Protecting Children on the Internet Hearing Committee
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S. HRG. 109–606 PROTECTING CHILDREN ON THE INTERNET HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED NINTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION JANUARY 19, 2006 Printed for the use of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation ( U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 30–054 PDF WASHINGTON : 2006 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2250 Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate 0ct 09 2002 12:27 Oct 13, 2006 Jkt 030054 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 S:\WPSHR\GPO\DOCS\30054.TXT JACKF PsN: JACKF SENATE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION ONE HUNDRED NINTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION TED STEVENS, Alaska, Chairman JOHN MCCAIN, Arizona DANIEL K. INOUYE, Hawaii, Co-Chairman CONRAD BURNS, Montana JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER IV, West Virginia TRENT LOTT, Mississippi JOHN F. KERRY, Massachusetts KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON, Texas BYRON L. DORGAN, North Dakota OLYMPIA J. SNOWE, Maine BARBARA BOXER, California GORDON H. SMITH, Oregon BILL NELSON, Florida JOHN ENSIGN, Nevada MARIA CANTWELL, Washington GEORGE ALLEN, Virginia FRANK R. LAUTENBERG, New Jersey JOHN E. SUNUNU, New Hampshire E. BENJAMIN NELSON, Nebraska JIM DEMINT, South Carolina MARK PRYOR, Arkansas DAVID VITTER, Louisiana LISA J. SUTHERLAND, Republican Staff Director CHRISTINE DRAGER KURTH, Republican Deputy Staff Director KENNETH R. NAHIGIAN, Republican Chief Counsel MARGARET L. CUMMISKY, Democratic Staff Director and Chief Counsel SAMUEL E. WHITEHORN, Democratic Deputy Staff Director and General Counsel LILA HARPER HELMS, Democratic Policy Director (II) VerDate 0ct 09 2002 12:27 Oct 13, 2006 Jkt 030054 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\WPSHR\GPO\DOCS\30054.TXT JACKF PsN: JACKF C O N T E N T S Page Hearing held on January 19, 2006 ......................................................................... 1 Statement of Senator Allen ..................................................................................... 7 Statement of Senator Burns ................................................................................... 5 Statement of Senator Inouye .................................................................................. 1 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 2 Statement of Senator Lautenberg .......................................................................... 5 Statement of Senator Bill Nelson ........................................................................... 6 Statement of Senator Pryor .................................................................................... 6 Statement of Senator Stevens ................................................................................ 1 WITNESSES Burrus, Jr., James H., Deputy Assistant Director, Criminal Investigative Division, Federal Bureau of Investigation ......................................................... 8 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 10 FBI Publication, entitled A Parent’s Guide to Internet Safety .................... 22 Cambria, Jr., Paul J., General Counsel, Adult Freedom Foundation ................. 48 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 50 Lincoln, Hon. Blanche L., U.S. Senator from Arkansas ....................................... 2 Lordan, Tim, Executive Director, Internet Education Foundation (IEF) ........... 43 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 45 Parsky, Laura H., Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Criminal Division, Department of Justice ......................................................................................... 11 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 13 Platt, Tatiana S., Chief Trust Officer/Senior Vice President, Integrity Assur- ance, America Online, Inc. .................................................................................. 36 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 37 Weaver, III, James B., Professor, Communication and Psychology, Depart- ment of Communication, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State Univer- sity ......................................................................................................................... 28 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 30 APPENDIX Cambria, Jr., Paul J., General Counsel, Adult Freedom Foundation, supple- mentary information ............................................................................................ 65 Sunlove, Kat, Legislative Affairs Director, Free Speech Coalition, prepared statement .............................................................................................................. 66 (III) VerDate 0ct 09 2002 12:27 Oct 13, 2006 Jkt 030054 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\WPSHR\GPO\DOCS\30054.TXT JACKF PsN: JACKF VerDate 0ct 09 2002 12:27 Oct 13, 2006 Jkt 030054 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\WPSHR\GPO\DOCS\30054.TXT JACKF PsN: JACKF PROTECTING CHILDREN ON THE INTERNET THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2006 U.S. SENATE, COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION, Washington, DC. The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:33 p.m. in room SD–562, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Ted Stevens, Chairman of the Committee, presiding. OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. TED STEVENS, U.S. SENATOR FROM ALASKA The CHAIRMAN. Good afternoon. We are finding that the Internet is increasingly a place where Americans turn to get information, do research, and exchange ideas. And increasingly, our children are looking to the Internet for their information. Given the increasingly important role of the Internet in education and commerce, it differs from other media, like TV and cable, in that parents cannot just foreclose the Internet from their children altogether and expect them to be prepared to do their homework and succeed in life. Even more so than TV and cable, the Internet contains material in- appropriate for children. As the Internet continues to evolve and new offerings like peer-to-peer evolve, we must determine what we can do to protect children as they continue to use computers and the Internet for their education. Particularly, as different domains, which are similar to zones, develop, we must ask if we’re doing enough to create safe kid zones similar to family tiers. Now, we will work within the confines of the First Amendment, but we must do what we can to shield children from inappropriate and pornographic content, no matter where it comes from. We need to understand whether filtering technologies available to parents are effective. We also want to examine the Children’s Online Pro- tection Act, which is now under court review. Even today, the Ad- ministration has announced new efforts to uphold that law. Do you have any opening statements you wish to make? Senator INOUYE. Just a short one. The CHAIRMAN. Senator Inouye. STATEMENT OF HON. DANIEL K. INOUYE, U.S. SENATOR FROM HAWAII Senator INOUYE. Mr. Chairman, for years this committee has wrestled with the issue of pornography and the measures to protect children from it. However, in many ways, technology has made an already difficult task even more difficult. As you pointed out, Mr. Chairman, the growth of the Internet as a communication medium (1) VerDate 0ct 09 2002 12:27 Oct 13, 2006 Jkt 030054 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 S:\WPSHR\GPO\DOCS\30054.TXT JACKF PsN: JACKF 2 allows salacious material to be distributed far more easily to chil- dren, and it also provides those who would see the Internet to prey upon children an anonymity, which often is used to evade detec- tion. In light of these harms, I think it is entirely appropriate that we review what steps can be taken to assist parents in protecting their children from inappropriate material. I’d just like to point out that Internet sites containing pornog- raphy have grown. The number of child-pornography websites is es- timated to be 100,000 today, and that number is growing and in- creasing every day. And I hope to have my statement put in the record. [The prepared statement of Senator Inouye follows:] PREPARED STATEMENT OF HON. DANIEL K. INOUYE, U.S. SENATOR FROM HAWAII Today, we continue the discussion on broadcast decency. We have seen some im- portant developments since our November 29th Forum, but we still have work to do. We all appreciate the efforts that Jack Valenti and Kyle McSlarrow have under- taken to address how best to protect our families from viewing indecent and violent materials on TV. We have a difficult task ahead of us, but one that must succeed in many areas— indecency, violent content and sanctions. The Kaiser Family Foundation’s most recent study, released in November, pro- vided further evidence that racy TV programming remains increasingly prolific. The networks have little incentive to reverse this trend, as it continues to attract view- ers and market share. At a minimum, we hope to provide parents with the information and tools to con- trol the flood of materials they can view at home. We also have a number of legisla- tive proposals before the Committee that would raise fines and impose other