Youth Internet Safety Task Force
Blue Ridge Public Television, Roanoke – OAG Taskforce Meeting
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Law Enforcement Working Group
Technology Working Group
Parents and Educators Work Group
Employer Category
Churches and Civil Organizations Category
Physicians Category
Government Agency CategoryThe Task Force met at Blue Ridge Public Television for its fourth meeting.
At 10:00 a.m., the meeting was called to order by Deputy Attorney General Richard B. Campbell who served as moderator. Attorney General McDonnell gave opening remarks and welcomed the group.
Deputy Campbell introduced Delegate William H. Fralin, Jr. who spoke about House Bill 58, which he sponsored and which passed in the last session of the General Assembly, requiring the Virginia Department of Education to create guidelines for teaching Internet safety in public schools throughout Virginia. Delegate Fralin commended the Virginia Department of Education for creating these guidelines in an expedient manner and stated that its booklet was a model for the nation.
Detective Mike Harmony of the Bedford County Sheriff’s Department then gave a brief presentation regarding ICAC (Internet Crimes Against Children) and Operation Blue Ridge Thunder.
The final presentation was given by Joe Showker, Instructional Technology Resource Teacher, with Rockingham County Public Schools. He provided the Task Force with a detailed presentation of the curriculum he uses to teach elementary and secondary public school students in Rockingham County about Internet safety.
At 11:15 p.m., the group broke for lunch and into the three working groups.
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Law Enforcement Working Group
Staff Attorney – Gene Fishel
- Honorable Robert Hurt, Member, House of Delegates, Martinsville, Pittsylvania and Henry (chair)
- John Brownlee, U.S. Attorney, Western District of Virginia
- Colonel Steve Flaherty, Superintendent, Virginia State Police
- Lawrence Berry, Supervisory Special Agent, FBI
- Chris Bubb for John Ryan, Vice President and Associate General Counsel, AOL
- Mike Harmony, Deputy, Bedford County Sheriff’s Office
- Nathan Vassar for Senator Obenshain
Gene Fishel, Staff Attorney - Assistant Attorney General
Les Lauziere and Patrice Sandridge of OAG StaffThe group began the meeting reviewing and approving the Law Enforcement Working Group draft legislation.
Discussed were the legislative drafts concerning Virginia Code Section 18.2-374.1 (Production of Child Pornography), and in the definition of child pornography, moving “reproduction” of child pornography to “distribution”. Also discussed were the mandatory minimum sentences, devising a structure that protects two different age groups, one group of children under the age of 15 and second group between the ages of 15 through 18. All mandatory minimums in the drafts were approved.
The group focused on penalties contained in the draft as to whether “second offense” v. “second conviction” should increase the penalties and costs of such measures. Also discussed was the cost increase to Department of Corrections (approximately $750,000 over ten years for the production of child porn increases). The group agreed that it would be difficult to argue that the money would not be well spent.
Virginia Code section 18.2-371.1:1 prohibits possession of child pornography and includes exceptions for possession of such contraband. The group recommended deleting section “B” of the Code: “The provisions of this section shall not apply to any such material which is possessed for a bona fide artistic, medical, scientific, educational, religious, governmental, judicial or other proper purpose by a physician, psychologist, sociologist, scientist, teacher, person pursuing bona fide studies or research, librarian, clergyman, attorney, judge, or other person having a proper interest in the material.”
Recommendations were made to add enhancements to the Code (as per Federal code 18 USC 2246 (Repeat Offenders)) and develop an “inventory” in the future to include other relevant convictions to be included as a second or subsequent offense.
The group discussed and agreed that the crimes of production of child pornography and online solicitation be listed as a “presumption of no bail” crime under the Admission to Bail Statute, Virginia Code Section 19.2-120.
The group agreed that facilitation for access to child pornography under 18.2-374.1:2 should be moved into a subsection under the new draft of 18.2-374.1:1.
The group approved all of the draft legislation for submission to the full Task Force.
The group continued its discussion concerning the creation of a regional forensic lab in Virginia possibly to be housed at Virginia State Police in Richmond. Possibilities include federal funding through an RCFL or a bi-partisan proposal for state money. VSP and the OAG are to meet with the national head of the RCFL to gather information. A general recommendation will then be sent out for approval to the working group.
Technology Working Group
Staff Attorney – Rusty McGuirePresent:
- Elizabeth A. Bresee, Vice President, Capital One
- Christopher Bubb, AOL (non-member)
- Charles D. Curran Chief Counsel, Policy & Regulatory, America Online
- Bill Ashworth -Yahoo!
- Rick Lane, Vice President, Government Affairs News Corporation
- Honorable Kim Slayton-White
- Elizabeth A. Bresee, Vice President Capital One
- Robert J. Stolle, Executive Director Greater Richmond Technology Council
The break out session began at 11:30 a.m. facilitated the meeting.
Bob Stolle welcomed the attendees and emphasized the steps that the technology partners are currently taking to protect children. He then noted that we need to take more steps to educate parents. The group discussed methods to improve parent education and Rusty McGuire agreed to summarize a recommendation for the group.
Rick Lane from News Corp. suggested the group discuss adding e-mail addresses to the sex offender registry for purposes of registration. He indicated that News Corp was pushing the issue at the federal level. The group unanimously approved the concept. Rusty McGuire agreed to draft potential legislation for this change for the group.
The group unanimously also approved recommending the following legislation:
- Create an administrative subpoena authority for prosecutors and law enforcement to obtain subscriber information from providers of electronic communication.
- Allow out-of-state search warrants and subpoenas to be recognized by Virginia‑based providers of electronic communication.
- Empower Virginia courts to issue search warrants and subpoenas for non‑Virginian providers of electronic communication.
The group unanimously approved making the following recommendations:
- Recommend federal legislation to grant states the authority to intercepts wire communication for cases involving sexual exploitation of children.
Parents and Educators Work Group
Staff Attorneys – Matthew Nelson and Lisa M. Hicks-Thomas
Work Group Members and Representatives Present:
- John Jung for Honorable Michael N. Herring, Commonwealth’s Attorney City of Richmond
- Kenneth Booth, Concerned parent
- Mary Alice Booth, Concerned parent
- William “Biff” Pusey, Concerned Parent;
- Lan Neugent for Dr. Billy K. Cannaday, Jr., State Superintendent of Schools;
- Dr. Sally K. Boese, Virginia Association of Independent Schools;
- Lynette Brown, Harrisonburg Police Department
- Shirley Payne for James L. Hilton, Vice President and Chief Information Officer, University of Virginia
- Donna Rice Hughes, President, Enough is Enough
- Steve Kussmann, Enough is Enough
- Tommy Quigley, student
- David Foster, Arlington School Board
- Kent Williamson, Paladin Media (non-member)
- Denny King, Paladin Media (non-member)
The work group discussed two motions to amend Recommendation #1. The first motion proposed that the recommendation include elementary and middle school children as well as their parents as the target groups for identity theft education. The second motion proposed the recommendation include language urging the Virginia Department of Education to establish best practices for teaching Internet safety and make those best practices and other Internet safety resources available online to public and private schools. After discussion the work group unanimously approved each amendment. Recommendation #1, as amended, reads as follows:
Recommendation: Local school divisions should develop their own methods for teaching Internet safety to elementary and secondary students, as well as parents, which are within the guidelines established by the Virginia Department of Education. Additionally, the Virginia Department of Education should establish best practices for teaching Internet safety and make those best practices and other resources, including sample curriculum on Internet safety, available to public and private schools throughout Virginia.
The work group then turned to the issue of identifying preferred methods to increase awareness of Internet dangers among parents and children.
The work group discussed the issue. At the conclusion of the discussion the work group unanimously approved the following recommendation:
Recommendation: The Office of the Attorney General should work with the Virginia Department of Education and the Virginia Association of Independent Schools to establish a statewide contest among elementary and secondary students attending public and private schools to produce multimedia materials, including but not limited to public service announcements and videos, targeted at students and parents to increase awareness of Internet dangers and to teach safety solutions.
The work group, then, began to brainstorm available venues to reach parents to inform them of the dangers the Internet posses to children and educate parents about safety tools parents can implement to protect their children form these dangers. Using the question, “Who do parents listen to?” as a catalyst for ideas, the group came up with four broad venues to contact parents. Those categories are employers, physicians, churches, civic organizations and government agencies.
The group established a list of large Virginia employers to target their employees with brief but comprehensive Internet safety presentations. The employers named included Capital One, Phillip Morris, AOL, Circuit City, Reynolds Metal, as well as various military bases, hospitals, banks and state agencies.
One of the group members recommended an effort be made to work with the Virginia Chamber of Commerce to identify medium to small businesses to target employees with brief but comprehensive Internet safety presentations.
It was agreed that each presentation last no longer than 18 – 20 minutes. It was recommended that a live presenter conduct the training component in conjunction with an Internet safety DVD.
CHURCHES AND CIVIC ORGANIZATIONS CATEGORY
The group recommended providing the same or similar presentation to churches and civic organizations, in a short 18 – 20 minute format. Additionally, the group recommended the creation of a 30-second teaser or trailer-like format to be viewed during services. The target audiences for these presentations are church groups and other civic organizations like neighborhood watch programs, homeowners associations, Boys and Girls Clubs and PTA’s. If those groups wanted a more intensive training on the issue, the DVD would include longer training modules that could be taught over a series of classes.
The group concluded that parents value information from their doctor, especially pediatricians. The group, based on this conclusion, agreed that doctors and doctor organizations would be a great resource to reach out to parents with information on Internet Safety.
The group listed various government agencies to disseminate an Internet safety message to parents. One group member proposed the creation of a one page insert for inclusion in mailings from the Virginia Department of Taxation, the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles, the Virginia Department of Social Services and students’ report cards. These inserts can also be distributed by libraries, banks and grocery stores.
Finally, the group made a list of the products or means that would be used get the message out to parents. Ideas included creating a comprehensive DVD with a trailer, the PSA of the contest winning students, a short presentation and a longer training modules. The group recommended printing the one page flyer or insert as well as Posters and banners. Facilitator Hicks-Thomas also mentioned the Attorney General’s intention of having booklets such as Faux Paws by iKeepSafe.org printed and distributed to all public and private elementary schools in Virginia. It was agreed that the latter part of the meeting signaled the need for many of these specific measures to be fleshed out after the Task Force made its recommendations and that the members of the Parents and Educators Working Group will be needed to implement these and many other specifics related to the working group’s recommendations.