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National Cable & Telecommunications Association and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children agree to limit availability of child porn on the Internet
Cable companies and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children have reached an agreement that should limit the distribution of child pornography on the Internet. The cable companies bring Internet service to 87 percent of homes in the country and include the major companies providing service in New Jersey.
The agreement is between the National Cable & Telecommunications Association and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. New Jersey is one of 45 states to join the National Association of Attorneys General in commending the agreement. Under the industry-wide agreement, all cable operators represented on NCTA's Board of Directors have agreed to help reduce the proliferation of child pornography on the Internet by signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with NCMEC. The companies offer broadband Internet service to more than 112 million homes in the United States.
“This is an important step in combating child pornography and the exploitation of children because the cable operators have agreed to remove child pornography sites from their servers and agreed not to host any child pornography sites, and for that they should be applauded, ’’ New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram said.
Rhode Island Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch, who is president of the National Association of Attorneys General, said the agreement was notable because it is the first agreement NCMEC has reached with an entire sector of the telecommunications industry rather than with individual companies. “The NCTA agreement with NCMEC will limit the ability of predators to store and exchange images of exploitation of those who are, by definition, among the more vulnerable in society. We congratulate the cable industry for taking a strong stand in support of child safety."
Kyle McSlarrow, president and CEO of the cable association said, "Building on our strong commitment to online safety, the cable industry wants to help combat child pornography and exploitation. By signing the NCMEC MOU, cable Internet service providers are reaffirming their strong commitment to online safety and Internet literacy."
"We are deeply grateful for this industry-wide attack on child pornography," said Ernie Allen, president and CEO of NCMEC. "It is not possible to arrest and prosecute every offender. We must be creative and build new public-private partnerships to address this insidious problem more effectively. Today's announcement represents a bold step forward."
Specifically, the cable companies have agreed to use NCMEC's database of websites identified as containing child pornography, to ensure that no such site is hosted on servers owned or controlled by those companies. The companies will also report these incidents to NCMEC's CyberTipline and where appropriate revise their policies around other potential sources of child pornography, such as newsgroups.
The agreement with NCMEC will provide cable broadband service providers with information to help them enforce their terms of service, all of which forbid the hosting of such illegal materials on their servers.
The information provided by NCMEC to cable service providers will also help them identify instances of child pornography, facilitating their reporting of such material to NCMEC as required by federal law. This, in turn, enables NCMEC to refer these cases to law enforcement for investigation and prosecution.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children is a non-profit organization that serves as a clearinghouse of information and operates a CyberTipline that the public may use to report Internet-related child sexual exploitation. It provides technical assistance to law enforcement agencies in the prevention, investigation and prosecution of cases involving missing and exploited children. It operates NetSmartz411.org, which is an on-line resource for parents for answering questions about Internet safety, computers, and the Web.
The cable operators that have agreed to execute the MOU within 30 days
include: Comcast; Time Warner Cable; Cablevision; US Cable Corporation; Cox Communications; Charter Communications; Bright House Networks; Suddenlink Communications; Mediacom Communications Corp; Insight Communications; Bresnan Communications; Midcontinent Communications; Broadstripe; BendBroadband; Eagle Communications; GCI; Sjoberg's Inc.; and Harron.
Comcast, Time Warner, Cablevision, and US Cable all operate systems in New Jersey.
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