Washington, DC (August 31, 2020) – The National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) is honoring Protect Young Eyes (PYE) with its Dignity Defense Alert for the organization’s leadership in protecting children online and for shepherding the EARN IT Act through the legislative process. NCOSE’s Dignity Defense Alert is a new campaign to recognize the people, companies, and nonprofits, who are taking action to defend human dignity from any form of sexual abuse or exploitation.
While PYE advocates for changes in laws and systems to protect children, the organization also provides parents and guardians with the resources and tools they need to ensure their children are as safe as possible while online. PYE has created a free webinar series, Tech Ready Parent, created a PROTECT App for families to create a “Digital Trust Framework” to become “predator proof, porn resilient, and screen wise,” and it reviews popular apps and devices.
“Protect Young Eyes is at the forefront of the movement in identifying and mitigating the risks children face online. We also applaud Protect Young Eyes for its instrumental role initiating this groundbreaking legislation, the EARN IT Act, which will hold technology companies accountable for the rampant child sex abuse material (CSAM) on their platforms. The EARN IT Act is the only significant bill to curb online child sexual exploitation with a chance of success in 2020,” said Dawn Hawkins, senior vice president and executive director of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation.
“Through countless efforts including initiating and maintaining ongoing relationships with legislators, Protect Young Eyes championed the EARN IT Act through the Senate Judiciary Committee. Not only did the bill pass unanimously, but it was edited with changes that now make interactive service providers accountable for combating child sexual exploitation and CSAM, without the ‘safe harbor’ provisions outlined in the original version of EARN IT Act. It also removes Communications Decency Act 230 immunity regarding CSAM, thereby opening the technology industry to liability for harm caused to survivors under Federal civil law and state criminal and civil law.
“We are grateful to Protect Young Eyes for its leadership, and extend that same gratitude to so many other allies who are fighting with us to continue moving the EARN IT Act along,” Hawkins added.
NCOSE’s Dignity Defense Alert has previously gone to PayPal, Instacart and Doordash.