tonight on "nightline," generation triple x, a secret online epidemic. american boys and girls as young as eight, addicted to internet porn and too ashamed to get help. tonight a young ex-addict tells us about the world at large. and a new underwear bomb meant to take down a plane headed to the u.s. tonight a manhunt for the bomb maker as security tightens at the nation's airports. t"the avengers" is the grea

box office haul. >> good evening. i'm terry moran. you're about to meet a 17-year-old who says he became addicted to internet porn at age 12. you'll meet a young woman who spent her high school years hiding a shameful secret. both of them hypnotized by all the glowing images on their computer and led down a path of secrets and lies as astonishingly young ages. it's an epidemic that some professionals say exploding with porn just a click away on computers and smart phones. >> reporter: it's after school. nathan hog is out walking

bonnie, the family dog. because it's his turn and that's the kind of kid he is. >> these are just a fraction of the merit badges i have. >> on his way to eagle skounts. a 3.75 grade average, student counsel and into sports. and his connection to his family, one of eight children. the oldest of those still living at home. it almost doesn't hit how he once managed to cover-up from everybody a habit he could not shake. an addiction, online pornography. >> from 12 to 13, all the way up to 14, it was kind of there, uninterrupted. i became almost numb to it. >> reporter: meaning what? >> it became such a part of my daily routine. >> reporter: it was automatic? >> exactly. >> reporter: nathan is far from alone. there's little research as to how many kids are addicted to pornography, but one study reports exposure can begin at a

very young age. pornography is nothing new, but we are worlds away from when porns game on vhs tapes, to now on smart phones and on the computer. he got good at covering his tracks. >> i got to deleting that and deleting specific searches and cleaning up my mess afterwards, to the time where i timed it masterfully. >> it just did not fit into who he was in the rest of his life. a mormon, active in the church, and that hurt. >> so i felt like everyday i was just a whole chunk of me missing, like a hole in my gut. >> reporter: what did that hole represent? >> i felt like i couldn't be honest with people. and i wanted to honestly get to know other people. >> reporter: was this a lonely

experience? >> it was. i didn't think i could approach someone and get help, really. i was kind of trapped. >> reporter: the warning signs include depression, poor school performance, self-isolation, also lying. >> it seems silly to me. i would catch him in a lie. >> silly things. >> yes. >> like, why would you lie about that? it just seemed unnecessary. but i could tell it had become a habit. >> studies show that seven out of ten teens have been accidentally exposed to pornography online. boys are more likely to view it, gu girls get hooked too. like brie yan. >> i started to isolate miz. i hated what i was doing. i hated that i couldn't stop. >> reporter: she's now twoorks but remembers how she was addicted during all of her high school years. >> this was not just me.

i knew tons of students who were my peers who were trugling with the same thing. >> being in high school in utah, it's a school-wide presentation by a group called fight the new drug, which is sending a new message on pornography, not that it's bad or weird to find images of sex a turnion, it's the opposite. it's normal. that's what's driving clay olson. >> this is the decision-making area of the brain. >> reporter: his pitch isn't you're bad or weird if you're hooked on porn. it's more, you've got a normal brain and that's why porn has a hold on you. >> it triggers a release that overflows the brain. >> he's trying to destig mattize enough so that kids will seek help. >> after pretty much every session we do, i have two or three or sometimes four different teenagers come up to me and tell me their story of how they are currently addicted.

>> did that happen today? >> yes. >> and the e-mails they get are heart-breaking. >> i started when i was eight for about a year. until my parents found out. then i stopped, but it came back ten times harder just about a year and a half ago. >> while not yet formally recognized as a listed addiction, people who work in the field, like psychotherapyist matt bowlky are treating it as e. >> a lot of times pornography becomes a coping style, a way that they deal with negative emotions in their life. it provides the euphoria, the high. >> reporter: he warns -- >> i think we're at the front end of it. in the next five or ten years, it's just a rising generation, moving to adolescence. i think we'll have an epidemic. >> reporter: we're at the beginning of it? >> absolutely. >> she now appears on the fight the new drug site as someone who beat the addiction. that's the good news.

it can be beaten. >> it just takes for someone to say, i am addicted. women are addicted to go through it. >> he got himself unhooked and now is putting himself out there to help other kids who are trapped. >> i know there will be someone out there in my life and they'll have this attitude, maybe tease me if they want. but it's not up to me to care because for all i know, they're suffering from the same problem. >> so today, he's back on track and that ipod touch he's listening to, it's set up so that no kind of risky image can get in there because as he and many other kids know, that's how it starts, if you're not careful. >> elo quent testimonies from the young people there. up next, a bomb-maker still on the loose after a new underwear bomb plot is foiled by the cia. why officials are saying the threat is far from over.

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tonight, a manhunt is under way after cia officials thwarted a bomb plot aimed at bringing down a jet liner headed for the u.s. involving an upgrade of the underwear bomb, one that could be capable of slipping past airport security undetected. with the bomb maker still at large, brian ross has the latest. >> the threat is far from over. that's what u.s. and european officials are telling abc news tonight. in the wake of reports that the cia had foiled one plot, the fears there are several other would-be al qaeda bombers with similar non-metallic devices that could get through most

airport security screenings with no quick fix available. the urgent question is what to do with sophisticated technology that is not designed to detect the kinds of bombs that are now being built. >> there are bombs that could get through u.s. security. >> the plot was run by the al qaeda glup in yemen. the bomber was under surveillance for sometime before he was taken into custody. the mastermind, ibra him alasiri. he's found ingenius ways to put bombs in underwear and in printers. he's seen here hugging his brother before sending him off with a bomb planted in his rectum. >> this latest bomb was an improved version of the

underwear bomb, made only of chemicals. used by this man in a failed attempt to blow up a delta flight on christmas day in 2009. the fbi later demonstrated what would have happened if the bomb had detonated successfully. this latest version had a highly redefined detonation system and is now being examined by fbi bomb technicians. >> the bomb contains no metal parts and would not normally have been detected by any of our security measures. it was apparently something that was going to be carried onto the plane on the body, not in the body of the suicide bomber. >> as abc news first reported last week, the plot led the u.s. to order scores of air marshals to europe to protect flights out of europe. flights out of gatwick and other places received 100% coverage

with u.s. marshals. authorities say there was never any actually danger. >> they're saying it never came close because they had insider information, which implies they had somebody on the inside who wasn't going to let it happen. >> reporter: white house officials say president obama was briefed on the plot in april, although white house officials publicly denied there was any such plot. >> there's no credible reporting right now that there's an active plot to coincide with the anniversary of the bin laden takedown. >> at this time, we have no information that al qaeda is plotting attacks in the u.s. to coincide with the anniversary of bin laden's death. >> reporter: security was stepped up across europe and in the u.s., trying to outwit the al qaeda bomb maker's devious mind. >> we're dealing with a dynamic adversary here who base their actions, in part, on our actions. it's not static. they're going to look for the work-arounds in our own system.

>> keep in mind, this was overseas. so we also need to recognize that some of the same standards that may be in place in the united states, may not be met in other countries. >> reporter: in the end, this latest plot was stopped not by technology, but by good spy work, with an apparent undercover operative inside al qaeda, raising some other questions about today's release of information by the white house. >> well, you have to wonder if this plot was foiled by someone on theinside, whether or not that means that source is blown, and therefore, they no longer have someone on the inside, and would not know about the next plot. >> u.s. officials say the head of operations for al qaeda in yemen was killed over the weekend by a u.s. drone strike. but tonight, the bomb maker, alasiri, is still at large and is believed to be training other bomb makers at how to make other

bomb, all aimed at u.s. aircraft. "good morning america" will have all the latest details on this story in the morning. just ahead, did you see "the avengers" this weekend? we'll bring you the big-brand cameos, you might have missed. with progressive mobile. great! tyler here will show you everything. check out our new mobile app. now you can use your phone to scan your car's vin or take a picture of your license. it's an easy way to start a quote. watch this -- flo, can i see your license? no. well, all right. thanks. okay, here we go. whoa! no one said "cheese." progressive mobile -- insurance has never been easier. get a free quote today. ♪ ...action heroes... ♪ ...sing-alongs, or whatever else, then you and your family will love netflix. netflix lets you watch

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"the avengers" made box office history this weekend earning a whopping $207 million in the u.s. alone. that's just the tickets, not the cameos made by acyura, target and even an underwear brand in down under. david wright takes us brand spotting in this year's biggest blockbuster. >> reporter: for "the avengers," the biggest domestic opening ever, is literally just the price of admission, more than it $00 million at the box office, just part of the haul. >> turn left at flying car. >> reporter: now comes cross promotion. >> stay left at lightning bolt. >> reporter: like this ad from acura. >> turn, turn, turn!

acura, the official vehicle of the avengers. >> reporter: to merchandise. >> i forgot my seal. my mom has it. >> reporter: like this promo for target. >> movies cost a lot. whatever you can do to defray the expenses, you'll do it. >> reporter: these days with movies marketed just as heavily overseas as they are in this country, there are product placement for products you can't even buy. that milk carton featured in transformers 3, is a brand sold only in china. >> what does that mean for the milk company? do you sell more milk? >> sales increased 40%. >> just from being in the movie? >> yes. the awareness of the brand in china increased 27%. >> reporter: wow. >> so the clients are very

pleased. >> reporter: "the avengers" took advantage of the international angle too, with a blink or you'll miss it reference to aussie bum underwear. no matter that those form-fitting costumes for scarlett johansson and her gang are not made by aussie bum. the mere association with this big new franchise is worth money down under. ♪ >> reporter: product placement has been around since buster keaton made silent movies. one of of the first academy award winners had a product placement for hershey. groucho marks was not above punting for profit. >> reporter: live savers happy paid for that. >> nobody makes a movie with their own money. >> reporter: fast forward to et

in the '80s, hershey's paid a cool million to put reese's pieces in those alien fingers. if you're so inclined, you can smell like your favorite super hero. >> we did "the avengers" four-pack. this has been selling well also. some people have their favorite character. some people say, i want it all. >> reporter: as if big, bad, and green, weren't sexy enough. i'm david wright for "nightline" in hollywood. >> i don't know if i'd want to smell like the hulk. need to disclose to y you the movie is distributed by our parent company. all of us would like to welcome a new member to our broadcast family. we're joining forces with univision, the number one spanish language network in the u.s. to launch a 24/7 news network, mostly in glish, that will serve the