anti-child porn bill from Rep. Foley's own site....

[MnFats]

draw your own conclusions...

Congressman Mark Foley (R-FL) introduced legislation last night along with Congressman Michael Fitzpatrick (R-PA) that goes after the Internet child porn industry and for the first time would hold credit card companies and Internet service providers accountable if they knowingly facilitate child pornography.

Included in Foley’s Internet Stopping Adults Facilitating the Exploitation of Today’s Youth (SAFTEY) Act — HR 5749 — are provisions that create new penalties for operating a child pornography enterprise, new laws holding Internet and financial companies accountable, new avenues for victims to seek civil damages from pornographers, new laws requiring labels on porn sites and new additional resources to law enforcement to prosecute these cases. Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ) introduced similar legislation in the Senate this year.

”We have to stop the supply of child pornography by attacking the source,” said Foley. “Authorities tell us the Internet has made child pornography easier to disseminate, easier to produce, and easier to turn a profit on. An estimated 20,000 images of child pornography were posted on the Internet every week in 2003. With the introduction of this bill, child porn profiteers are now in our sights. We will also no longer tolerate blind accomplices who leave the doors unlocked on Internet child pornography.”

Facts:

--In 2003, an estimated 20,000 images of child pornography were posted on the Internet every week.
--82% of all child porn cases prosecuted in the US involved images of children under the age of 12 engaged in sexual acts.
--Between 1998 and 2004, child pornography reports made to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children increased from 3,267 to 106,119

--The commercial business of child pornography over the Internet has been estimated to be as high as $20 billion worldwide, according to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children

--Over 3.5 million child pornography images have been identified U.S. law enforcement, according to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

-- According to a National Children’s Homes report, the number of Internet child pornography images has increased 1500% since 1988

--Approximately 20% of all Internet pornography involves children (National Center for Missing & Exploited Children

--More than half of all illegal sites reported to the Internet Watch Foundation are hosted in the United States. (National Criminal Intelligence Service, 8/21/03).

HR 5749 Internet SAFETY Act

Sec. 2. Financial Facilitation of Access to Child Pornography. This section creates a new federal offense for the financial facilitation of child pornography. Any person who conducts a financial transaction knowing that it will facilitate access to child pornography will be liable under this section and may be fined or imprisoned up to ten years.

Sec. 3. Child Sexual Exploitation Enterprises. This section amends section 2252A to impose penalties for the operation of a child pornography enterprise. A child pornography enterprise involves two or more offenses under section 1201 (kidnapping), section 1466A (obscene visual representations of the sexual abuse of children), section 1470 (transfer of obscene material to minors), section 1591 (sex trafficking of children), chapter 110 (sexual exploitation and other abuse of children), or chapter 117 (transportation for illegal sexual activity and related crimes) committed by three or more people acting in concert.

Sec. 4. Increased Penalties for Registered Sex Offenders. This section imposes a mandatory, consecutive ten-year sentence for any section 1201 (kidnapping), section 1466A (obscene visual representations of the sexual abuse of children), section 1470 (transfer of obscene material to minors), section 1591 (sex trafficking of children), chapter 110 (sexual exploitation and other abuse of children), or chapter 117 (transportation for illegal sexual activity and related crimes) offense committed by a person who is registered or required to register under federal or state law with a sex offender registry.

Sec. 5. Internet Facilitation of Child Pornography and Exploitation of Children. This section creates a new federal offense for facilitation of child pornography or child exploitation by an Internet content hosting provider or email service provider. Any such provider who knowingly facilitates the access to or possession of child pornography via the Internet will be liable under this section and may be fined or imprisoned up to ten years. This section defines “Internet content hosting provider” as a service that stores electronic data such as web pages, e-mail, documents, images, audio or video files, newsgroup or bulletin board discussions, or weblogs and makes this data available over the Internet.

Sec. 6. Child Pornography Reporting. This section imposes greater civil penalties ($150,000 for initial failure, $300,000 for second or subsequent failure – up from $50,000 and $100,000) for internet communication providers that knowingly fail to report child pornography creates a new civil penalty for those providers who negligently report child porn.

Sec. 7. Deception by Embedded Words or Images. This section create a new federal offense for website operators who insert words or imagines into source code with the intent to deceive persons into viewing obscene material on the internet.

Sec. 8. Requirement to Place Warning Marks on Commercial Websites Containing Sexually Explicit Material. This section requires commercial website operators to place warning marks prescribed by the Federal Trade Commission on webpages that contain sexually explicit material.

Sec. 9. RICO Predicates. This section adds section 1466A (relating to obscene visual representation of the abuse of children), section 1960A (relating to financial facilitation of access to child pornography), section 1960B (relating to internet facilitation of child pornography and child exploitation), section 2252A (relating to child pornography), and section 2260A (relating to increased penalties for registered sex offenders) as RICO predicates.

Sec. 10. Money Laundering Predicate. This section adds section 1960A (relating to financial facilitation of access to child pornography), section 1960B (relating to internet facilitation of child pornography and child exploitation), and section 2260A (relating to increased penalties for registered sex offenders) as specified unlawful activities under section 1956, the federal money laundering statute.

Sec. 11. Masha’s Law. This section amends section 2255 to expand civil remedies for sexual offenses against minors. Currently, civil remedies may only be recovered by minor victims who suffer physical injury. This amendment allows any aggrieved party, including the parents of a minor victim, to seek civil remedies and allows a victim to seek civil remedies as an adult. This amendment also extends the statute of limitations to ten years.

Sec. 12. Increased Penalties for Certain Offenses. This section amends sections 2252 and 2252A to increase penalties for shipping, transporting, receiving, distributing, selling, or possessing with the intent to sell any child pornography image. The amendment increases the range from 5 to 20 years to 10 to 30 years.

Sec. 13. Office on Sexual Violence and Crimes against Children. This section establishes within the Department of Justice an Office on Sexual Violence and Crimes against Children to (1) administer standards for sex offender registration and notification programs; (2) administer grant programs relating to sex offender registration and notification; and (3) provide assistance to states, localities, tribal governments, and other entities relating to sex offender registration or notifications or other measures to protect children and the general public from sexual abuse or exploitation.

Sec. 14. Additional Prosecutors for Offenses Relating to the Sexual Exploitation of Children. This section authorizes additional appropriations for 188 new attorneys within the United States Attorneys’ Offices to prosecute child sex offenses including child exploitation, child sexual abuse, and child obscenity and pornography offenses.

Sec. 15. Additional ICAC Task Forces. This section authorizes additional appropriations for up to twenty additional task forces within the Department of Justice’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Program (ICAC). These task forces are comprised of members of federal, state, and local law enforcement, local prosecution agencies, educators and mental health professionals who provide investigatory tools to law enforcement and assist parents and schools with child victimization issues.

Sec. 16. Grants for Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Programs. This section directs the Attorney General to make grants to states, local governments, Indian tribes, and nonprofit organizations for child sexual abuse prevention programs.

Sec. 17. Cybersecurity Forensic Capabilities. This section authorizes an additional $20 million for operation of the Department of Justice’s Regional Computer Forensic Laboratories (RCFL). An RCFL is a one stop, full service forensics laboratory and training center devoted entirely to the examination of digital evidence in support of criminal investigations. The work performed by the RCFLs is critical to the investigation and prosecution of online child pornography and child exploitation offenses. The FBI opened the first RCFL in 1999 and the RCFL program received specific funding in the USA PATRIOT Act There are currently ten regional laboratories operating throughout the United States with two more scheduled to open in the near future.

[Niche]

1. Amazing.... (eom)