U.S. Unifies Child Porn Fight in Project Safe Childhood

At any time, 50,000 Web pedophiles are “prowling,” Attorney Gen. Alberto Gonzales told a press conference: “We are in the midst of an epidemic of sexual abuse and exploitation of our children.” The effort began “not one moment too soon,” said Gonzales, joined by FBI Dir. Robert Mueller, National Center for Missing & Exploited Children Pres. Ernie Allen, Secret Service Deputy Dir. Mark Sullivan and Assistant Secy. for Immigration & Customs Enforcement Julie Myers. Each will oversee parts of the Web safety initiative.

Guarding kids online is an FBI priority, Mueller said. “Predators that would harm our children have migrated online in alarming numbers. They seek to exploit this emerging technology in furtherance of their heinous activity,” he said. The FBI is working on 2,400-plus child sexual exploitation inquiries, most of them in multiple jurisdictions, he said. That underscores the importance of aligning state, local, federal and international partners, Mueller said.

The program will help DoJ identify, pursue, prosecute and punish those who hurt children through possession, production and distribution of child porn, and those who use the Web to lure minors into sexual acts, the agency said. Gonzales told the House Judiciary Committee the program would “clean up this new [online] neighborhood” (WID April 7 p3). A 70-plus page booklet explains the project.

U.S. Attorneys in every district will work with Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task forces and communities on plans tailored to their needs, Gonzales said. They'll chase and catch more sexual predators and child pornographers than ever, he told the committee. Gonzales said Wed. he’s giving his attorneys 90 days to write plans for implementation.

Players will test new ways to find and rescue victims and provide local training and awareness programs. DoJ’s Child Exploitation & Obscenity Section (CEOS), with the FBI Innocent Images Unit, will help pursue local leads. Regular progress reports will chart the program’s success, Gonzales said.

But Gonzales wants stronger laws to enforce. Both houses of Congress have passed bills on crimes against children; he urged lawmakers to finish the job by sending the president a bill to sign “in the near future.” House Judiciary Committee Chmn. Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) is expected to unveil legislation to that effect soon (WID May 17 p3).

Some Slam Sensenbrenner Bill

Sensenbrenner’s bill would require ISPs to keep detailed records of user data for police agency use. The bill, not yet introduced, already is opposed by ISP professionals. Dave McClure, pres. of the U.S. Internet Industry Assn., said his group backs any bill promote safety for children, but finds Sensenbrenner’s redundant and its data retention requirements troublesome.

The vague wording is confusing, McClure said. The bill says ISPs should sing out if they know or have “reason to believe” that child porn exists on their system, but that’s a slippery slope, he said. “I have ‘reason to believe’ in alien abductions too, but that doesn’t make it real,” he said: “The bill will be unsuccessful because it relies on imprecise language.” Online child porn is a criminal offense and ISPs are required to report any evidence of it, he said: “Somehow [the bill] creates the impression that a law is needed when it is not.”

And the bill’s language is obsolete, he said: “These guys are living in a dial-up world. The industry has moved beyond that.” In a criminal case, ISP data make for weak evidence because it’s not possible to prove who was using the computer at the time or what conduct the user was engaged in, said the U.S. Internet Industry Assn. Routers let multiple computers share a single IP address, a factor absent from the bill’s outlook. Web-based services or computers hijacked by viruses can have IP addresses to nowhere, the report said, noting that criminals can piggyback on anonymous connections.

But any law that can tie up the registry of offenders is good, said iSAFE CEO Teri Schroeder. Internet predators have too much anonymity online and ISPs should do all they can to help fight online crime, she said: “Anything that can help afford a proper investigation should be happening.”

A better approach is a model bill by the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC), McClure said. It would require health, social services and IT professionals, teachers, police officers, photo developers, ISPs, credit card firms and banks to report suspected child porn. The model urges enacting a “notice and takedown” requirement into law, with consideration given to protections letting ISPs report child porn.

All forms of porn are in the ICMEC model bill: film, DVD, CD-Rom, diskette, CD-R and electronic media. Viewing and downloading would separate criminal offenses, with penalties for those who provide a Web address for porn. According to ICMEC, only 6 nations require ISPs to report online porn: Australia, Belgium, Columbia, France, S. Africa and the U.S.