AG, Internet providers battle child pornography

Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo has announced landmark agreements with Verizon, Time Warner Cable, and Sprint to shut down major sources of online child pornography. For the first time, three of the world’s largest Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have agreed to block access to child porn from two significant sources. The companies will eliminate access to child porn Newsgroups, a major supplier of these illegal images, and will also purge their servers of child porn websites.
An undercover investigation by the Attorney General’s (AG) office uncovered a major source of online child pornography known as “Newsgroups,” an online service not associated with web sites. The Newsgroups act as online public bulletin boards where users can upload and download files. Users access Newsgroups through their ISPs. As part of the agreements, Verizon, Time Warner Cable, and Sprint will for the first time completely block access to all child porn Newsgroups.
The investigation reviewed millions of pictures over several months, uncovering 88 different Newsgroups that contained a total of 11,390 sexually lewd photos featuring prepubescent children, and in some cases photos of children being raped and sexual activity involving animals. Verizon, Time Warner Cable, and Sprint provided their subscribers with access to many of these Newsgroups.
In addition to eliminating the Newsgroups, the ISPs have also agreed to purge their servers of all child pornography web sites identified by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC). NCMEC regularly reviews and updates its registry of these illegal sites to ensure the list reflects the current presence of such websites on the Internet.
Verizon, Time Warner Cable, and Sprint, as part of the agreements with Cuomo, will implement a new system to rapidly respond to user complaints about child pornography. The three companies will also collectively pay $1.125 million to fund additional efforts by the AG’s office and NCMEC to remove child pornography from the Internet.