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After a father’s warning, lawmakers block porn age-check measure
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

After a father’s warning, lawmakers block porn age-check measure

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice A Mesa County father didn’t show up to talk policy. He showed up to talk about kids. “My heart breaks for this generation and the technology that they face today,” Mesa County Commissioner Cody Davis told lawmakers, describing a world where explicit material is “one click away” and often discovered long before children understand what they’re seeing. He talked about foster children, smartphones, and the quiet moments when exposure happens before parents even know it. “Right now, a 10-year-old boy is quietly absorbing scenes that teach him that women are objects,” Davis said. “Right now, a 12-year-old girl is comparing her natural developing body to the… performer she sees.” No one in the hearing questioned the problem. Kids are runn...
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Arizona Case Targets Online Child Predator Network With Terrorism Charges
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Arizona's Family, Approved, National

Arizona Case Targets Online Child Predator Network With Terrorism Charges

By Nicole Crites | Arizona’s Family Federal agents say 19-year-old Baron Martin targeted kids as young as 11, blackmailing them into acts of violence. PHOENIX (AZFamily) — When 19-year-old Baron Martin was cited for a fender bender in Tucson two and a half years ago, federal agents say he was already deep into the world of 764. Agents say Martin joined the online network in 2019 and is now tied to crimes that could keep him locked up for life. Behind closed doors from his keyboard in Tucson, detectives say he went by the name “Convict,” targeting kids as young as 11 in the U.S. and overseas. Agents say he blackmailed them to carve his name into their bodies, kill their pets and live stream acts of extreme violence. Timothy Courchaine, U.S. att...
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The hidden impact of two Colorado bills: Privacy risks few are talking about
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

The hidden impact of two Colorado bills: Privacy risks few are talking about

By Maria Orms | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice When I heard about two bills recently proposed in the Colorado State Legislature, I don’t want to sound overly dramatic—but I felt a real chill. Right now, our Constitution and modern technology are on a collision course. We’re being forced to decide how to embrace powerful tools without sacrificing privacy and the rights those tools were never meant to undermine. Consider the debate over Flock cameras in Denver: 400 to 800 people showed up to a community meeting in November, and another 24,000 watched online. People are paying attention—and they’re concerned. Yet these new bills are moving forward with little fanfare and even less public scrutiny. Because they deal with technology, they’re easy to overlook—but their poten...
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Justice Served as Colorado Child Predator Receives 84-Year Federal Prison Sentence
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The Western Journal, Approved, State

Justice Served as Colorado Child Predator Receives 84-Year Federal Prison Sentence

By Jack Davis | The Western Journal A 31-year-old Colorado man has been sentenced to 84 years in prison after pleading guilty to multiple counts of the sexual exploitation of minors. Austin Ryan Lauless, 31, was sentenced on Dec. 17, according to a Department of Justice news release. In addition to prison time, he faces a lifetime of supervised release. Lauless pleaded guilty to 13 counts of sexual exploitation of a child, five counts of sex trafficking of a minor, two counts of advertising child sexual abuse material, and possession of child sexual abuse material, the Justice Department said. The release said the 84 American victims come from almost every state, and that victims from at least five foreign countries have been identified. READ THE FUL...
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Teen’s Suicide Highlights Rising Sextortion Crisis Targeting American Teens
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Approved, National, New York Post

Teen’s Suicide Highlights Rising Sextortion Crisis Targeting American Teens

By: Chadwick Moore | New York Post The afternoon that 15-year-old Bryce Tate was sextorted started off as a perfectly normal Thursday. The Cross Lanes, W. Va., sophomore came home from the gym on Nov. 6, scarfed down a plate of tacos prepared by his mom, then went outside to shoot hoops. At 4:37 p.m., he received a text message from a strange number. Three hours later, Bryce was found in his dad’s man cave — dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. “They say it’s suicide, but in my book it is 100% murder,” Bryce’s father, Adam Tate, told The Post. “They’re godless demons, in my opinion. Just cowards, awful individuals, worse than criminals.” READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT THE NEW YORK POST
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Two-Step Opt Out Needed to Block Google AI From Your Emails
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Breitbart, Approved, National

Two-Step Opt Out Needed to Block Google AI From Your Emails

By: Lucas Nolan and Colin Madine | Breitbart Google has quietly started accessing Gmail users’ private emails and attachments to train its AI models, requiring manual opt-out to avoid participation. To make the process even trickier, Gmail users have to opt out in two separate places for the change to work. Follow these steps to protect your privacy from Google’s invasive AI endeavors. Malwarebytes reports that Google has recently implemented changes that enable Gmail to access all private messages and attachments for the purpose of training its AI models. This means that unless users take action to opt out, their emails could be analyzed to improve Google’s AI assistants, such as Smart Compose or AI-generated replies. The motivation behind this change is Google’s...
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New X.com Feature Reveals Surge of Overseas Operators Pushing Misinformation
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TownHall.com, Approved, National

New X.com Feature Reveals Surge of Overseas Operators Pushing Misinformation

By Dmitri Bolt | Townhall Elon Musk’s company, X, recently launched a new feature on Friday that reveals the country of origin for every user account. The update is already raising eyebrows, offering a glimpse into how foreign-operated accounts may be using the platform to push misinformation on what has become one of the most politically consequential social media sites. Many of the accounts based in foreign countries are pretending to represent the America First agenda. https://twitter.com/authorrochelle/status/1992635515573580190?s=20 For example, an account called "@1776General_" which describes the owner as a "constitutionalist, patriot and ethnically American," with over 140,000 followers, is based in Turkey. The owner posted that they work in international business, an...
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Day of Defense on Sept. 20 equips families to fight exploitation
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Approved, Local, Top Stories

Day of Defense on Sept. 20 equips families to fight exploitation

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice To Corrigan, the Sept. 20 Day of Defense is more than an event. It’s part of a larger calling to rally Colorado around protecting children and restoring those who’ve been harmed. Colorado ranks tenth in the nation for human trafficking, despite being only 21st in population. That reality is what Abby Corrigan, CEO of the Colorado Faith Alliance, says drives her organization’s work. She believes the fight begins with a clear truth. “Pornography is the root issue of sex trafficking. America is the number one buyer of sex in the world… they are after our children and it all leads to trafficking in some form or another,” Corrigan said. Research supports Corrigan’s concern. One in three kids see hardcore porn by age 12 — most of them by acciden...
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Meta’s AI rules let bots flirt with kids and push false health tips
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Reuters, Approved, National

Meta’s AI rules let bots flirt with kids and push false health tips

By Jeff Horwitz | Reuters An internal Meta policy document, seen by Reuters, reveals the social-media giant’s rules for chatbots, which have permitted provocative behavior on topics including sex, race and celebrities. An internal Meta Platforms document detailing policies on chatbot behavior has permitted the company’s artificial intelligence creations to “engage a child in conversations that are romantic or sensual,” generate false medical information and help users argue that Black people are “dumber than white people.” These and other findings emerge from a Reuters review of the Meta document, which discusses the standards that guide its generative AI assistant, Meta AI, and chatbots available on Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, the company’s social-media platf...
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DiGirolamo: The predator playbook every parent needs to know about
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Approved, Commentary, National, Top Stories

DiGirolamo: The predator playbook every parent needs to know about

By John DiGirolamo | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice The Internet is a 24\7 how-to manual. Unfortunately, it’s also available for predators to gather advice to target and manipulate your child. All in a matter of seconds, simply by asking. Staca Shehan, Vice President at the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children recently said, “We're also seeing offenders enter questions asking for guides or tutorials on how to groom or recruit children and do it more efficiently.” The following summarizes the ways predators go after your kids: Predator Grooming Tactics: Victim Targeting: Constantly seek children and teens to interact with. It is quick and easy to find others online. Predators seek anyone who is vulnerable and willing to interact in a chat room, on social me...
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