ALBANY, NY (WRGB) — We’re learning more about what is being done to protect children online.
We previously reported on a California man facing charges for sexually explicit messages sent to a Capital Region teen.
Now, the U.S. Attorney is calling for federal reform to prevent these cases from happening.
“We could put a rocket to the moon and bring it back to Earth. We could certainly fix that as well for the safety of our children,” said John Sarcone, U.S. Attorney, Northern District of NY
Sarcone is calling on the federal government, cellular companies, and social media sites to better protect children from online predators.
But the proliferation of these crimes has catapulted with the invention of the internet and these websites, these dating sites.
“I can tell you right now, 100% on having my staff looking into how we could bring charges against that internet dating site, and in addition to the carrier of the phones, could it be AT&T, could it be Verizon? I don’t care who it is. They have the capability of tracking anything like that,” Sarcone added.
The push came after an FBI internet safety presentation encouraged a teen to come forward, leading to the arrest of a California man last week.
“We cannot just wait for victims to call law enforcement, call the FBI, call the United States Attorney’s Office to report it,” added Craig Tremaroli, Albany FBI Special Agent in Charge. “That’s why we spend a considerable amount of resources proactively getting into areas in which children are a part of schools.
Dan Meyer, a national security and law enforcement partner at Tully Rinckey, says New York is ahead of the game when it comes to protecting people from online predators.
Last year, the State Assembly passed a bill that flags users when they’re talking with a person who’s been previously removed from a dating app.
“The challenge is how to get earlier in the fact pattern to basically block people from preying on innocent people before it happens? Why do we have to have an incident to then go and say we had an incident? We’ve got to stop this in the future,” said Meyer.
He adds that there are algorithms to trace inappropriate contact with minors.
