Attorney General Gonzalez Gives Graphic Testimony on Child Porn

[gonzo]

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Attorney General Alberto Gonzales used strikingly graphic language Thursday to focus attention on online child pornography and said Internet services companies are not doing enough to combat the problem.

``It is graphic, but if we do not talk candidly, then it is easy for people to turn away and worry about other matters,'' Gonzales said in a speech at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in Alexandria, Va.

Acknowledging that his descriptions could make people uncomfortable, Gonzales said he wanted to make sure people knew what was going on.

``I have seen pictures of older men forcing naked young girls to have anal sex. There are videos on the Internet of very young daughters forced to have intercourse and oral sex with their fathers. Viewing this was shocking and it makes my stomach turn,'' said Gonzales, who was accompanied by his wife, Rebecca.

It was their second visit to the center, created in 1984 as a clearinghouse for information about missing and exploited children.

Ernie Allen, the center's president, said many Americans continue to hold mistaken impressions of the issue. ``We hear all the time that this is really just adult porn, 20-year-olds in pigtails made to look like they're 15,'' Allen said. ``This is about children being sexually victimized. They're young children and they're getting younger.''

Without identifying companies, Gonzales said some investigations have been hampered by the failure of Internet service providers to retain certain records long enough to help authorities identify purveyors of child pornography. He did not propose a remedy Thursday.

But he did support tripling the criminal fines for companies that fail to report apparent violations of child pornography laws -- to $150,000 for the first instance and $300,000 for subsequent failures.

The Justice Department has never written regulations establishing standards on how to report illegal activities or mandating how long records must be kept.

Kate Dean, director of the United States Internet Service Provider Association, said AOL, Earthlink, BellSouth, Verizon and other association members ``currently have robust policies in place to ensure that law enforcement can obtain the information they need to prosecute child pornographers.''

Dean said the companies would welcome a discussion with Gonzales on the issue.

The Internet companies last year made 34,939 reports to the missing children center, which forwards them to law enforcement authorities, said Michelle Collins, director of the center's exploited children unit.

Last week alone, there were 938 reports, Collins said.

``Several people a week are being arrested somewhere in the country because of information provided by an electronic service provider,'' she said.

The Justice Department was criticized recently by a victim of child pornography, who said investigators were acting too slowly on information he provided on 1,500 pedophiles. Justin Berry testified to Congress in early April that he starred in his own Web cam child pornography business for five years.

``I believed that the government would protect the children being abused. I believed they would act quickly,'' Berry, now 19, told the House Energy and Commerce Committee. ``I was wrong.''

Gonzales and other officials have declined to discuss Berry's case and resulting investigations, but they have pointed to a threefold increase in federal prosecutions of child pornography and abuse cases nationally over the past decade.

[pam]

I guess my first question is are these truly hosted in the USA or not. I know when someone makes a post and says, "gee, is this child pron?" or "does she look 18?" I'll never, ever click the link.

Most adult webmasters want nothing to do with child pron and dislike being associated with it. I don't like 20 year-old girls being made to look 15 either, but I also never knew CP was such a major problem in the USA. I think I just assume it's all hosted overseas or is simply found on Usenet.

ISPs responsible for the content they host is a tricky situation. Some ISPs have thousands of customers who have thousands of pages with thousands coming up each day .... you'd need a lot of people to do nothing but check content on every site, every single day, to be sure it's all legal. Does the government also have enough resources to investigate each and every claim?

[Hammer]

And he saw those videos on bonafide paysites run by legit webmasters? Of course not, but he ain't gonna admit that.

[spazlabz]

The Justice Department has never written regulations establishing standards on how to report illegal activities or mandating how long records must be kept.

and my question is WHY THE FUCK NOT!
it sure des seem to me that this would be a logical first step in the prosecution of getting rid of child porn

no, they focus on people who do fallow the laws, go to great lengths to insure they are not exploiting children and yet the Justice Dept doesnt even bother to write up useful regulations like that.
rediculous


spaz

[MaskTVMaura]

For those who are surprised that CP is so prevalent, just think about the statistics for children who are sexually abused in general. I think the reason there is so much CP is because photography has changed so that people don't have to develop their film at the local photo hut and can instead take digital photos of anything they want and never have to relinquish custody to a third party (who might take issue with that material) to finalize the images.

People sexually abuse kids and now it's so much easier for them to document their atrocities. If we want to make a REAL dent in CP, we have to address child sexual abuse too. The most recent statistics say 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 5 boys is molested, and that each abuser hurts over 100 kids during their lives. That's a lot of material.

[Hammer]

Originally Posted by MaskTVMaura

I think the reason there is so much CP is because photography has changed so that people don't have to develop their film at the local photo hut and can instead take digital photos of anything they want and never have to relinquish custody to a third party

Excellent point.

[Footman]

Originally Posted by spazlabz

no, they focus on people who do fallow the laws, go to great lengths to insure they are not exploiting children and yet the Justice Dept doesnt even bother to write up useful regulations like that.

Spaz - It's like the gun laws. More legislation is not necessarily the answer. Laws affect LAW BIDDING citizens and not the criminals. Criminals always operate outside of any law.

The effect of instituting certain laws is more of an attempt at sounds bites for popularity for upcoming elections and more so to appease those high rollers who fill their coffers and get them into office. Most laws do very little to deter what they're targeting. WHY? Because they're structured in a way that fills a designed argument and not the root of any problem. They also address the ramifications of breaking the law but hardly ever do the powers that be actually install reasonable measures to curtail the acts.

Want to stop CP? Then attack CP, not the entire adult internet industry. The adult industry does not condone CP. Never has and never will. These scum bags start sites or become online predators and the govt lumps them in the same category as adult entertainment.

Gonzales is basically a hired gun for GWB and his benefactors. Have you noticed that when certain people don't produce 'results' or have vastly differing view points, they're not too long for the job. Anyone remember Colin Powell? The only person of this administration I had respect for and liked. He couldn't stand what was going on so he resigned. I can't wait for his first book after this clown is out of office... and I really think there's a HUGE story there.