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By Lawrence Morahan
CNSNews.com Senior Staff Writer

(CNSNews.com) - In an effort to curb the distribution of pornography to young people, lawmakers have introduced a bill in Congress that would require Internet file-swapping services to get parental consent before allowing children to use their software.

"The Protecting Children from Peer-to-Peer Pornography Act" is intended to prevent children from downloading pornographic material that is widely available through file-sharing services, said Rep. Joe Pitts (R-Pa.), who co-sponsored the bill with Rep. Chris John (D-La.).

"It's alarming today how easy it is for our children to inadvertently access pornography over the Internet and become victims of sexual predators, so we introduced the legislation to basically provide for notice of disclosure and consent of parents to try to protect them," Pitts said.

Peer-to-peer, or P2P, file-sharing programs represent a popular new trend among young people. P2P networks such as Kazaa, Morpheus and Grokster have attained notoriety for allowing the widespread swapping of copyrighted music. These networks can also be used to trade other kinds of digital files, including images and videos.

However, the software makes teens vulnerable to a new tactic of the pornography industry.

Pitts drafted the bill after reading a General Accounting Office (GAO) report that showed the high availability of pornography on file-sharing networks.

Children using P2P networks can easily be exposed to pornography inadvertently and filters available to parents to protect their children have severe limitations, the March 2003 GAO report stated.

The GAO used 12 keywords associated with porn to search Kazaa and found 76 percent of the returned files and file names were pornographic, with 42 percent representing child pornography.

When the term "porn" was entered, it yielded 25,000 files with pornographic titles, proving the accessibility of porn via P2P. When GAO investigators entered such youth-oriented search terms as "Britney," "Olsen Twins," and "Pokemon," more than 40 percent of the returns yielded child pornography and another 30 percent returned adult pornography.

The new bill would require distributors of P2P software to provide prominent notice that pornographic material can be accessed by downloading their software.

Distributors also would be required to obtain verifiable parental consent for anyone under age 18 seeking to download P2P software.

Most important, it tasks the Federal Trade Commission and the Commerce Department with developing "do-not-install beacons" that parents could use to block the downloading of the software.

"It's about parents having the tools necessary to protect their children from pornography," Pitts said.

excerpted from:
CNSNews.com
"Anti-Porn Bill Targets Internet 'File Sharing"
By Lawrence Morahan
July 28, 2003