A bill authored by San Diego Assemblymember Toni Atkins that will strengthen California’s child pornography reporting laws has advanced further in the legislative process with a bi-partisan, unanimous vote of the Senate Public Safety Committee.
AB 1817 adds commercial computer technicians to those who are “mandated reporters” of child abuse.
“The days of hard copy child pornography are over. The sexual exploitation of children is now hidden on personal computers and on the Internet,” says Atkins. “If predators are hiding behind a digital smokescreen, then law enforcement needs modernized tools to follow them there.”
Current law requires commercial film and photographic print processors to report child pornography they discover in the course of their work. However, statistics from the Department of Justice show that only 18 percent of those arrested on charges of Internet-related child exploitation possessed photographs, books or magazines of these crimes. In contrast, 96 percent had images on hard drives or removable media.
