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US ISPs Announce Anti-Child-Porn Agreement
An anonymous reader writes "It seems that ISPs have gathered together with 45 attorney generals and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) to form an agreement to crush child pornography. What does that mean? Probably the same as it meant for RoadRunner, Sprint, AT&T and Verizon customers — the end of the newsgroups." Here's the back-patting press-release from the various parties who signed on (the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and the National Association of Attorneys General), though the actual text of the agreement does not seem to have been made public.
methinks you meant attorneys general. what is the point of /. having editors if they don't edit?
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Don't call me back. Give me a call back. Bye. So yeah. But bye our, well, but alright we are on a shirt this chill.
Why are people hanging onto this myth? ISPs do not, and have never had, common carrier status.
Erm... you haven't actually ever used usenet, have you? If you had, you would know that there is a fringe group of asshats who completely ignore the guidelines for what is appropriate to post in a given newsfroup.
What's worse is redefining "child porn" to mean "naked children". Here's the definition, read it.
"any visual depiction, including any photograph, film, video, picture, or computer or computer-generated image or picture, whether made or produced by electronic, mechanical, or other means, of sexually explicit conduct, where -
(A) the production of such visual depiction involves the use of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct; ."
(B) such visual depiction is, or appears to be, of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct;
(C) such visual depiction has been created, adapted, or modified to appear that an identifiable minor is engaging in sexually explicit conduct; or
(D) such visual depiction is advertised, promoted, presented, described, or distributed in such a manner that conveys the impression that the material is or contains a visual depiction of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct . .
- 18 U.S.C. 2256
How we know is more important than what we know.
If this is going to shutdown the newsgroups, it is a semi-clever ploy to curb piracy... disguised as a "think of the children" scenario. I always enjoyed getting what warez I do grab from my ISPs hosted newsgroups, because unlike something like bittorrent, it is my ISP that is in fact "making available". Since there are actual legitimate (though very few nowadays) reasons for the existence of Usenet, they can't just turn it off. Instead, they give the world a bleeding heart story, while the RIAA and the likes line the pockets of these people.
"When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back!" -- Cave Johnson
I've watched a few episodes of cops where, after raiding a crack den or whatever, the cops then pose as the dealers and do a sting on everyone who buys the product. It seems like it should be similar here--raid the servers, and identify the clientÃle.
But the REALLY important thing, and I do mean the REALLY important thing, is to trackdown and rescue the exploited children. I'm okay with punishing people for participating in the distribution process; however, the reason we view it as so despicable is because of the value we place on the children involved, and our primary efforts should certainly be directed toward finding the source of child porn vs. find the recipients.
Tor (The Onion Router) is a free software implementation of second-generation onion routing - a system enabling its users to communicate anonymously on the Internet. Originally sponsored by the US Naval Research Laboratory, Tor became an Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) project in late 2004, and the EFF supported Tor financially until November 2005. The Tor software is now developed by the Tor Project, which since December 2006 is a 501(c)(3) research/education non-profit organization based in the United States of America that receives a diverse base of financial support.
http://www.torproject.org/
Freenet is a decentralized, censorship-resistant distributed data store originally designed by Ian Clarke. Freenet aims to provide freedom of speech through a peer-to-peer network with strong protection of anonymity. Freenet works by pooling the contributed bandwidth and storage space of member computers to allow users to anonymously publish or retrieve various kinds of information. It can be thought of as a large storage device which uses key based routing similar to a distributed hash table to locate peers' data. When a file is stored in Freenet, a key which can be used to retrieve the file is generated. The storage space is distributed among all connected nodes on Freenet.
http://freenetproject.org/
Check out the alt.binaries.pictures.erotica hierarchy sometime -- there are some groups with very suspicious-looking names.
(alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.child? Gee, I wonder what that could contain?)
"They redundantly repeated themselves over and over again incessantly without end ad infinitum" -- ibid.
To me, it sounds like the ISPs have agreed to turn off web sites that NCMEC complains about. They will "use NCMEC's list of active websites identified as containing child pornography, to ensure that no such site is hosted on servers owned or controlled by those companies." This is to "enforce their terms of service, all of which forbid the hosting of such illegal materials on their servers." In other words, sites are going to be turned off based on NCMEC's say so. Thus they look good for turning off sites that are illegal (think of the children!), and NCMEC gets the power they want.
From TFA:
Specifically, the cable companies have agreed to use NCMEC's list of active 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 instances to NCMEC's CyberTipline and where appropriate revise their policies around other potential sources of child pornography, such as, for example, newsgroups.
The agreement with NCMEC will provide cable broadband service providers with an invaluable source of 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.
Oh, and the newsgroups bit seems like sensationalism to me.
That's why "child porn" is defined as "minors engaged in sexually explicit activity". If that's what you're into then you're enjoying the fruits of sick child raping motherfuckers, even if you are not one yourself. If you are paying for child porn then you are financing the sick child raping motherfuckers.
How we know is more important than what we know.
There's an interesting thread at dsl reports where some bell south customers point out: 1. many news groups still exist for the purpose of porn, they just aren't named alt.bin* 2. many news groups still exist with porn, erotica, sex, etc in their names. Yesterday, I fired up Pan on att yahoo to survey the damage. The posters were right, and there were many groups left. There were also posts in them from the last few days.
I spent about 30 seconds and I couldn't find a source, but rest assured they aren't.
The confusion comes from the fact that AT&T the phone company is a common carrier but AT&T the ISP isn't.
Didn't Larry Flynt win a case on this with his Barely Legal magazine? Barely Legal obviously chooses models who look much younger than they are (e.g., an 18 year old who looks 13). I believe he won.
Google: "isp common carriers" returns...
The Uncommon Carrier
A Quick Wiki returns...
Network neutrality in the United States
A Quick Slashy returns...
Cable Internet Service Not Common Carrier
Find your own sources from there and agree or disagree.
I'm a heterosexual man and I like to view naked women. Does that mean I want to watch one get raped?
The difference is the women you like to see naked make the choice themselves to get naked.
> USENET services have been protected by common carrier status since they started
Just because you read this in a FAQ somewhere back in 1992 does not necessarily mean it is the case.
99% of posters here don't have any clue what "common carrier" really means beyond that it sounds good.
Egg Collecting Laws
It has been illegal to take the eggs of most wild birds since the Wild Birds Protection Act 1954 and it is illegal to possess or control any wild birds' eggs taken since that time under the Wildlife and Countryside Act.
It is illegal to sell any wild bird's egg, irrespective of its age.
Possession of wild birds' eggs is an offence of strict liability so that anyone who chooses to be in possession of eggs is obliged to show, on a balance of probabilities, that their possession is lawful. The potential maximum fine for each wild bird's egg is £5,000 and/or six month's imprisonment.
Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
Attacking distribution instead of production shows that the protection of children comes second to the punishing of the pedophile.
The theory is called "demand reduction".
The idea is that most child pornography is produced overseas where US authorities have no jurisdiction, and by locking up child pornography "patrons" the demand for CP will do down and therefore less children will be abused overseas.
I am not defending this theory, I am merely presenting it. I will say that very little child pornography is produced in the USA.
If i'm not mistaken... this is the same as closing highways because criminals may use them for bank robbery escape routes. this isnt about ending child porn, this has more to do with ending distribution routes used by people to destribute content themselves. In other words, the major corporations behind these ISPs have an interest in dictating usage so that they are the single delivery system for content to their end users. Child Porn is an excuse used to distract us from the real situation. The newsgroups is not full of child porn... child porn is perhaps .005% of the porn on newsgroups.
The truth is... all of the good porn, tv shows, movies, music, etc etc are on the newsgroups... that means MASSIVE bandwidth usage.
The bandwidth used by child porn sick fucks, doesnt even compare to the bandwidth being used by jackers looking at "of legal age" material, or the file traders who are sending massive amounts of data through the newsgroups.
Kiddie porn is a fucking political power move. Dont fall victom of it. Its not a widespread issue.
This is slightly off-topic, but Genarlow Wilson was a 17-year old high school football player who received consensual oral sex from a 15-year old girl and was sentenced to prison for 10 years for aggravated child molestation. He received several scholarship offers and was an excellent student. (Source)
There are also many stories of 16/17 year olds exchanging nude photos of each other and being charged with child pornography. (Source)
I think kiddie porn (pics of young children) is absolutely disgusting and people seeking it need serious psychiatric help, but our laws need to distinguish between those looking to exploit children and kids that are just sending pictures of themselves over the internet without realizing the consequences.
I have been using newsgroups for a LONG time. I still use them on a daily basis. I have become a regular contributor in 10-15 specific groups and would hate to see the actions of a few ruin it for everyone.
Been using Newsdemon Usenet Newsgroups for a long time. Their yearly unlimited account can not be beaten. I even got some help from them getting a spammer booted out of one of my groups.
Also known as the 'fundamental attribution error'
"To the future or to the past, to a time when thought is free" ~ Nineteen Eighty-Four
Buffnet wasn't prosecuted for having USENET servers, they were prosecuted for not blocking the content after having been informed of its existence.
source
2.B. of course:
(B) For purposes of subsection 8(B) [1] of this section, "sexually explicit conduct" means-
(i) graphic sexual intercourse, including genital-genital, oral-genital, anal-genital, or oral-anal, whether between persons of the same or opposite sex, or lascivious simulated sexual intercourse where the genitals, breast, or pubic area of any person is exhibited;
(ii) graphic or lascivious simulated;
(I) bestiality;
(II) masturbation; or
(III) sadistic or masochistic abuse; or
(iii) graphic or simulated lascivious exhibition of the genitals or pubic area of any person;
Attention deficit disorder is a complicated issue, spanning several major... HEY LET'S GO RIDE BIKES!