Major ISPs Agree To Block Child Porn Newsgroups

The agreements, which were hailed by child-welfare advocates as a significant step, push the service providers to take a more active role in monitoring what takes place over their lines.

[Dee]

I think it's a wonderful thing to do! How can people defend or support the "rights" of pedophiles? Child pornography is ILLEGAL, rightfully so, and the means to which it can be distributed should be stopped, whether it's on the Web, by mail, or any other medium. I don't care about the rights of these disgusting people.

[Concerned Citizen]

I'm all for catching the sicko's in the world, but this is censorship and I am wondering where it will stop? the article states the "lines" are the ISP's yet last time I checked, they were given tax payer money to lay those lines, which from what I understand makes it a public domain. Don't let others take what you payed for!

[Another concerned citizen]

I totally agree with Concerned_Citizen(Phoenix, AZ).

I am totally against child porn. But for the government to start dictating censorship for a communication medium like the Internet, is the path to govt control of the Internet.

I think it would be much more sensible and also within feasibility to go after the servers which host these sites.

[Dennis]

Hmmmmmmmmm...This looks like the ISPs are admitting they have been guilty of distributing child porn through their servers and knew which of the news groups were engaged in the activity. Seems to me that maybe the FBI should be prosecuting the big wigs of those ISPs instead of merely letting them decide they will only now stop their past practices.

[Annoyed in NH]

Talk about censorship- how about the whole story?
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-9964895-38....

According to the article above, these three services are not going to 'block access to child porn', they're going to stop allowing access to *all* of Usenet(Time Warner), to all *alt* newsgroups(Sprint) or to unnamed selected sections (Verizon).

This includes thousands and thousands of folks who like to discuss other things- books, music, parenting, hobbies- censorship? You bet. I'd really like to see the mass media actually *reporting* this story, as opposed to just distributing a canned statement.

[ct resident]

I don't think our founding fathers had kiddie porn on their minds when writing our constitutions. I think all pedofiles should be disposed of.

[sstar]

I agree with the intention but regulating content is a slippery slope that could cause service providers legal liabilities. A knee jerk response is never a good solution. The freeer we become with technology just as much emphasis should be developed to protect us.

[AlexGrim_com]

I meant to say "less" regulated. Should've proofread BEFORE hitting submit ;)

[JDD]

John Boonstra's use of the Internet, as follows...new court date today...
thanks Hartford Advocate!
Statute Description Class Type Occ Offense Date Plea Verdict Finding
53a-90a ATTEMPT TO COMMIT ENTICING A MINOR BY COMPUTER D Felony 1 4/30/2007 Not Guilty
53-21 ATTEMPT TO COMMIT RISK OF INJURY TO CHILD C Felony 1 4/30/2007 Not Guilty
53a-90a(b)(1) ATTEMPT TO COMMIT ENTICING A MINOR BY COMPUTER D Felony 1 4/3/2007
53-21(a)(1) ATTEMPT TO COMMIT RISK OF INJURY TO CHILD C Felony 1 4/3/2007
53a-90a(b)(1) ATTEMPT TO COMMIT ENTICING A MINOR BY COMPUTER D Felony 1 4/3/2007
53-21(a)(1) ATTEMPT TO COMMIT RISK OF INJURY TO CHILD C Felony 1 4/3/2007
53a-90a(b)(1) ATTEMPT TO COMMIT ENTICING A MINOR BY COMPUTER D Felony 1 4/3/2007
53-21(a)(1) ATTEMPT TO COMMIT RISK OF INJURY TO CHILD C Felony 1 4/3/2007

[abdullah al mamun]

yes

[R Schwager]

I gather that no one is commenting on the way these ISPs are blocking the 80 or 90 porn site by removing access to thousands of newsgroups. It seems that the ISPs are using this pretext to increase profits.

[Ernie Miles]

Canada is just now testing cable content regulation for more profits for the ISP's.

I think Time Warner is one of the prime movers behind this test case to see if there is a way to take more money for profit from the cable.

Competition has been eliminated and only unregulated monopolies continue.

[Nagumo]

Anyone that thinks this will even make a dent in the distribution of child pornography is completely ignorant of how USENT, peer-to-peer, and the Internet in general work. As pedophiles rely on keeping themselves obscure (just like the slave trade and dog fighters), they do not use ISP based USENET access. They'll use a third party that will take anonymous payments in the form of cash, Paypal, or money orders. They will obfuscate or outright spoof their IP address as well as obscure the chain of router access (hops from point a to point b) via anonymous proxies. The content will still be there, the children will still be in harms way, and the ignorant will be placate enough to forget about their loss of rights.

Make no mistake, the only people hurt will be those with no interest in such activities. The people hurt will be the non-tech savvy users that utilized USENT access for hobbies, discussions, and in some cases a cathartic outlet.

"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."
-- Benjamin Franklin