At 13 years old, I became the first widely known case of an internet abduction when I was lured and kidnapped by an online predator. After nearly a year of chatting online with someone I believed to be a contemporary, I was lured outside of my home to meet this “friend.” Instead, I was met by a 38-year-old predator who kidnapped me. I was driven across state lines and chained in a basement where he tortured and raped me for four days — all while livestreaming my pain and degradation.
Hours before it was believed he was going to kill me, a law enforcement coalition rescued me. An online informant had recognized the little girl in the livestream as someone on the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children poster and reported it. Members of law enforcement used publicly available data sources they had access to through private-sector investigative tools to identify my captor and trace his digital footprints to where I was being held captive.
Since my rescue, I have devoted my life to fighting predatory crime against children and adults. I worked to enact Alicia’s Law, which provides funding and resources to Internet Crimes Against Children task forces in at least 12 states. I’ve testified before Congress and advised the FBI, and I’ve provided training to help airlines stem the tide of global human trafficking.
After years of working to ensure that law enforcement has the funding and training needed to stop child predators, I am now concerned that agencies may no longer have expedient access to the tools.
A bill is about to come to a vote on the U.S. House floor that would thwart law enforcement’s ability to act on cases like mine.
The American Data Privacy and Protection Act sets forth new and needed data protections for all Americans — the majority of which I support. Among other things, it prevents marketers from tracking every website we go to, and it prevents companies from misusing or selling user data.
Just as the data privacy act lets anyone opt out of sharing data that advertisers use to track them, it enables child predators, rapists, human traffickers and violent criminals to opt out of private sector data services that law enforcement needs to investigate them — effectively forcing law enforcement to request warrants for accessing information that until now has been readily available to fight crime.
The data privacy act would severely restrict law enforcement’s access to the tools it needs to rapidly conduct missing children’s investigations when every second counts.
In 76% of cases of children who are killed after being abducted by a stranger, the child dies within the first three hours. Law enforcement’s ability to quickly gather the data it needs to support a warrant request is crucial. When the window of time to get pertinent data goes from one hour to one day, the results can be catastrophic.
Children have the right to congregate online, play video games, share stories and chat with their friends — without sexual predators trying to lure them into exploitation, blackmail, kidnapping, rape or trafficking. The number of internet-related crimes against children has soared to record levels recently. Curtailing them should be a national priority.
When one of the 500,000 child predators who are online daily strikes, law enforcement groups need to be able to track and catch the predator and rescue the innocent child.
In its present form, the data privacy act inadvertently limits the usefulness of private sector investigative tools that are essential in the fight against crime. It allows citizens to opt out of investigative services that government agencies and companies alike have historically used to protect Americans. If the data privacy act becomes law, sexual predators who want to remain undetected can simply send a notice and will no longer be included in core services used by the FBI and local law enforcement agencies.
The tools law enforcement used to rescue me are now hanging in the balance. If the current version of the American Data Privacy and Protection Act had been in place when I was held captive, it may have been nearly impossible for law enforcement to find me and identify my captor as quickly as it did, if at all.
I understand why many Americans, including me, strongly support protecting our privacy from marketers and hackers. However, we should absolutely be aware of this bill’s vast implications for criminal investigations. The data privacy act should be amended so rules designed to stop intrusive marketing do not also handcuff law enforcement efforts to protect us.
On behalf of the millions of Americans who have, or will, fall victim to sexual predators, human traffickers, rapists and kidnappers, I urge every representative and senator and the president to consider amending the American Data Privacy and Protection Act before it’s too late.
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ABOUT THE WRITER
Alicia “Kozak” Kozakiewicz was the first known victim of an internet abduction when she was kidnapped as a child. In the 20 years since her rescue, she has become one of the most effective advocates for online child safety in the United States.
