Tag: Child Pornography

Senate Passes Bill Making AI Generated Pornography A Felony

The use of photos to create deep fakes of sexually explicit content is becoming a trend among child predators. Photos of children can be plugged into AI to create child pornography. 

In February, pop superstar Taylor Swift became the target of artificially generated sexually explicit photos using Artificial Intelligence. AI creators used photos and videos of Swift to create a sexually explicit deep fake. 

The use of photos to create deep fakes of sexually explicit content is becoming a trend among child predators. Photos of children can be plugged into AI to create child pornography. 

Senate Bill 740 prohibits digital manipulation of sexually explicit content that includes minors. 

Sen. Patricia Rucker, R-Jefferson, is one of the sponsors of the bill. She said just two days ago she received an email from a constituent whose 14-year-old son had been superimposed using AI onto the body of a naked person. The creators were trying to extort money out of the victim and his family. 

“Thankfully he went straight to his parents and they called the police,” Rucker said. “Just so you know, the police told them we don’t know what we can do about this.”

AI depictions of child sexual exploitation and abuse are on the rise. 

Senate Bill 741 prohibits the creation, production, distribution, or possession of artificially generated child pornography. Sen. Charles Trump, R-Morgan, sponsored and introduced the bill. 

“This bill makes clear that if you do it through the use of artificial intelligence, and generate images, then it’s going to be subjected to felony penalties under West Virginia law,” Trump said. 

Both bills passed unanimously and now head to the House for consideration. 

Senate Bill Aims To Keep Children Safe From Sextortion

Today the Senate passed a bill aimed at helping children stay safer from internet predators and cyberbullies. 

Senate Bill 466 would require the West Virginia Board of Education to create an annual safety course curriculum about accessing technology for children and teenagers. The program would be in collaboration with law enforcement and criminal justice agencies and other organizations that deal with human trafficking and child online safety issues. 

The program would focus on safe and responsible use of social networking including online messaging, the risks of transmitting personal information online, copyright laws, the importance of establishing open communication with adults like school counselors and teachers, and how to recognize and avoid suspicious or dangerous online communication or activities with cyberbullies and predators.  

Sen. Laura Chapman, R-Ohio, said the bill is in place to protect children from things like sextortion. That is when a minor communicates with a predator in an elicit or sexual manner and then is later extorted. She said the bill is also to open pathways of communication between minors and resources to help them if they have been a victim of online predation or cyberbullying. 

“This bill addresses online bullying, it addresses Human Trafficking Awareness, addresses child pornography dissemination,” Chapman said, “Because oftentimes children don’t realize when they take a nude photo of themselves, and then send it to a love interest, that they are actually committing dissemination of child pornography.”

She said this bill will help children know what to look out for if somebody’s trying to exploit them. She said keeping children safe online and having resources available for them if they are exploited can be a matter of life or death. 

“I recently came across an issue where children would send nude photos to someone that they thought was a love interest and ended up being somebody who just wanted to extort them,” Chapman said. “Oftentimes those children commit suicide.” 

Chapman said that children, their parents and teachers need to be aware of these risks and be able to recognize signs that a child is facing harm on the internet. She said it’s also important children know they have resources available to them in their communities if they do fall victim to cyber bullying or sexual exploitation. 

 Parents will have the option to opt children out of this training. 

The bill now heads to the House of Delegates for consideration.

Man Admits Accessing Porn on W.Va. Culture Center Computer

A Bluefield man has pleaded guilty to charges that he used a public computer at the West Virginia Culture Center to access child pornography.

WCHS-TV reports 21-year-old Matthew Newsome entered the plea Friday in Kanawha County Circuit Court.

Newsome was charged with accessing child porn on the Internet from a public computer terminal at the Culture Center library on Feb. 12. State cyber-security analysts alerted Capitol Police after detecting the activity. Newsome was arrested in April.

Newsome also pleaded guilty to malicious wounding stemming from a robbery at a Charleston motel last December.

Arrests in Child Exploitation Cases Up in W.Va.

State Police figures show arrests on charges of child pornography or online solicitation of minors have increased in West Virginia this decade.

The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports members of the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force made 321 such arrests last year.

About 90 agencies including law enforcement, prosecutor’s offices and universities are affiliated with the task force, which is headed by the State Police and started in 2006.

State Police figures show 43 such arrests in 2010, 60 in 2011, 56 in 2012 and 215 in 2013. There were 123 arrests over the first half of 2015.

West Virginia Child Advocacy Network executive director Emily Chittenden-Laird says officers have become adept at handling Internet child sexual abuse crimes over the years.

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