US Attorney Hogsett discusses childhood Internet safety

United States Attorney Joseph Hogsett was in Bloomington on Wednesday to talk to local educators about the dangers the Internet can pose to children.

Hogsett, with the U.S. Department of Justice Southern Indiana District, attended the Project Safe Childhood conference, “Internet Social Networking: What Schools Need to Know,” at Jackson Creek Middle School with school educators and staff.

“Social networking, generally, is a topic of enormous importance throughout the country and around the world,” Hogsett said during a press conference. Social networking appears in schools and across the population, and the dangers aren’t small, he said.

The day-long seminar was used to alert and empower school officials who are effective first responders to concerns such as online sexual exploitation and cyber
bullying, Hogsett said.

The seminar was not only in Bloomington, but also in cities such as Muncie and Brownsburg, Ind.

Protecting children is a priority for the Department of Justice and has been for some time for the Southern District, he said.

The district has a 100 percent conviction rate for such crimes against children and “has developed a reputation across the country of being among the leading” units to prosecute offenders, said Steven DeBrota, assistant U.S. Attorney and Project Safe Childhood coordinator.

Bloomington is safe, but no place is immune to the dangers, Hogsett said.

DeBrota said the seminar provided educators with several aspects of education, such as introducing attendees to the methods of criminals, why they do what they do and informing them that the information taught for years is dated. Parents need to get involved with their children’s technology use.

He also defined “sextortion” as the practice of online predators targeting children to do sexual activities through blackmail. The youngest victims of this new practice are 8 or 9 years old, he said.

“That’s a phenomenon we’ve noticed in the last 24 months,” DeBrota said.

With a variety of adults involved in children’s lives, from teachers to parents and siblings, this provides multiple outlets for children to voice concerns or problems they run into on the Internet, he said.

“That’s the kind of thinking we hope to provoke,” DeBrota said.