Virginia takes Internet safety initiative to faith community

By: Jim Nolan | Richmond Times-Dispatch
Published: December 16, 2009

The Virginia attorney general's office wants to take its child Internet safety initiative to the state's churches, synagogues and mosques.

So it's partnering with a nonprofit run by Donna Rice Hughes, whose reported affair with former Sen. Gary Hart derailed the Democrat's presidential bid in 1987.

Using $12,000 in private funding donated to the Attorney General's Youth Internet Safety Task Force, the office has purchased 1,000 Internet safety kits produced by Enough Is Enough. The nonprofit organization is led by Hughes, who married, became a born-again Christian, and founded the group in 1994 with a goal of safeguarding children from Internet predators and pornography.

She appeared in Richmond with outgoing Virginia Attorney General Bill Mims and members of the faith-based community.

"Unfortunately, no child is immune to Internet dangers," said Rice, whose organization produced the multimedia program "Internet Safety 101: Empowering Parents," geared to helping adults protect the children under their care.

She said statistics show that 7 of 10 children have encountered pornography during Internet searches and that 1 in 7 have been approached by an online predator.

The group previously distributed its program to the Virginia PTA, with funding from Verizon. The latest effort was funded with contributions to the attorney general's office from AOL and News Corp., and subsidized by Enough Is Enough funding secured from the U.S. Department of Justice.

Mims said the curriculum of the program is not political, nor does it have religious content. But he and religious leaders said broadening the reach of Internet education to the leaders of the faith-based community would protect more children in the state.

"There are shadows out there where there are things, places, experiences we don't want our children to know about," said the Rev. Doug Smith of the Virginia Interfaith Center.

"We can educate and inform thousands of more families," said Victoria Cobb of The Family Foundation of Virginia.

Contact Jim Nolan at (804) 649-6061 or jnolan@timesdispatch.com.