by filtering technology.
26 popular children’s characters, such as Pokemon, My Little Pony and Action Man, revealed thousands of links to porn sites. 30% were hard-core. (Envisional 2000)
44 percent of children polled have visited x-rated sites or sites with sexual content. Moreover, 43 percent of children said they do not have rules about Internet use in their homes. (Time/CNN Poll, 2000)
While 75% of parents say they know where children spend time online, the truth about kids’ Internet habits show 58% of teens say they have accessed an objectionable Web site: 39 % offensive music, 25% sexual content and 20% violence. (Source: WebSense, USA Today, 10/10-12/99)
“Sex on the Net is like heroin, it grabs them and takes over their lives. And it’s very difficult to treat because the people affected don’t want to give it up.” — Dr. Mark Schwartz, Masters & Johnson Institute, St. Louis
The Internet is Never before in the history of telecommunications media in the United States has so much indecent (and obscene) material been so easily accessible by so many minors in so many American homes with so few restrictions. — U.S. Department of Justice, Post Hearing Memorandum of Points and Authorities, 1996
“Sex on the Net is just so seductive and it’s so easy to stumble upon it, people who are vulnerable can get hooked before they know it.” — Dr. Jennifer Schneider, physician, Tucson
“In my clinical practice, I have treated both children and adults who have been unequivocally and repeatedly injured by exposure to pornography. If anyone still has doubts about pornography’s effects, I would suggest that he or she get invited to some meetings of “Sexaholics Anonymous” and personally witness the pain and trauma first hand. From “Pornography’s Effects on Adults and Children.” — Victor B. Cline, Ph.D.
600 American males and females of high school age and above were interviewed about their “out in real life involvement with pornography.” 91% of the males and 82% of the females admitted having been exposed to X-rated, hard-core pornography. Two-thirds of the males and 40% of the females reported wanting to try out some of the behaviors they had witnessed. — 1986 Attorney General’s Commission on Pornography, study by Dr. Jennings Bryant
“Pornography is one of the largest and fastest growing segments of the Internet.” — Christopher Young, President/C.O.O., Cyveillance
“… in April 2001, there were 22.9 million unique visitors to porn sites.” — Neilsen/Net Ratings, Inc.
“Child abusers have been known to seek out unsuspecting victims by posting seemingly innocuous messages in computer chat rooms.” — BBC News, June 16, 1999
According to recent Forrester Research figures, pornography sites generate $700 million to $1 billion a year in gross revenue. — Forrester Research
Estimates for the number of X-rated sites on the net range from 20,000 to 7 million. — CNET.com, “Sex on the Web,” April 28, 1999
87% of girl-child molesters and 77% of boy-child molesters studied admitted to regular use of hard-core pornography. — Report on the Use of Pornography by Sexual Offenders, Dr. William Marshall for Canada Federal Department of Justice, 1993
Experts in Internet crime estimate there are about 23,000 Websites dedicated to pedophilia.
A primary pornography consumer group is boys between ages 12 - 17. — Attorney General’s Final Report on Pornography, 1986
Generates approximately $1 billion annually with growth projections to $5-7 billion over the next 5 years, barring unforeseen change (NRC Report 2002)
74% of adult commercial sites display free teaser porn images on homepage (Child-proofing on the World Wide Web: A survey of adult web servers 2001, (NRC Report 2002)
345% increase in child pornography sites between 2-2001- 7/2001 (N2H2, 8/01)
60% of all website visits are sexual in nature (MSNBC Survey 2000)
25 million Americans visit cybersex sites between 1-10 hours per week (MSNBC Survey 2000)
The U.S. Customs Service estimates that there are more than 100,000 websites offering child pornography - which is illegal, worldwide (Red Herring Magazine, 1/18/02)
9 in 10 kids 8-16 yrs. have viewed porn online, mostly accidentally while doing homework (UK News Telegraph, NOP Research Group, 1/07/02)
Study of 4 million children aged 7-17 who surf the net, 29% would freely give out their home address and 14% would freely give out their email address if asked (NOP Research Group, 2002)
Adult industry says some traffic is 20-30% children (NRC Report, 2002)
26 popular children’s characters, such as Pokemon, My Little Pony and Action Man, revealed thousands of links to porn sites. 30% were hard-core. (Envisional 2000)
89% of sexual solicitations of youth were made in either chat rooms or Instant Messages (Pew Study reported in JAMA, 2001)
1 in 5 youths receive unwanted sexual solicitation online. (NCMEC, 2000)
Cyber-sex is the crack cocaine of sexual addiction. (Dr. Robert Weiss, Sexual Recovery Institute, Washington Times 1/26/2000)
Cyber-sex reinforces and normalizes sexual disorders. (Dr. Robert Weiss, Sexual Recovery Institute, Washington Times 1/26/2000)
Cyber-sex is a public health hazard exploding because very few are recognizing it as such or taking it seriously. (MSNBC/Stanford/Duquesne Study; Associated Press Online, 2/29/2000)
57 million Americans have Internet access. (MSNBC/Stanford/Duquesne Study, 2000)
25 million Americans visit cyber-sex sites between 1-10 hours per week. Another 4.7 million in excess of 11 hours per week. (MSNBC/Stanford/Duquesne Study, Washington Times, 1/26/2000)
At least 200,000 Internet users are hooked on porn sites, X-rated chat rooms or other sexual materials online. (MSNBC/Stanford/Duquesne Study, Associated Press Online, 2/29/2000)
TECH FACTOIDS * Nine out of ten youngsters have access to computers. * Roughly 40 percent of kids ages 11 to 17 have cell phones. * Nearly three quarters of teens 12 to 17 use instant messaging. * Sixty percent of girls 13 to 16 have shared personal information with someone they’ve encountered online.
SOURCES: U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Yankee Group, Pew Internet & American Life Project 2001, wiredSafety.org.
