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AT&T and AOL Block Child Porn Newsgroups
Join NY AG's crusade against child pornography...
In June, Verizon, Time Warner Cable and Sprint announced they'd struck a deal with the New York Attorney General, agreeing to block access to newsgroups that contain child porn, as well as quickly delete any child porn from their servers. AOL and AT&T today announced they too would be purging servers of such content and blocking access to newsgroups, though the newsgroup blocks appear to go a little further than necessary:
quote:
Like the three previously announced providers, both AT&T and AOL are going beyond newsgroups known as Usenet containing child pornography. AT&T spokesman Marty Richter said the company would disabled all those with addresses starting with "alt.binary," which is where child-porn images are often exchanged. But not all such groups have child pornography.
NY Attorney General Andrew Cuomo also today unveiled a new website aimed at tackling child porn. Cuomo complained that ISPs can't "drag their feet when it comes to protecting our children and instead must quickly purge child porn from their servers."

Most recommended from 149 comments


brawney
Premium Member
join:2002-03-02
Frederick, MD

2 recommendations

brawney

Premium Member

Good

People will complain about censorship... but the guy who owns the news stand on the corner can decide that he doesn't want to provide child porn so why can't the ISP?

JSY
Premium Member
join:2000-04-05
Elmhurst, NY

2 recommendations

JSY

Premium Member

Mixed Feelings

I'll tell you why I am really mixed on this. It's not so much of what's legal or illegal, but rather the fact that once again, the internet is being shaped into what government or higher authorities what us to see. This easily opens the door for ISPs to go ahead and start blocking any material they deem to contain questionable material - well beyond alt.binaries.xxx What's next? You already saw it expand in this article - it went from child pornography to everything in alt.binaries.

And you all must be out of your mind if you think this "solves" anything. If alt.binaries are blocked around the word - you don't think that people won't just create new newsgroups to hold this material? Now, that is going to be pretty because you'll start to have IPS now have to determine what needs to be blocked rather than a blanketwide alt.binaries block. What if binaries pop up in different named groups? I mean, right now - binaries exist in a lot of groups that are not part of the alt.binaries realm. Will ISPs start to govern those? What about the same material that are on websites? Someone above said you might as well block the internet because the age verification crap doesn't work and that is only for those sites that even have that, and using the logic of these ISPs and the AG, you'd have to start considering that. Age verification doesn't work. Congress enacted that law that restricted internet gambling (more or less) because age verification was a crock - and that was with credit card verification.

The fact is that if you open the door, you give the opportunity for more blockage and if you don't think that is a problem that we'll ever see, then you need to get your head out of your ass and think outside the box and how this affects the whole internet rather than just thinking that this affects child pornography and the RIAA/MPAA.

The only reason Cuomo is all up on this is so that he can make his mark. Spitzer had his mark with the financial industry. Cuomo needs his.

Transmaster
Don't Blame Me I Voted For Bill and Opus
join:2001-06-20
Cheyenne, WY

2 recommendations

Transmaster

Member

Hello Vote For Me


Smiling Andrew
Hi there I am Andrew Cuomo New York Attorney General I just got a useless agreement from AT&T and AOL to block child porn. You fools out there will think I have done something that will make a huge difference. Just keep thinking this and vote for me in the next election.
LostMile
Premium Member
join:2002-06-07
Coloma, MI

2 recommendations

LostMile

Premium Member

The real problem is...

The real problem is not porn on usenet, it really doesn't harm anyone. If you don't like it, don't seek it out.

The real problem is the sickos that force helpless little kids to have sex. The only real solution is to catch and euthanize them.

You can block all the content you want but the pedophiles will still be out there doing what they do.

Matt3
All noise, no signal.
Premium Member
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC

2 recommendations

Matt3

Premium Member

Good

Good, alt.binary is full of nothing but porn, warez, movies, and music anyway. Let the leechers who want access to that pay an external usenet provider.