March 26th, 2007
FL launches 'Think Before You Post' campaign
State and federal law enforcement in Florida are launching a national media campaign to educate girls about the dangers of posting their pictures and personal information on the Internet, reports the Palm Beach Post.
Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum and the U.S. Attorney's Office said the "Think Before You Post" ad campaign will air on television and radio stations across the country.
Considering the campaign focuses on Internet behavior, one might think the ads would also run on ….you know, the Internet?
In one of the ads, every man that the girl in the ad meets already knows her name because of the images she's posted online. The ad ends with a warning that posts can be seen by anyone, including "family, friends and even not so friendly people."
"The volume of child pornography in this state is astounding," McCollum said. "When kids, whether voluntary or otherwise, are giving up their pictures on the Internet in sexually explicit ways, these pictures live with them for the rest of their lives," McCollum said.
Due to the tremendous amount of computer-facilitated crimes against children in Florida, McCollum has asked for an increase in next year's budget to expand his office's cybercrime unit.
"We don't probably really know what the volume is," McCollum said. "Right now, it is just bigger than we are."
