Youth Safety on a Living Internet

148 Pages·2010·1.62 MB·English

Youth SafetY on a Living internet:
report of the onLine SafetY and technoLogY Working group
June 4, 2010
to: the honorable Lawrence e. Strickling
Assistant Secretary of Commerce
the honorable John d. rockefeller iv, Chairman
Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation
the honorable kathryn ann Bailey hutchison, Ranking Member
Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation
the honorable John f. kerry, Chairman
Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet
the honorable John ensign, Ranking Member
Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet
the honorable henry Waxman, Chairman
House Committee on Energy and Commerce
the honorable Joe Barton, Ranking Member
House Committee on Energy and Commerce
the honorable rick Boucher, Chairman
House Commerce Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet
the honorable cliff Stearns, Ranking Member
House Commerce Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet
from: hemanshu nigam, Co-Chair
Online Safety and Technology Working Group
anne collier, Co-Chair
Online Safety and Technology Working Group
date: June 4, 2010
On behalf of the Online Safety and Technology Working Group (OSTWG), we are pleased to transmit
this report to you. As mandated, we reviewed and evaluated:
1. The status of industry efforts to promote online safety through educational efforts,
parental control technology, blocking and fltering software, age-appropriate labels
for content or other technologies or initiatives designed to promote a safe online
environment for children;
2. The status of industry efforts to promote online safety among providers of electronic
communications services and remote computing services by reporting apparent child
pornography, including any obstacles to such reporting;
3. The practices of electronic communications service providers and remote computing
service providers related to record retention in connection with crimes against children;
and
4. The development of technologies to help parents shield their children from
inappropriate material on the Internet.
The report contains recommendations in each of the above categories, as well some general
recommendations. We believe these recommendations will further advance our collective goal to
provide a safer online experience to our children.
We would like to personally thank the support of the National Telecommunications and Information
Administration (NTIA) and its staff during this process. Their assistance throughout the past year was
invaluable in allowing us to execute on our mandate. We would also like to recognize the leadership
of our subcommittee chairs, Christopher Bubb, Larry Magid, Michael McKeehan, and Adam Thierer
– each worked diligently to bring much consensus into the fnal report. We also want to thank the
OSTWG members for the tremendous effort they put into their work all the while doing it in a most
collaborative fashion. And fnally, we would like to recognize the insight offered by representatives
from the White House, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Education, the Department
of Justice, the Federal Communications Commission, and the Federal Trade Commission.
As co-chairs we have been honored to have led the OSWTG on this journey, and we all look forward to
working with you in bringing these recommendations to life – our nation’s youth deserve no less.
////
the onLine SafetY and technoLogY
Working group
co-chairS
anne collier
Co-Director
ConnectSafely.org
President
Net Family News, Inc.
hemanshu nigam
Founder
SSP Blue
Formerly Chief Security Offcer
News Corporation
MeMBerS
parry aftab, esq.
Founder and Executive Director
WiredSafety.org
elizabeth Banker
Vice President and General Counsel
Yahoo! Inc.
christopher Bubb
Assistant General Counsel, Public Safety and Criminal Investigations
AOL
Braden cox
Policy Counsel
NetChoice Coalition
caroline curtin
Policy Counsel, Federal Affairs
Microsoft
Brian cute
Vice President, Discovery Services
Aflias
Jeremy S. geigle
President
Arizona Family Council
Marsali hancock
President
Internet Keep Safe Coalition
Michael kaiser
Executive Director
National Cyber Security Alliance
Online Safety and Technology Working Group v
christopher M. kelly
Formerly Chief Privacy Offcer and Head of Global Policy
Facebook
Brian knapp
Chief Operating Offcer
Loopt
hedda Litwin
Cyberspace Law Counsel
National Association of Attorneys General
timothy M. Lordan
Executive Director and Counsel
Internet Education Foundation
Larry Magid
Co-Director
ConnectSafely.org
Brian Markwalter
Vice President of Technology and Standards
Consumer Electronics Association
Michael W. Mckeehan
Executive Director, Internet and Technology Policy
Verizon
Samuel c. McQuade iii
Associate Professor
Rochester Institute of Technology
orit h. Michiel
Vice President and Domestic Counsel
Motion Picture Association of America
John Morris
General Counsel
Center for Democracy and Technology
Jonathan nevett
Vice President of Policy and Ethics
Network Solutions, LLC
Jill L. nissen
Formerly, Vice President, Chief Policy Offcer
Ning, Inc.
Jay opperman
Senior Director of Security and Privacy
Comcast Corporation
kevin rupy
Director of Policy Development
USTelecom
vi Online Safety and Technology Working Group
John Shehan
Executive Director, Exploited Child Division
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
dane Snowden
Vice President, External and State Affairs
CTIA – The Wireless Association
adam thierer
President
Progress and Freedom Foundation
patricia e. vance
President
Entertainment Software Rating Board
ralph James Yarro iii
Founder, President, and CEO
Think Atomic, Inc.
federaL governMent repreSentativeS
paul r. almanza
Deputy Chief
Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section
Criminal Division
Department of Justice
robert cannon
Senior Counsel for Internet Law
Offce of Strategic Planning and Policy Analysis
Federal Communications Commission
cheryl petty garnette
Director
Technology in Education Programs
Offce of Innovation and Improvement
Department of Education
nat Wood
Assistant Director
Division of Consumer and Business Education
Bureau of Consumer Protection
Federal Trade Commission
Online Safety and Technology Working Group vii
taBLe of contentS
Executive Summary 1
Subcommittee on Internet Safety Education 11
Addendum A 34
Addendum B 49
Subcommittee on Parental Controls & Child Protection Technology 55
Addendum A 68
Subcommittee on Child Pornography Reporting 85
Addendum A 92
Addendum B 94
Addendum C 96
Subcommittee on Data Retention 100
Appendix A: Acknowledgements A1
Appendix B: Agendas of OSTWG Meetings A2
Appendix C: Statements of OSTWG Members A7
viii Online Safety and Technology Working Group
executive SuMMarY
The Internet is a living thing. It mirrors and serves as a platform for a spectrum of humanity’s lives,
sociality, publications and productions. And as with all living things, its current state is guided and
molded by the years of evolution it has gone through to reach its current place in our society. Tasked
with the goal of examining the safety of this dynamic medium, the Online Safety and Technology
Working Group (OSTWG) embraced its mission mindful of the great amount of work done before it.
We approached our task with open eyes and open minds, while at the same time remaining aware of
the many efforts that had gone before us, many of which individual OSTWG members had participated
in. Still, we were determined to take our combined knowledge and insights gained over the past year
to shed new light on the issues refected in our recommendations to you.
The OSTWG was fortunate to have representatives from nearly every facet of the child online
safety ecosystem represented. Members came from the Internet industry, child safety advocacy
organizations, educational and civil liberties communities, the government, and law enforcement
communities. Collectively, we brought to our work more than 250 years of experience in online safety
from a spectrum of varying perspectives. We hope the set of recommendations we are delivering to
you here will leave an indelible mark on the online experiences of our country’s children as they evolve
into adults in this digital century.
The OSTWG was established by the “Broadband Data Improvement Act” (the Act), Pub. L. No. 110–385.
Section 214 of the Act, which was signed into law on October 10, 2008, mandated the NTIA to create
the OSTWG, bringing this group together to focus on four different components of online safety.
Specifcally, the OSTWG was established to review and evaluate:
• The status of industry efforts to promote online safety through educational efforts,
parental control technology, blocking and fltering software, age-appropriate labels
for content or other technologies or initiatives designed to promote a safe online
environment for children;
• The status of industry efforts to promote online safety among providers of electronic
communications services and remote computing services by reporting apparent child
pornography, including any obstacles to such reporting;
• The practices of electronic communications service providers and remote computing
service providers related to record retention in connection with crimes against children;
and
• The development of technologies to help parents shield their children from
inappropriate material on the Internet.
The Act specifes that the OSTWG must be comprised of up to 30 members who are ‘‘representatives
of relevant sectors of the business community, public interest groups, and other appropriate groups
and Federal agencies.’’ This business community includes, at a minimum, Internet service providers,
Internet content providers (especially providers of content for children), producers of blocking and
fltering software, operators of social networking sites, search engines, Web portals, and domain name
service (DNS) providers. Public interest groups may include organizations that work on behalf of
children or study children’s issues, Internet safety groups, and education and academic entities. The
NTIA sought representatives from a broad spectrum of organizations to obtain the best information
Online Safety and Technology Working Group 1
available on the state of online safety. The OSTWG would also include representatives from various
federal agencies. While federal agency members provided information and contributed to discussions
at OSTWG meetings, the recommendations in this report do not necessarily represent the policy
positions of the agencies or their leadership.
The full list of members is included in Appendix A. It is clear from the make-up of the OSTWG that the
NTIA was successful in executing on this mandate of the Act. For that we are grateful, as it allowed for a
multi-dimensional examination of the issues set before us.
oStWg SuBcoMMitteeS
In order to provide you with a complete picture and set of recommendations in each of the areas
outlined by the Act, we created a subcommittee for each topic put forth in the statute, each led by
a subcommittee chair. Lawrence J. Magid led the Education subcommittee, Michael W. McKeehan
led the Data Retention subcommittee, Christopher G. Bubb led the Child Pornography Reporting
subcommittee, and Adam Thierer led the Technology subcommittee. Following an introductory
meeting on June 4, 2009, we held meetings where each subcommittee invited experts to provide
valuable insight to inform the work of that particular subcommittee. These meetings were held
on September 24, 2009, November 3, 2009, February 4, 2010, and May 19, 2010. All meetings were
held in Washington, D.C. and were open to the public and news media. The agenda for each of these
1
subcommittee meetings is available in Appendix B as well as online on the Web.
SpeciaL SpeakerS
To build on the work of preceding task forces, give context to our work, and receive the most current
thinking and research on youth Internet use, we invited a special guest to speak at each of our
meetings. Here’s a short summary of what each speaker said:
At our frst meeting on June 4, 2009, Susan Crawford, JD, Assistant to the President for Science,
Technology and Innovation and a member of the National Economic Council, called on this Group
to focus on research-based education – of both parents and children – as a key to children’s online
safety. “I love this line, and I am going to repeat it: ‘The best software is between the ears’,” Crawford
said. She asked us to “avoid the overheated rhetoric about risks to kids online,” “insensitivity to the
constitutional concerns that legitimize use of the Internet,” and “one-size-fts-all solutions.” She added
that government does not have a very good track record with “technological mandates.”
On September 24, 2009, Dr. Henry Jenkins, author and media professor at the University of Southern
California, also cautioned us against sensationalist media coverage of digital teens. He said that what
he and his fellow researchers of the $50 million McArthur Digital Youth Project have seen is that “most
young people are trying to make the right choices in a world that most of us don’t fully understand
yet, a world where they can’t get good advice from the adults around them, where they are moving
into new activities that were not part of the life of their parents growing up – very capable young
people who are doing responsible things, taking advantage of the technologies that are around them.”
Jenkins said teens are engaged in four activities “central to the life of young people in participatory
culture: circulating media, connecting with each other, creating media, and collaborating with each
other.” It is crucial, he said, to bring these activities into classrooms nationwide so that all young people
have equal opportunity to participate. This is crucial, too, because young people “are looking for
1 NTIA Web site (http://www.ntia.doc.gov/advisory/onlinesafety/)
2 Online Safety and Technology Working Group