Kiddie Porn and ISPs, What Took So Long?

Blaise Zerega thinks there oughtta be a law: So, Verizon, Sprint, and Time Warner Cable agreed to block access to child pornography sites and bulletin boards. While it's the right thing to do, two questions immediately come to mind. One, what took so long? And two, will it work?

Consider the 2002 investigative report, The Lolita Problem, on the role of Internet companies in so-called Lolita sites. The authors found "highly organized commerce--possibly illegal--involving credit card firms like Visa and MasterCard, Web communities like Yahoo Geocities and Eccentrix Dot Com, third-party credit card processors like iWest and BillCards, online advertisers like Chevron and Orbitz, and Web-hosting companies like Verio and UUNet, a subsidiary of WorldCom. Thanks to the Internet's capabilities for distribution and e-commerce transactions, this dirty business has brazenly exploded into an eerily efficient and highly profitable industry."

The authors also found that it would be relatively easy for tech companies to police themselves, quoting one executive, "Porn takes up a lot of bandwidth and child porn typically generates huge traffic spikes. Spotting these sites isn't that hard," he says. "It's simple economics. [Child porn] creates revenue, so hosting companies turn a blind eye."

The story pointed out that at least one hosting company, Rackspace, had taken an aggressive, zero-tolerance approach to the offensive material. And after the article's publication, VISA began implementing measures to prevent its cards from being used for these purposes.  Law enforcement officials also consulted with the article's authors.

It's clear then that more than five years ago, there was the will, at least in some quarters, and the way for internet service providers to block this content. So, why did it take so long for Verizon, Sprint, and Time Warner Cable to take action? In my view, because providing access to child porn sites was profitable. And, the second question: Will these measures work? Probably not. The kiddie porn purveyors will likely devise ways to circumvent the restrictions. Still, they're better late than never, and better to be doing something -- instead of nothing -- about the problem.