SecurityRatty: Major ISPs step up to curb child porn

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Major ISPs step up to curb child porn

2008-06-10 05:50:00 by HASH0x8b04530 in StillSecure, After All These Years

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Actually they were forced to step up. Steven Musil reports that according to this NY Times article, NY State Attorney General, Andrew Cuomo has forced several of the largest ISPs including Verizon, Sprint and Time Warner Cable to institute blocking of web sites and usenet groups that traffic in child pornography. I say what took so long. For years now the ISPs have wrapped themselves in first amendment issues and claimed that they had no responsibilities for individuals communicating with other individuals. But as Musil reports, Cuomo said that at some point if they knowingly allow such illegal activity they do bear responsibility. Cuomo's office had to threaten legal action before the ISPs would agree to get involved though.

The I don't have responsibility defense used by the ISPs has been frustrating for a long time. When I was in the hosting business, some web hosts said the same thing about hosting web sites with illegal content (porn, warez, etc.). Law enforcement was quickly able to pierce that veil and get web hosts to take down illegal sites. Cuomo I think said it best, “No one is saying you’re supposed to be the policemen on the Internet, but there has to be a paradigm where you cooperate with law enforcement, or if you have notice of a potentially criminal act, we deem you responsible to an extent”.

Of course the question is: who picks what is objectionable. Child porn is easy, but what about other types of porn, gambling sites, etc. Once we put the power to filter content in a private companies hands, we entrust them to filter only what is illegal. But it would be naive to think they won't filter for their own best interests either.

While I applaud this step and give Andrew Cuomo credit for bringing the ISPs to heel, I think you have to put some process in place to make sure that legitimate and protected communications and freedom of speech is not suppressed.

In any event now the security folks can blame the ISP for why certain executives web browsing to quesitonable sites is being blocked ;-)