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Cable Operators to Combat Online Child Pornography

July 30, 2008

In an unprecedented industry-wide agreement, U.S. cable operators will voluntarily take additional measures to help limit the distribution of child pornography on the Internet through an agreement between the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA), the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), and the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG).

Cable operators bring the Internet to 87 percent of U.S. households and those companies on NCTA's board of directors have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with NCMEC to aid in the fight to reduce the proliferation of child pornography online. The commitment by these cable operators represents Internet service to more than 112 million homes.

Cable Operators Agree to Help Battle Internet Child Pornography

"Building on our strong commitment to online safety, the cable industry wants to help combat child pornography and exploitation," said Kyle McSlarrow, president and CEO of NCTA. "By signing the NCMEC MOU, cable Internet service providers are reaffirming their strong commitment to online safety and Internet literacy for all American families."

Ernie Allen, president and CEO of NCMEC, added, "We are deeply grateful for this industry-wide attack on child pornography. It is not possible to arrest and prosecute every offender. We must be creative and build new public-private partnerships to address this insidious problem more effectively. This announcement represents a bold step forward."

Cable Operators Given More Backup to Combat Online Child Porn

The agreement with NCMEC will provide cable broadband service providers with an invaluable source of information to help them enforce their terms of service, all of which forbid the hosting of such illegal materials on their servers. The information provided by NCMEC to cable service providers will also help them identify instances of child pornography, facilitating their reporting of such material to NCMEC as required by federal law. This in turn enables NCMEC to refer these cases to law enforcement for investigation and prosecution.

The cable operators that have agreed to execute the MOU within 30 days include: Comcast Corporation; Cox Communications; Charter Communications; Cablevision Systems Corporation; Bright House Networks; Suddenlink Communications; Mediacom Communications; Insight Communications; Bresnan Communications; Midcontinent Communications; Broadstripe; GCI; Harron Communications; US Cable Corporation; BendBroadband; Eagle Communications; and Sjoberg's, Inc. Time Warner Cable has already signed the MOU.

Cable Providers Fight for Online Safety for American Families

NCTA's agreement with NCMEC is the latest milestone in cable's efforts to ensure online safety and promote Internet literacy for all families and Internet users. When NCTA launched its PointSmartClickSafe online safety initiative in June 2007, cable ISPs pledged in a code of conduct to support law enforcement in its efforts to ensure online safety for American families.