CV NEWS FEED // A Catholic organization to end human trafficking praised Congress for recently passing the REPORT Act, which will help prevent online sexual exploitation and trafficking of children.
The “Revising Existing Procedures On Reporting via Technology” (REPORT) Act was introduced and sponsored by Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn from Tennessee, and was signed into law by President Biden on May 7.
According to the Act’s summary on Congress’ website, the bill “makes changes to the federal framework governing the reporting of crimes involving the online sexual exploitation of children.”
Alliance to End Human Trafficking, a Catholic organization founded and supported by over 200 congregations of U.S. Catholic nuns, applauded the new law.
“The online sexual exploitation and trafficking of children must end. The REPORT Act includes necessary legal changes that can help reporting and enforcement. Most importantly, we hope the Act can prevent child exploitation and trafficking before it occurs online,” Katie Boller Gosewisch, the Alliance’s executive director, stated in a news release.
The Act makes several changes to Section 2258B of title 18 of the United States Code regarding online sexual exploitation and trafficking reports. The changes include requiring providers to preserve reports for one year instead of 90 days and expanding the criteria needed to submit a report from content involving sexual exploitation to any instance involving child sex trafficking or coercion or enticement of a minor.
The bill also limits the liabilities of vendors that contract with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s CyberTipline, as reporting content with child sexual abuse or exploitation can require the vendor to store and transfer the explicit content to the NCMEC.
The Alliance called for Congress to continue protecting children by passing two other proposed acts, the Kids Online Safety Act and the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act.
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