sexual exploitation of children over the internet - Meldpunt ...

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• The use of anonymizers and other encryption methods poses a substantial threat tolaw enforcement’s ability to investigate and bring charges against individuals whocreate, trade, or otherwise distribute images of child pornography over theInternet. Industry and law enforcement need to work together to develop methodsthat will allow law enforcement agents to access data related to child sexualexploitation cases while protecting customers’ needs to secure their private dataunrelated to those cases.• Currently, NCMEC houses a central database of known images of child sexualexploitation, which includes images found through investigations conducted byU.S. law enforcement, such as the FBI, ICE, and USPIS. It is important that allU.S. law enforcement agencies at the federal and state level have access to thiscentralized database to consult when investigating crimes involving the sexualexploitation of a child online.• ISPs that provide connectivity to the Internet do not retain Internet Protocol (“IP”)address data linked to a subscriber for the same amount of time. ISPs that providecontent also have a wide variety of data retention times for IP addresses andsubscriber information.• It is critically important to investigations involving the online sexual exploitationof children that law enforcement agents are able to access IP address data linkedto a subscriber—particularly that information kept by ISPs that provideconnectivity to the Internet. Pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 2703(f), once a lawenforcement agent sends a data preservation request to an ISP, the ISP must retainthe data described in the request for 90 days, a period which can be extended anadditional 90 days if law enforcement requests. Once a preservation request orsubpoena has been issued, ISPs should make every effort to respond to lawenforcement as expeditiously as possible. Without this information, theinvestigation is likely to hit a dead end and a child in danger may not be rescued.• Child pornography investigations often take months to develop, during whichtime critical data, such as IP addresses linked to a subscriber’s account, may belost if the Internet Service Provider does not have an adequate retention policy.• Law enforcement agents who testified at the Subcommittee’s April 6, 2006hearing supported a data retention policy of at least one year for IP addressinformation. Due to the fact that harm may be occurring to a child in real-timeduring an investigation involving the sexual exploitation of children over theInternet, Congress should consider requiring ISPs that provide connectivity to theInternet to retain such IP address information linked to subscriber informationnecessary to allow law enforcement agents to identify the IP address being used todownload or transmit child pornography images and only for so long as necessaryto accomplish that purpose.4
• When law enforcement agents are able to identify harm that is occurring to a childin real-time, it is essential that they gain immediate access to the IP address andcustomer information that will allow them to locate and rescue that child. Inresponse to a lawful request, ISPs must provide this information as quickly aspossible after the administrative subpoena or other lawful request is received.• The transmission of a sexual exploitative image of a child over the Internet is aborderless crime because it cuts across state, federal and, in many cases,international jurisdictions. Federal and state law enforcement in the U.S. shouldconsider implementing the Child Exploitation Tracking System, or “CETS,”developed by Microsoft and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, to enhancecommunication about ongoing investigative subjects in cases involving the sexualexploitation of children between and among U.S. state and federal lawenforcement agencies. This program provides a platform for law enforcementagencies to track investigations that are being conducted across the country. Thissystem also enhances the information-sharing critical to these types ofinvestigations as well as reduces the likelihood of unnecessary duplicative efforts.Currently, CETS is being used by Canadian law enforcement officers throughoutthe territories, and the U.K., Spain, and Italy are beginning to implement thisprogram among their law enforcement agents.• The current reporting statute for ISPs, 42 U.S.C. § 13032(B)(1), requires“electronic communication service” providers or “remote computing service”providers to report any “apparent” images of child pornography to NCMEC’sCyberTipline. Under the statute, it is ambiguous whether cellular phone carriers,social networking websites, and web hosting companies are required to report intothe CyberTipline.• Congress should consider amending 42 U.S.C. § 13032(B)(1) to includemandatory reporting into the CyberTipline for cellular phone carriers, socialnetworking websites, and web hosting companies.• Currently, 42 U.S.C. § 13032(B)(4) provides that only providers that are found tohave “knowingly and willfully” failed to report an “apparent” image of childpornography will be liable for civil penalties. To date, there have been no federalprosecutions under this statutory scheme.• Congress should consider ways to ensure that all ISPs are proactively searchingfor and promptly reporting the images of apparent child pornography on theirnetworks.• Internet Service Providers should develop best practices and technology that willallow them to proactively search their networks and systems in order to identifythe transmission of apparent child pornography images, including thosetransferred by peer-to-peer networks. Such proactive efforts should not exposethese companies to potential liability under the current reporting requirements5
Page 6 and 7: found in 42 U.S.C. § 13032, crimin
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Page 12 and 13: clicks on his or her image, forward
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Page 16 and 17: majority of investigations — appr
Page 18 and 19: Ms. Fisher, Mr. Roldan, and Mr. Bel
Page 20 and 21: A recent proposal by NCMEC supports
Page 22 and 23: efforts with respect to child porno
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Page 28 and 29: suggestion, NCMEC is working with s
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Page 34: Krwawecz testified that, in his exp

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