3 Internet providers to block access to child pornography
Deal reached in N.Y. will affect entire country
ALBANY, N.Y. -
The move is part of a groundbreaking agreement with the New York attorney general, Andrew M. Cuomo, that will be formally announced today as a significant step by leading companies to curtail access to child pornography. Many in the industry have previously resisted similar efforts, saying they could not be responsible for content online, given the decentralized and largely unmonitored nature of the Internet.
The agreements will affect customers not just in New York but throughout the country. Verizon and Time Warner Cable are two of the nation's five largest service providers, with roughly 16 million customers between them.
The companies have agreed to shut down access to newsgroups that traffic in pornographic images of children on one of the oldest outposts of the Internet, known as Usenet. Usenet began nearly 30 years ago and was one of the earliest ways to swap information online, but as the World Wide Web blossomed, Usenet was largely supplanted by it, becoming a favored back alley for those who traffic in illicit material.
The providers will also cut off access to websites that traffic in child pornography.
The agreements resulted from an eight-month investigation and sting operation in which undercover agents from Cuomo's office, posing as subscribers, complained to Internet providers that they were allowing child pornography to proliferate online, despite customer service agreements that discouraged such activity. Verizon, for example, warns its users that they risk losing their service if they transmit or disseminate sexually exploitative images of children.
After the companies ignored the investigators' complaints, the attorney general's office surfaced, threatening charges of fraud and deceptive business practices. The companies agreed to cooperate and began weeks of negotiations.
By pursuing Internet service providers, Cuomo is trying to move beyond the traditional law enforcement strategy of targeting those who produce child pornography and their customers.
"You can't help but look at this material and not be disturbed," said Cuomo. "These are 4-year-olds, 5-year-olds, assault victims. There are animals in the pictures. To say 'graphic' and 'egregious' doesn't capture it."
"The ISPs' point had been, 'We're not responsible, these are individuals communicating with individuals, we're not responsible,' " he said, referring to Internet service providers. "Our point was that, at some point, you do bear responsibility."
