Attorney General Bill McCollum's top priority in office is protecting children from internet child predators, including individuals who use the internet to sexually solicit children or engage in the creation and/or distribution of child pornography online.

According to current statistics, more than 77 million children regularly use the Internet. The Federal Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force says Florida ranks fourth in the nation in volume of child pornography. Nationally, one in seven children between the ages of ten and 17 have been solicited online by a sexual predator.

To combat the growing threat of cybercrimes against children in our state, the Attorney General's Child Predator CyberCrime Unit was established in 2005. This unit works to expand programs to further safeguard children from predatory criminals and includes law enforcement investigators and prosecutors whose primary mission is to target child predators, child pornography, and Internet-based sexual exploitation of children. In less than two years, the unit has facilitated the arrests of more than 50 individuals who created, possessed or distributed child pornography, or who sexually solicited children online and traveled to meet them.

Attorney General McCollum discusses the passage of the CyberCrimes Against Children Act of 2007 with the bill's sponsors and members of the Florida Sheriffs Association.

The CyberCrime Unit is dedicated to investigating and prosecuting any crime perpetrated or substantially facilitated using a computer, the internet, digital media, cellular phone, personal digital assistant (PDA), or any other electronic device. The investigators and the prosecutors in the unit are specially trained in current technologies, tactics, and the law. They also share their expertise through educational programs and community awareness efforts.

Through the Child Predator CyberCrime Unit, the Attorney General encourages extensive cooperative efforts with federal and state prosecutors, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), the NetSmartz Workshop, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), other Attorneys General, and all Florida law enforcement agencies. The Attorney General's Office is also prioritizing education and community outreach efforts to protect Florida's Children, including a pilot program launched in Duval County to target teens and parents of young children with an educational direct mail campaign and a cybersafety program that is being being presented to all middle and high school students in the state.

The Governor signs the CyberCrimes Against Children Act into law.

On October 1, 2007, the CyberCrimes Against Children Act of 2007 went into effect, making Florida one of the leading states in the nations with laws against cybercrimes that target children. The new law increased penalties for the possession or distribution of child pornography online and creates a new, separate penalty against internet predators who communicate with a child online and then travel to meet that child for the specific purpose of further abusing them. The legislation also increased penalties for offenders who misrepresent their age to seduce a child over the internet. This behavior, known as "grooming", is intended to make a child believe the offender is closer in age to the child, therefore encouraging the child to feel more comfortable conversing with the offender.

In addition to the new laws against cybercrime, the CyberCrime Unit began its statewide expansion in October, reopening a larger Jacksonville headquarters and opening the first new office location in Orlando. Five additional units will be opened over the course of the next year, with locations planned for Ft. Lauderdale, Ft. Myers, Pensacola, Tallahassee and Tampa. The unit will grow from a staff of six to 56 personnel statewide.

Attorney General McCollum announces the new law has gone into effect.

The new Orlando bureau of the CyberCrime Unit is opened.

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