| Apple has finally implemented a major child safety change that NCOSE had requested: Apple’s nudity detection and blurring feature will be on by default for child accounts age 12 and under in text messages, FaceTimes, and AirDrop. Further, the blurring feature will now apply to videos as well as still images. This change will protect children from nudity and pornographic content that can be harmful to minors in and of itself, but that is also often used to groom children for sexual abuse. Predators send sexually explicit content as a way to build trust with both children and adults, usually asking for images in return. Once sexually explicit content is obtained, the predator may use it for sextortion (to obtain money, additional images, or as leverage for other demands), or may share it with others – possibly even posting the content on social media and pornography sites.
Teens and adults will also be able to opt-in to this critically important safety feature. Read more here. |
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| The other day, NCOSE received the following testimony from a supporter: My grandson used to play Pokémon with me. That was before he got into Roblox at age nine. A few weeks into him playing Roblox, my grandson started to change drastically. He didn’t like Pokémon anymore and didn’t want to hike with me when I came to his parents’ house. It was so strange. The day I read Roblox was on the Dirty Dozen List I called my grandson’s mom and said, “Hey, you need to get your kid off this game—it’s on the Dirty Dozen List.” And she said the most heartbreaking thing I ever heard: “He is already off Roblox because I caught him playing a rape game.” I was absolutely terrified. My grandson, whom I loved—whom I thought was innocent and pure—was playing a rape game. I cried in bed for several hours. This grandfather’s heartbreaking story is just one example of the harms that have come to children while playing Roblox. Read more. |
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| South Africa has decided not to move forward with a bill that would have fully decriminalized prostitution
—including decriminalizing men who buy sexual access to prostituted persons. There is no way to eradicate prostitution and to stop gender-based violence against women without legal remedies to hold sex buyers accountable. The South African bill did not include any measures to thwart sex buyers. Full decriminalization of prostitution policy ‘solutions’ will never make prostitution ‘safer,’ as prostitution is never safe and inherently leads to physical, emotional, and psychological trauma. Fully decriminalizing prostitution ultimately creates more demand for prostituted persons and increases sex trafficking. Read more. |
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Maine Senate Passes Landmark Bill to “Reduce Commercial Sexual Exploitation” The Maine Senate recently passed LD 1435, "A Bill to Reduce Commercial Sexual Exploitation," which NCOSE helped draft. This bill recognizes the fundamental violence and degradation in prostitution by deleting the crime of “engaging in prostitution” while maintaining criminal penalties against sex buyers, pimps, and brothel-keepers. It creates a new crime, “commercial sexual exploitation,” committed by those who buy sexual access to minors or people with mental disabilities. The approach is called the Abolitionist Model, Equality Model, or Nordic Model. The bill moves to the governor’s desk next week. In 2021, Governor Janet Mills vetoed similar legislation. This is the very first time in U.S. history that a bill which takes this legal approach has been approved by a state legislature! |
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