Statement by U.S. Representative Diana DeGette on the Online Child Exploitation Hearing

Statement by U.S. Representative Diana DeGette on the Online Child Exploitation Hearing

- Part 4 in a series of O&I Hearings: The Role of ISPs and Social Networking Sites -

U.S. Representative Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) released the following statement concerning the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations hearing "Making the Internet Safe for Kids."

"Mr. Chairman, you have done superb job of carrying out this series of hearings on the online exploitation of children. Too often we in Congress do a very cursory job of tackling an issue and then we quickly move on to the next big issue of the day.

"You've really followed through on bringing in panel after panel of all those who play a role in this issue and I really want to commend you on a job well done. My fervent hope is that, at the end of these hearings, the members of this committee join together in a bipartisan way, just as we have been conducting ourselves this entire time, and take action that will better the situation for the young victims of what is truly a crime against humanity.

"As many of you know, I have been working on legislation that would require companies that provide broadband service to keep certain customer-identifying records for one year. Currently, there is no federal law and no industry standard. This is seriously hindering investigations.

"During these hearings we have learned from the investigators who are charged with tracking down the producers, distributors and consumers of child pornography that the number one issue that hinders them in finding these miscreants is the lack of data from Internet Service Providers (ISPs).

"Far too often, when an investigator requests certain information from an ISP, and this doesn't just happen willy nilly, a subpoena, administrative or otherwise, is required, the ISP doesn't have the information needed to solve the crime. The research we have done in preparation for this hearing has shown that a whole host of reasons exist that run the gamut of technical problems to routine deletion.

"If they can't get the information they need to connect an IP address to a person then too often the case hits a dead end. The perpetrator is not going to be caught, and the child victim is not rescued from a childhood of unfathomable sexual abuse. This is a terrible problem and we need to fix it and fix it now.

"As far as keeping customer information for a longer period of time, something that all the investigators agree would go a long way towards solving this problem, it would seem to be an easy to fix to make, yet I can't say that industry has been overwhelmingly receptive to addressing the problem up to this point. I just can't imagine the companies who will appear before us later today don't believe that, if nothing else, they have a moral imperative to do everything they can to catch these child rapists.

"In any case, I look forward to questioning them about their practices and commitment to this issue later on.

"The problem of online child pornography, as we have all learned, is growing at a staggering rate and surpassing all of our best efforts to stop it. And this means, Mr. Chairman, that our best efforts aren't nearly good enough. Eradicating this pernicious practice will take a national, indeed global, partnership of citizenry, government, industry and law enforcement. Each of us can be doing more, and that is why these hearings have been so important. We all need to figure out what more each of us can be doing.

"Dangerous criminals are going to great lengths to get what they want: our most precious resource, our children.

"I ask everyone here today, to what lengths are we willing to go to save them?"

http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/co01_degette/Exploitation.html