Project Safe Childhood - Educating Perverts what will happen to them........

Public service announcements designed to warn parents of the potential dangers of sexual predators awaiting their children in cyberspace were released Thursday.

The campaign, dubbed Project Safe Childhood, also targets would-be predators and warns them that viewing, downloading, producing or distributing child pornography is a major federal offense that carries steep penalties.

“It will ruin your life,” says one ad that shows a young man sitting behind bars.

Another depicts a young boy sitting amid a host of unsavory characters while he is actually sitting in his bedroom, and another shows a young girl getting ready to meet a handsome man named “Ricky,” who is in reality a not-so-handsome child molester.

The ads, which will run on television, radio, the Internet and printed publications, were unveiled by U.S. Attorney Karen Hewitt at a news conference. A host of law enforcement officials were also in attendance, including San Diego Police Chief William Lansdowne, FBI Special Agent Keith Slotter, and representatives from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Department of Justice, Imperial County and other agencies.

Hewitt said many children are on the Internet regularly.

“They are not safe, even with their parents in the next room,” she said.

The message to parents is to never underestimate the real danger from individuals who want to sexually exploit children, Hewitt said.

She cited two recent cases as examples. In the first case, a man was talking girls into committing sex acts on a Web cam. He later downloaded the video and distributed it. In the other case, a Carlsbad man admitted to having more than 12,000 images of children as young as 6 years old engaged in sex acts with adults.

The ads, two of which are also produced in Spanish, urge parents to become more informed and supervise their children's online activities.

“They just don't know how at-risk they are,” Hewitt said.

Go to projectsafechildhood.gov for more information.