Dakota Fitzgerald, GCGOP 2nd Vice Chair; Understanding the law, as a Republic, is crucial to our overall success in combatting Human Trafficking and provides We the People with the knowledge we need to press on. While strides have been made and the arrests continue to increase, there is still more work to be done. As free citizens of this great nation we have a responsibility to influence our legislators and implore them to adequately represent their constituents. That is why I would like to take a moment to discuss two bills being proposed to the House of Representatives that can greatly impact the demand for Human Trafficking through combatting child pornography.
H4535 – Device Filter Legislation: Protecting children from harmful images online; requiring manufacturers to default filters to “ON” rather than “OFF”.
Problem: Adolescent and preteen children are consuming hard core pornography with unfiltered internet accessible devices. Pornagraphy is a highly addictive agent and children are especially vulnerable; for many, it serves as their sex education. A nationally representative survey found that 64% of young people, ages 13-24, actively seek out pornography weekly or more often. Porn consumption continues to be an issue as the Navigators Christian Ministry at Clemson University reports most men and 25-30% of women students in Navigators struggle with pornography addiction.
Solution: Virtually all internet accessible devices are manufactured with built in filtering capabilities and parental controls features, but the filters are defaulted to “OFF”. This legislation mandates that the devices be manufactured so that the filters be defaulted to “ON” when activated in South Carolina.
According to the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, “Without this legislation it is not possible for parents to effectively protect their children from the massive amounts of harmful material inundating them online.”
Reasoning: Why Filters?
- Devices are currently manufactured with filters built in but defaulted to “OFF”.
- Parents/guardians find turning filters “ON” to be very burdensome; default “ON” rather than default “OFF” addresses this.
- With the default “ON”, parents/guardians may control access to speech harmful to children.
- Placing filters on the device itself, instead of on the network, protects minors on the internet wherever the device is used.
Free Speech?
- This legislation does not restrict adult access to speech as it filters speech at the device level rather than universally restricting the source internet.
- Adults may elect to consume pornography by deactivating the filters on the device with a passcode.
- This legislation allows the state to mandate the use of filters while empowering parents to determine what material is appropriate for their children.
This legislation is a necessary incremental step in advancing South Carolina’s legitimate interest to protect our children from harmful online materials without restricting adult access to protected speech. Parents, guardians, and the SC Attorney General will be able to bring civil actions against: adults who deactivate filters on devices used by minors and manufacturers of devices who do not comply with the law.
H4563 – Cyber Sexual Harassment aka Revenge Porn: Protection against the online sharing of private images.
Problem: Cyber Sexal Harassment (Revenge Porn) is an action taken by a person who:
- Receives a private sexually explicit self-image from another person who sends it with a reasonable expectation of privacy that the image will not be shared, and
- The identity of the provider of the image can be recognized from it, and
- The person receiving the private image publishes it to the internet without consent.
The sharing of private sexually explicit self-images has become a frequent practice amongst both the juvenile and adult populations. The publication of these images on the internet without consent has also become common.
Unsuspecting juveniles are often preyed upon by online predators who solicit the images and use them to coerce the juvenile into sex trafficking and other illicit activities. Many juveniles share the images with those they consider friends only to find the image posted on a social media platform when the relationship turns sour. Once the image is posted on the internet it is almost impossible to have it removed, especially if the image goes viral. South Carolina is currently 1 out of 3 states without a Revenge Porn statute.
Solution: Law enforcement is asking the South Carolina Legislature to pass this statute. Currently, the only law available to S.C. law enforcement to sanction this activity as possession and distribution of child pornography. Law enforcement is reluctant to charge juveniles with this crime because it entails major criminal penalties inappropriate for what is often thoughtless juvenile behavior.
This Call to Action will take no more than 5-10 minutes and embodies what it means to be an American. Please reach out to your State House Representative and urge them to support these two bills. If you’re not sure who your Representatives are please go to https://www.scstatehouse.gov/legislatorssearch.php, enter your address, and save their contact information. For this Call to Action, you will be emailing your State House Representative, not your US Representative. To make it extremely simple, you can copy and paste the following into an email addressed to your State Reps:
“Dear Representative,
I live in ________ and I am your constituent. Please sign on as a cosponsor to
H4535 – Lin Bennett, Youth Protection from Internet Pornography Act and H4563 – Chris Wooten, Cyber Sexual Harassment Act (aka Revene Porn Statute). H4535 addresses the fact that young people have unrestricted access to internet pornography through their smart phones. Pornography filters are built into these devices but they are sold with the filters turned “OFF” by default. Most parents do not know filters are available on the devices. Lin Bennett’s bill would require the internet accessible devices be sold with the filters turned “ON”. Please help protect our children from harmful pornography. H4563 addresses Cyber Sexual Harassment. Juveniles often share sexually explicit self-images with others. When the relationship sours the person receiving the images often posts it on social media as an act of revenge. It is nearly impossible to get the social media platform to take down the image causing the victim relentless embarrassment. H4563 makes this a crime. South Carolina is one of only three states without a revenge porn statute. Therefore, law enforcement does not have a needed tool at its disposal to deal with a crime that has become common. Please cosponsor these bills and call on Chairman Murphy to schedule hearings with the House Judiciary Committee. Thank you for choosing to be a part of the solution to combat Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation in South Carolina.”
Be sure to include your name and town and only identify yourself as a constituent if you are emailing the Representative for your district.
See Dakota’s most recent pieces on “The Fight to End Human Trafficking” below.
###
ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
Dakota Fitzgerald is 2nd Vice Chair of the Greenville County GOP, an America First MAGA Patriot whose vision is to embolden others to embrace, wholly, their duty and contribution to humanity while forming a more perfect Union and fighting to End Human Trafficking.
#NeverSurrender #FollowTheMoney
WE NEED YOU …
No more excuses. We started mySCGOP.com to purge the RINOs in the SCGOP, and we stated mySCGOP.news because the mainstream #FakeNews media is in bed with our local politicians and government. No more will stories be swept under the rug. If you have a story that needs to be exposed … send it to us and we will get it out there. Have an opinion piece, or want to write a series, submit your writings to us at mySCGOP@protonmail.com. See something we can do better, let us know. We are about #WeThePeople … so here is your chance to stop complaining and start do something about it. They are watching and reading … let’s start exposing it all.