Creation of Task Force on e-Safety & Ethics
168th Northern Illinois Annual Conference Resolution: 700-20
NIC Communications Commission, James Galbreath, Chairperson
Actions:
The Bishop will appoint a Task Force on e-Safety & Ethics, including representation from, but not limited to, the Board of Ordained Ministry, the Board of Church and Society, the Communications Commission, Outdoor and Retreat Ministries, Christian Education Section of the Nurture Committee, and Conference Youth Council.
The Task Force on e-Safety & Ethics will provide, and annually review, training materials for children, youth, parents, clergy and church leaders on topics of safe and moral use of electronic media and communications.
The Task Force on e-Safety & Ethics will appoint and train persons who will present these topics annually at Conference and District events, including but not limited to: required clergy sexual boundaries trainings, educational events for church school teachers, Safe Sanctuaries training, camp counselor training, and district lay academies.
The Task Force on e-Safety & Ethics will work with Safe Sanctuaries in support of adding safe electronic media and communications sections to guidebooks and guidelines. The Task Force will also advise and encourage changes in industry that favor safe electronic media and communications, and the ability for parents to be more aware of what their children do online and how to protect them.
Rationale:
Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me. If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were fastened around your neck and you were drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe to the world because of stumbling blocks! Occasions for stumbling are bound to come, but woe to the one by whom the stumbling block comes!” (Matt.18:3-7 NRSV).
All levels of government have organized services to protect children and youth from Internet predators and dangers. (1) We believe the church also has a responsibility to protect children and youth from abuse involving electronic media and communications.
34% of youth Internet users surveyed, age 10-17, saw sexual material online they did not want to see in 2004-2005, and this was an increase, from five years earlier, in exposure to unwanted sexual material. This increase occurred despite greater use of filtering, blocking, and monitoring software in households of youth internet users over the same period. (2)
13% of youth Internet users surveyed in 2004-05 received sexual solicitations. (3)
20% of students in grades 5 – 12 report having met someone they had originally met on the Internet. Only 3% of parents believe their children have done so. (4)
18% of arrests for Internet sex crimes against minors actually involve family members and acquaintances, who take advantage of the anonymity of electronic communications. (5)
Dr. Sharon W. Cooper MD, FAAP quotes: “The more often a person is exposed to potentially harmful materials, the more normal it seems and the more desensitized the person becomes.” (6)
The Department of Homeland Security says that we are “A Nation now fully dependant on Cyberspace” and “By 2003, our economy and national security became fully dependent upon information technology and the information infrastructure.” (7)
References:
(1) As one example, Safeguarding Children: Internet Safety (Office of the Attorney General of Illinois, Lisa Madigan, 2007 [cited May 17, 2007); available from http://www.illinoisattorneygeneral.gov/children/internet.html.
(2) Janis Wolak, Kimberly Mitchell and David Finkelhor, Online Victimization of Youth: Five Years Later [pdf file] (Crimes Against Children Research Center, 2006 [cited May 20, 2007); available from http://www.missingkids.com/en_US/publications/NC167.pdf. P 15. Initial report David Finkelhor, Kimberly J. Mitchell and Janis Wolak, Online Victimization: A Report on the Nation's Youth [pdf file] (Crimes Against Children Research Center, 2000 [cited May 17, 2007); available from http://www.missingkids.com/en_US/publications/NC62.pdf.
(3) Ibid.
(4) National Assessment Center At Risk Online: National Assessment of Youth on the Internet and the Effectiveness of I-Safe Internet Safety Education (2005-06) [pdf file] (iSafe Inc., 2006 [cited May 18, 2007); available from http://www.isafe.org/imgs/pdf/NAC_summary.pdf. P 2
(5) Acquaintance and Family Child Sexual Abusers Utilize the Internet to Further Their Perpetration [web page] (American Prosecutors Research Institute, 2007 [cited May 18, 2007); available from http://www.ndaa-apri.org/apri/programs/ncpca/update_express_feb_2005.html. Summary of "The Internet and Family and Acquaintance Sexual Abuse" study by Mitchell, Finkelhor and Wolak of the University of New Hampshire.
(6) Sharon W. Cooper, Biography, Sharon W. Cooper, Md, Faap (NetSmartz Workshop, 2006 [cited May 18, 2007); available from http://www.netsmartz.org/safety/drsharon_bio.htm.
(7) The National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace [pdf file] (Department of Homeland Security, February 2003 2003 [cited Feb. 17, 2007); available from http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/National_Cyberspace_Strategy.pdf. P. 21