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A law that classifies human trafficking of a minor for the purposes of a commercial sex act as a “serious felony” will take effect Jan. 1, less than six months after debate around the bill roiled the Capitol.

Under current law, human trafficking of a minor for purposes of commercial sex incurs a sentence of up to 12 years in prison. If the crime involves force, fear, fraud, deceit, coercion, violence, duress, menace, or threat of unlawful injury to the victim or to another person, the sentence is 15 years to life. If the person is convicted of inflicting great bodily harm on the victim while trafficking them, a judge can add up to 10 years to a prison sentence.

Under the new law, people convicted of commercial child sex trafficking would face longer prison terms and potential life sentences.

Read more here.

And it’s easy to think it won’t happen to you… but it can. The National Center for Missing and Exploited is here to help.

The Take It Down program will help you get it taken down. Having nudes online is scary.

This service is one step you can take to help remove online nude, partially nude, or sexually explicit photos and videos taken before you were 18.

Learn more. Ask questions. There is help. There is hope. And always remember that anything you post online, will be there forever. Even f you delete a photo, it has been captured or shared by others. Even if it’s only to there for seconds. Please have an open and honest discussion with kids about this.

Did you buy your child, grandchild or family member a device for the holidays? Then you have a duty to learn more about safety features. Don’t worry. Protect Young Eyes has you covered. Our favorite gaming systems, smartphones, tablets, and even smart TVs have parental controls that are constantly changing. We’ve done the work for you. Here’s to a safe 2024!

Read our parent guides !

Do you know what your children are doing online? The predators do.  It is reported, and the number is most-likely higher, that 500,000 predators are online every day looking for vulnerable children to exploit.

Please follow our colleagues and well-vetted information at Protect Young Eyes. Everything you need to know about devices, safety measures, take actions and downright common sense in today’s overwhelming parenting world.

We’ve “got you.” Join us. #BeAWarrior

Criminals are hacking children’s social media accounts and cloning their voices using AI to trick their parents into sending them money, MailOnline can reveal.

Even the most basic scammers are using simple AI tools online to turn just three seconds of a child’s voice into deepfakeaudio files with an 85 to 90 per cent match, security experts have warned.

With more effort spent on cloning, hackers can even achieve a 95 per cent voice match, research from security firm McAfee shows, leaving parents at risk of being exploited by ruthless fraudsters.

The more accurate the clone, the better chance a criminal has of preying on the vulnerability of a friend or family member and tricking them into handing over their money. One influencer, with nearly 400,000 followers on TikTok, revealed how her mother was woken up in the middle of the night to a call from an unknown number. When she answered, it was her daughter’s voice – which had been cloned – screaming for help. It comes as fraud experts issued fresh warnings over the latest ‘hi mum’ texts where scammers ‘prey on our goodwill with emotive stories’ and con parents into thinking their children are in trouble.

Read more here. 

Pornhub’s parent company has agreed to pay more than $1.8 million to the government after admitting it profited from videos it hosted from the sex trafficking site GirlsDoPorn, federal prosecutors in Brooklyn announced Thursday.

The company, Aylo Holdings, entered into a deferred prosecution agreement Thursday to resolve a criminal money laundering investigation into whether Pornhub knew the money from GirlsDoPorn came from illegal activities.

In addition to the seven-figure fine, it’s also required to pay restitution to the website’s hundreds of sex trafficking victims. The details of those payments are still being worked out, but prosecutors said victims could get a minimum $3,000 or more.

Pornhub’s owners also agreed to the appointment of an independent monitor for three years.

Read more here. 

Hidden inside the foundation of popular artificial intelligence image-generators are thousands of images of child sexual abuse, according to a new report that urges companies to take action to address a harmful flaw in the technology they built.