Every year, the
National Coalition On Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) targets 12 businesses or organizations that top the list for contributing to sexual exploitation. These contributors make up what they call “The Dirty Dozen List.” This year’s list was announced yesterday, and one of the companies was a relatively unknown to the average parent—EBSCO Information Services. This large corporation out of Massachusetts offers library resources to K-12 schools, both public and private.
Libraries?
Why would a library resource company be on the Dirty Dozen List? NCOSE uncovered titles in EBSCO catalogs for adult erotica, and even found links from EBSCO products to torture porn sites! This video shows how easy it is for kids of all ages to access explicit content through this library portal. [Note: EBSCO has already contacted NCOSE and stated their intent to work on limiting this exposure to minors. Here’s hoping!]
Other Offenders
Other offenders on the Dirty Dozen List include two of the most popular apps for teens: Snapchat and YouTube. Many parents don’t realize how easy it is for kids to find explicit content on these apps. Please take a moment to read the details for each of the 12 contributors so you can better familiarize yourself with why they’re on this list.
If you would like to take action in reaching out to any of these entities, you can do that here. In 2015-16, the Dirty Dozen List led the way for pornographic video content to be completely removed from several leading hotel chains! Many parents were part of this effort! This is proof that collectively we can make a difference in this fight.
Join Us!
Sexual exploitation online is one of the many dangers kids face, but we believe it to be one of the most pervasive. Join us as we help spread the word to other parents and schools about how we can work together to protect kids online.