The online sexual victimization of children has flourished in recent years, leaving legislators scrambling to create laws that will protect children from these largely invisible Internet predators. The article provides a research review describing child predators and the types of behaviors they engage in. The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, laid the groundwork for Federal legislation that would broaden the definition of terrorism and reclassify Internet child predators as domestic terrorists. The philosophy behind the PATRIOT Act, which involved a shift toward preventative law enforcement, was used to create the PROTECT Act, which became law in April 2003. The PROTECT Act provides law enforcement with the ability to identify, investigate, and arrest Internet child predators. Arguments in favor of and against both the PATRIOT Act and the PROTECT Act are reviewed as the author argues that the Federal Government’s current policies strike a clear balance between the need to protect the Nation’s children and respect for individual civil liberties. Current statistics demonstrate the effectiveness of the PROTECT Act at detecting and curbing the activities of Internet child predators. The PATRIOT Act is thus a “necessary, proportionate, and effective” response to the threat posed to America’s children by Internet child predators. Endnotes