p2pnet - rss feed: US targets Kiddie Porn sites
p2pnet.net News:- An “aggressive effort” in Britain run by the Internet Watch Foundation to shut or block access to identified porn sites has apparently inspired the US congress Investigations and Oversight Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
The British campaign resulted in a, “major decline in the percentage of child pornography sites based in Britain, to 0.2 percent this year from 18 percent in 1997,” says The New York Times.
Now, in reponse to a question by the committee chairman, Joe Barton, as to why the center why the US doesn’t have a similar effort, “officials with the center joined with Internet service providers to begin the initiative,” says the story,
In testimony to be delivered today to the subcommittee, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children president Ernie Allen says the organization will, “confirm the presence of illegal images on reported sites and provide the Web addresses and related information to the service providers.
“Those companies will then take down such sites if they are based on their systems or will block their subscribers’ access using filters.”
As part of the move, US attorney general Alberto Gonzales says congress should, “require Internet providers to preserve customer records, asserting that prosecutors need them to fight child pornography,” says the Associated Press, continuing, “Gonzales and FBI Director Robert Mueller have met with several Internet providers, including Time Warner Inc.’s AOL, Comcast Corp., Google Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Verizon Communications Inc.
“The law enforcement officials have indicated to the companies they must retain customer records, possibly for two years. The companies have discussed strengthening their retention periods - which currently run the gamut from a few days to about a year - to help avoid legislation.”
The US also wants credit card companies to work with them, says the Christian Broadcasting Network.
“It’s a multi billion dollar industry” and, “Credit cards provide an easy and quick method of payment,” it says.
The various actions, “respond to problems identified by the Congressional subcommittee in hearings that began in April with the testimony of Justin Berry, who as a teenager had his own Web cam pornography site featuring images of himself,” says the NYT. “Mr. Berry laid out the network of companies that were hosts, payment processors and other businesses that have remained the focus of the hearings.”
“Justin Berry (born 24 July 1986) is an American who operated a child pornography Internet site featuring his own erotic performances beginning at the age of 13,” says Wikipedia.
Also See:
The New York Times - Effort to Combat Child Pornography Would Close Web Sites, September 21, 2006
Associated Press - Gonzales wants ISPs to save user data, August 30, 2006
Christian Broadcasting Network - Senate Debates Combatting Child Pornography, September 21, 2006
p2pnet newsfeeds for your site.
rss feed: http://p2pnet.net/p2p.rss
Mobile - http://p2pnet.net/index-wml.php
