CDR: censorship $

[A. Melon]

       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.