Not being much of a daytime TV guy, I didn’t clue into this very fast, but a lot of site traffic here this week has been coming to S. 1738, the Combating Child Exploitation Act of 2007. The source? None other than Oprah Winfrey.

No, she didn’t have the good sense to call out WashingtonWatch.com specifically on her show, but she did put the word out to her viewers that the bill is must-pass legislation, and they have gone out to make it so, including by coming to the site to register their comments. Details on Oprah’s public policy push on the Oprah blog. Yes, there’s an Oprah blog.

According to its summary, the bill would establish a Special Counsel for Child Exploitation Prevention and Interdiction within the Office of the Deputy Attorney General, improve the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, increase resources for regional computer forensic labs, and make other improvements to increase the ability law enforcement agencies to investigate and prosecute predators. Cost: about $5.00 per U.S. family.

These things all sound wonderful, but the inner skeptic would like a gut-check about:

• The Size of the Problem – Our country seems especially prone to Internet-based “moral panics” where real but contained problems are blown out of proportion by our friends in the television media and made to seem like nationwide epidemics.
• How Well These Policies Will Control the Problem – A knotty problem like this doesn’t have to be solved by policies like this, but they should cost-effectively control it. I don’t know that a lot of federal spending will do it when it might take an entirely different route like education in schools to get the problem of child predation adequately addressed. SO many problems get money thrown at them in Washington, D.C. without results.

So, again, welcome Oprah fans! I’ve been working on a good name for you – Oprahphiles? Oprahmaniacs? – without success. But we’re glad you’re here all the same.

Here’s the current vote on your bill, S. 1738, the Combating Child Exploitation Act of 2007. Click to vote, comment, learn more, or read the wiki article about the bill.