Friday September 22 05:15 PM EDT
COPA panel wants billions more for
cops
By Ben Charny, ZDNet News
Also on the wish list: government-backed porn-filter testing,
education programs and immunity for porn sites that follow
the rules.
Spending billions more dollars for law enforcement and creating a porn-filter
testing
group lead the list of likely recommendations to Congress from a
government-appointed commission charged with making the Web child-safe.
Members of the commission created by the Childrens Online Privacy Act (COPA)
are also
expected to recommend that porn Web sites following industry-imposed guidelines
be
immune from criminal prosecution if a child gets access to smut.
The COPA commission met this week in Washington, D.C., to begin
writing its long-awaited report to Congress. It will meet once
more in
October to vote on the report before presenting it to lawmakers.
Commission member Robert Flores, vice president of the National
Law Center For Children and Families, said a visit to
GetNetWise.org
helped convince him that an independent body to review Web
filtering software is necessary.
"If you go to (that site), youll see a large number of
technologies that
are available. Some make a number of claims," he said. "But,
how do
you distinguish advertising claims vs. documented claims?"
More review
Filters are being reviewed, but by private groups such as Peacefire, which is a
self-proclaimed advocate of Internet free speech. Child advocate Enough is
Enough in Santa
Ana, Calif., tried to create its own review boards, but it proved too expensive.
"It has been something weve wanted to do for years," said Enough is Enough Chief
Operating Officer Monique Nelson, who testified before the commission two
months ago in
San Jose, Calif.
While a dollar figure has not been set, the commission is expected to ask
Congress to
dedicate billions of dollars more to law enforcement.
Flores said billions are needed just so some law enforcement agencies can catch
up to the
Web stalkers, which some surveys suggest send unsolicited messages to 20
percent of all
kids online.
He estimated that the current annual budget for federal cybercrime is less than
$200 million.
It would take a yearly infusion of $1 billion to $1.5 billion for the next four
or five years
"just to get us moving," he said.
Incentives sought
One of the other recommendations gaining consensus is to provide incentives,
such as
immunity from criminal prosecution, for porn sites following industry standards
on
child-proofing.
"If you try your best and do everything you can, then you should be immune from
prosecution," Flores said.
Commission Chairman Donald Telage, of Network Solutions Inc., said the
commission is
also likely to recommend an intensive education program, for parents, about the
dangers
lurking on the Internet.
The COPA commission isnt just getting a report ready for Congress. It is
fighting for its
very future.
Congress created the commission, but failed to fund it. The commission
sometimes opens up
meetings with pleas for donations. Many of the commissioners are funding their
own trips
across the country to different hearings.
And then there is the infighting between commissioners themselves, making the
fact that
they agree upon any issues something of a new thing for the group.
"Consensus, this group?" said Nancy Willard, director of Responsible Netizen, a
program
administered by the Center for Advanced Technology in Education.
