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Trenton,
NJ – Attorney General Anne Milgram
today asked Internet Service Providers in
New Jersey to block access to child pornography
websites to help prevent the victimization
of children. Milgram said Internet providers
should enter into a Memorandum of Understanding
with the National Center for Missing and
Exploited Children that will allow them
to identify websites that contain child
pornography.
“Internet
Service Providers can help us prevent the
dissemination of images of child sexual
abuse,’’ Milgram said. “By
denying access to illegal websites, companies
can make a powerful statement that they
will not be a party to the continued victimization
of the most vulnerable members of our society
– our children.’’
The
Attorney General wrote to 66 Internet Service
Providers and Web Hosters asking them to
take another step in the fight against the
availability of child pornography on the
World Wide Web. Last week, cable companies
and the National Center for Missing and
Exploited Children (NCMEC) reached an agreement
to limit the distribution of child pornography
on the Internet. The cable companies joining
the agreement with NCMEC bring broadband
Internet service to more than 112 million
homes in the country, or 87 percent, and
include the major companies providing service
in New Jersey.
The
companies 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 information provided
by NCMEC to cable service providers will
also help them identify websites containing
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.
“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, ’’ Milgram said.
“Now it’s time to take the next
step to deny access to child pornography
websites that they do not host.”
To
achieve that goal, Milgram said the Internet
Service Providers need to enter a Memorandum
of Understanding with NCMEC, which will
allow them to obtain a list of Uniform Resource
Locators, or URLs, that contain child pornography.
The agreement announced last week between
NCMEC and the National Cable & Telecommunications
Association to ensure that servers the companies
own or control are not hosting child porn
websites involves the same list.
Milgram
also urged those Internet Service Providers
that have not yet registered with the secure
CyberTipline at NCMEC to do so. The secure
reporting mechanism provides direct access
to the CyberTipline and allows uploading
of files and images. Files provided to New
Jersey law enforcement through reports made
to the secure CyberTipline are essential
to the investigation and successful prosecution
of possession and distribution of child
pornography, Milgram said.
The
National Center for Missing and Exploited
Children is a non-profit organization that
serves as a clearinghouse of information
and operates the 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.
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