[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 6]
[House]
[Page 8503]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               PRIORITIZING ONLINE THREAT ENFORCEMENT ACT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Massachusetts (Ms. Clark) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, imagine waking up every 
morning with the dread that you will face hundreds of violent threats 
as soon as you get to work.
  Imagine that, while you are in your office, people threaten to 
sexually assault you, and they know where you live, when you are home, 
and who your family members are. Maybe they even show you the weapon 
they will use in the future to harm you. We would never tolerate this 
in our offices, but this is a daily reality for women online.
  Right now, millions of women and girls are online, navigating their 
personal and professional lives; yet women will be targeted with the 
most severe types of online threats and harassment at a rate 27 times 
higher than that of men. Although these threats occur online, there is 
nothing virtual about their devastating impacts on women's lives.
  Meet Jessica Valenti, a journalist who founded a site that features 
topics like women in the media, women's health, and LGBT rights. The 
price Jessica pays for creating this forum and expressing a feminist 
point of view on the Internet is an unrelenting barrage of rape and 
death threats.
  After threats forced her to leave her home, to change her bank 
accounts, and to change her phone number, she contacted the FBI. The 
FBI advised her to never walk outside by herself and to leave her home 
until the threats blow over. The threats continue today, 4 years later.
  In Pennsylvania, a woman described her terror after her abuser 
announced on Facebook that he planned to tie her up, put her in a 
trunk, pull out her teeth one by one, and then her nails, chop her into 
pieces, but keep her alive long enough to feel the pain.
  Then there is the story of my constituent, Brianna Wu, a video game 
developer who had to flee her home with her family in the middle of the 
night after specific threats to rape and to kill her and her husband. 
Her online attackers released her home address and described in graphic 
detail the acts of violence they were planning.
  Another woman moved nine times in an 18-month period out of fear of 
online threats. She moved across the country and changed her job four 
times just to stay safe.
  None of the people who made these threats has been prosecuted, and 
most of the examples I have of online threats that women, including 
myself, have received are too vile and obscene to share on the House 
floor. In Jessica Valenti's words: ``When people say you should be 
raped and killed for years on end, it takes a toll on your soul.''
  For Jessica and Brianna and other victims of severe threats online, 
there are huge financial and professional impacts. They have lost work 
opportunities and have spent money on legal advice, protective 
services, and temporary housing.
  They have had to pay to have their personal information scrubbed from 
Web sites. This is a significant price to pay just to remain an active 
participant of an online economy.
  What has been our response? In a 3-year period, of an estimated 2.5 
million cyber stalking cases, only 10 were federally prosecuted. A 
judge in Massachusetts recently told one victim who works in technology 
and has suffered terrifying threats from an ex-boyfriend to simply go 
offline.
  When I asked the FBI about the investigation and prosecution of 
online violence against women, they told me it is not a priority. By 
failing to address the realities of changing technology and a changing 
economy, we are failing these women.
  It is not okay to call this an Internet problem. It is not okay to 
say to women that this is just the way things are. It is not okay to 
tell women to change their behavior, to withhold their opinions, and to 
stay off the Internet altogether, just to avoid severe threats.
  For decades, women who have been victims of sexual assault and abuse 
have been told they have provoked their abusers by what they wore or 
what they have said. We have worked hard to change that culture; yet, 
by not taking these cases seriously, we send a clear message that, when 
women express opinions online, they are asking for it.
  That is why I am calling on the Department of Justice to enforce the 
laws that are already on the books and take these investigations and 
prosecutions seriously. The Prioritizing Online Threat Enforcement Act 
would give the Department of Justice and the FBI the resources and the 
mandate to investigate and enforce the Federal laws on cyber threats.
  It is not Congress' job to police the Internet, but we have a 
responsibility to make sure that women are able to fully participate in 
our economy. I urge my colleagues to support this crucial bill.
  Let's keep the Internet open and safe for all voices.

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