Innocent Images National Initiative

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Innocent Images National Initiative

Congressional testimony

By: Keith L. Lourdeau

Date: May 6, 2004

Source: U.S. House of Representatives. Committee on Energy and Commerce. Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection. Online Pornography: Closing the Door on Pervasive Smut. 108th Congress, 2nd session, May 6, 2004. Testimony of the Deputy Assistant Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation Cyber Division, Keith L. Lourdeau. Available at: 〈http://energycommerce.house.gov/108/Hearings/05062004hearing1264/Lourdeau1970.htm〉 (accessed April 5, 2006).

About the Author: Keith L. Lourdeau is the Deputy Assistant Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation Cyber Division.

INTRODUCTION

The 1970s and 1980s brought increased social awareness to the issues of child abuse and child pornography, and in response to public outcries almost every state enacted laws prohibiting the mistreatment of minors. The U.S. Congress also has taken action on this issue and has enacted laws that prohibit the making, selling, possession, and distribution of child pornography. The increasing use of the internet has added another element to the child pornography issue because, just as pornography seekers and makers use cyber space for personal gain, those fighting against sexually explicit material involving children use technology to locate pornography users.

The debate about child pornography is wide and multi-faceted, but a central consensus continues to emerge—that the proliferation of such material is harmful to children. Images of exploited children act like permanent records—those images are not erased, and once they are made the child retains the memory of their creation. More importantly, many psychological reports provide evidence that child pornography is not just a voyeuristic endeavor. Rather, its viewers frequently act out their fantasies upon children, turning into pedophiles, and sometimes these children are injured or killed. In additional, the scars that involvement in pornography leave on children have not been tallied because emotional trauma can not always be quantified into concrete numbers for statistical data.

The rise of "easy access" media portals has made the dissemination of child pornography much easier. No longer having to rely upon underground networks of bookstores, mail-order-catalogs, and networks of friends, those seeking child pornography can easily find it via the internet. In much the same way that people share information on free and illegal downloads of music, movies, and other data, those looking for child pornography obtain their information in the same way. File sharing software, internet chat sites, message boards, and other venues enable the seeker to easily find the desired information. In each of these situations, individuals establish a relationship—of sorts—with someone, and then "code words" are often used to start a conversation about the illegal topic. After a dialogue is begun then hidden sites are located, passwords shared, and files sent.

In conjunction with state and local governments, the Federal Bureau of Investigations has increased its child pornography task force to specifically target internet buyers, sellers, and transmitters of child pornography. This new task force, the Innocent Images National Initiative, seeks to locate online communities, organizations, and enterprises exploiting children for profit or personal gain. In addition to identifying these groups, the FBI's task force attempts to apprehend producers of child pornography, those willing to travel to engage in sexual activity with a minor, possessors of child pornography, and those who have transmitted large volumes of it.

PRIMARY SOURCE

FBI's Innocent Images National Initiative is comprised of twenty-eight Under-Cover Operations. These operations involve FBI Agents on-line in an undercover capacity to seek child predators and individuals responsible for the production, dissemination, and possession of child pornography. This is accomplished by using a variety of techniques, to include purchasing child pornography from commercial web sites, creating on-line personas to chat in predicated chat rooms, and co-opting predators' e-mail accounts. Innocent Images has grown exponentially between fiscal year 1996 and 2003 with a 2050% increase in cases opened (113 to 2430). Between fiscal year 1996 and 2003, Innocent Images has recorded over 10,510 cases opened.

Recently, Peer-to-Peer networks were identified as a growing problem in the dissemination of child pornography. A GAO report published in September of 2003 indi-cated a four-fold increase in reports complaining of child pornography in Peer-to-Peer networks. In 2001, the FBI received 156 complaints about child pornography in Peer-to-Peer networks. By 2002, the number of complaints had risen to 757. This increase may be attributable to, among other things, the popularity of Peer-to-Peer networks, as well as the overall increase in child pornography available on the Internet. These programs are free and are easy to install. In May of 2003, Sharman Networks, the developer of a very popular file sharing program, reported that their software had been downloaded more than 230 million times. This software and other file sharing programs like it, allow users to share files with anyone on the network. This creates an environment of relative anonymity amongst users however, this anonymity is only perceived, users are not truly anonymous.

Using Peer-to-Peer software, users' computers connect directly to one another to share files, without going through a central server. Nevertheless, each time a computer accesses the Internet, it is associated with an internet protocol, or "IP" address. Therefore, despite the fact that a Peer-to-Peer connection is not facilitated by a central server, users can still be identified in real time by the IP addresses associated with their computers.

IP addresses are the only way to definitively identify a particular user on a Peer-to-Peer network. In this environment, users of Peer-to-Peer often believe they are anonymous. There is some degree of truth in this assertion as peers in these networks are anonymous to each other. That being said, they are NOT anonymous to law enforcement. Through the use of covert investigative techniques and administrative subpoenas, Agents can determine which individual users possess and distribute child pornography over these networks. Utilizing search warrants, interviews, and computer forensic tools, Agents can strengthen their cases and these individuals are eventually indicted and prosecuted.

Agents have determined Peer-to Peer networks are one of many Internet havens for the open distribution of child pornography. Several of the individuals using Peer-to-Peer networks to distribute child pornography openly describe the content of the material they share as "illegal." This further contributes to the feeling of anonymity in these networks and leads users to become even more brazen in their conduct.

To combat this, the FBI has created an investigative protocol for Peer-to-Peer investigations to begin aggressively apprehending offenders. After developing a Peer-to-Peer investigative protocol with the Department of Justice's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, a number of cases were initiated to determine the technique's viability. Detailed discussion of these cases could possibly jeopardize ongoing investigations, however, I would like to assure this subcommittee that the FBI is aggressively pursuing the trading of child pornography on Peer-to-Peer networks.

In these investigations, Agents have found child pornography to be readily available using the most basic of search terms. Often, child pornography was easily available when innocuous search terms were used, such as 'Brittney Spears' or the word 'young'.

Additionally, the FBI is exploring the possibility of working with Peer-to-Peer software clients to allow them to more effectively warn users against the possession, distribution, or production of child pornography. These industry members may also be interested in placing icons or a pop-up link from their home page regarding subjects wanted by the FBI for exploitation of children by use of the Internet.

While these efforts may not prevent someone from downloading the material in question, it will put the user on notice that they are, more than likely, violating the law. These efforts will also assist investigations as it will eliminate the ability of the subject to claim ignorance of the law.

SIGNIFICANCE

The FBI's national initiative to stop child pornography, local and state governments' strengthening laws, and an increase in watch groups has brought much attention to efforts aimed at stopping child pornography. Nightly television news broadcasts, movies-of-the-week, and generalized heightened media coverage have helped the fight to end child pornography. Additionally, the Amber Alert system and legislative actions like Megan's Law continue to help protect children and stop the abuse of children. The Amber Alert system has been in effect since 2002; Megan's Law requires police to keep databases of sex offenders and to notify communities of sex offenders in the area. These two laws are not directly related to child pornography, but they are part of the larger picture to prevent its continued proliferation.

The battle to stop child pornography is far from over. In 1996, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that "virtual" child pornography is not illegal—that is, pornography that leads a viewer to believe that the person shown is a minor when he or she is older than eighteen. Activists against child pornography believe this ruling is a set back to the larger cause, while others interested in the issue continue to point out that First Amendment rights are involved. Thus, as governmental bodies strive to strengthen legislation against the sexual exploitation of children, they must do so within the context of First Amendment protections of free expression.