House Judiciary Committee Passes Internet Snooping Bill

WASHINGTON — The U.S. House Judiciary Committee has approved a measure that would force ISPs to save users’ IP address information for one year to aid in the fight against child porn.

The bill, HR 1981 — The Protecting Children from Internet Pornographers Act of 2011 – was approved on a 19-10 vote and considered a victory for conservative Republicans despite opposition from digital rights groups and civil liberties advocates.

An 11th hour rewrite of the controversial data retention mandate reportedly expands the information that commercial ISPs are required to store to include customers' names, addresses, phone numbers, credit card numbers, bank account numbers, and temporarily-assigned IP addresses.

The panel rejected an amendment that would have clarified that only IP addresses must be stored.

Critics complain that the bill’s data retention requirements threaten consumer privacy and increases the risk of data breach.

Prior to the vote, Rep. Zoe Lofgren of California, who led Democratic opposition to the legislation said the bill is a “stalking horse for a massive expansion of federal power.”

She said it represents "a data bank of every digital act by every American" that would "let us find out where every single American visited websites."

Rep. John Conyers of Michigan, the senior Democrat on the panel said the bill is mislabeled.

"This is not protecting children from Internet pornography. It's creating a database for everybody in this country for a lot of other purposes."

Earlier this month, The Association of Sites Advocating Child Protection (ASACP) penned a letter to the U.S. Congress that was widely circulated on Capitol Hill, protesting its erroneous use of the phrase “Internet Pornographers” in the new legislation.

ASACP executive director Tim Henning told XBIZ that lumping in adult businesses in the bill's labeling is flat out wrong. "'Protecting Children From Internet Pedophiles’ or ‘Protecting Children From Internet Sex Crimes’ would both be more appropriate and accurate titles for this Act," the ASACP letter stated.

Henning also said that although his organization supports global law enforcement efforts to protect children, there are a number of legal and technological paths including the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) already in place and that mandating a new requirement for ISPs to collect and retain IP addresses is overboard and problematic from privacy, security and economic standpoints.

But supporters, like Texas Republican Representative Lamar Smith, chairman of the committee, claim it's an aid to law enforcement. He said in a statement after the vote that ISPs routinely purge records, sometimes just days after they are created. “Investigators need the assistance of ISPs to identify users and distributors of online child pornography.

“This bill ensures that the online footprints of predators are not erased,” Smith said.

Civil liberties advocate Greg Nojeim, senior counsel for the Washington-based Center for Democracy and Technology told CNET, “This is China-style law enforcement, treating everyone as a potential suspect and requiring the collection of personal information just in case it might later be useful to the government.”

For a short time it appeared as though the bill would be derailed because of opposition from a handful of conservative members of Congress and Democrats advocating civil liberties and privacy.

And the original version of the bill, introduced in May, required ISPs to keep records for 18 months unless they were transmitted by “radio communication” prompted by the lobbying efforts of wireless carriers. But it was slapped down by the Justice Department who felt it didn’t go far enough and was removed in a revised draft.

A similar Senate version of the new measure — S. 1308 — was introduced in the Senate on June 30 by Utah Republican Orrin Hatch and co- sponsored by Republican Senators Charles Grassley of Iowa and Jeff Sessions of Alabama, and Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota.

Michael Powell, president of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, which represents ISPs including Comcast Corp. (CMCSA) and Time Warner Cable Inc. (TWC) said in a statement that the House Judiciary vote is an “important step” in the effort to fight child porn.

He said his organization will work with lawmakers to seek “further clarification that will produce reasonable retention practices that can aid law enforcement in stopping crimes against children.”

The existing "Protect Our Children Act of 2008" requires any ISP who "obtains actual knowledge" of possible child porn transmissions to "make a report of such facts or circumstances."

ISPs that knowingly fail to comply can be hit with fines of up to $150,000 for the first offense and up to $300,000 for each subsequent offense.

Related:  

Copyright © 2025 Adnet Media. All Rights Reserved. XBIZ is a trademark of Adnet Media.
Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission is prohibited.

More News

FSC Publishes Analysis of Federal Trade Commission Event Promoting AV

Free Speech Coalition (FSC) has published an analysis of a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) event held this week that promoted age verification among other forms of speech regulation.

GirlsDoPorn Owner Michael Pratt Pleads Guilty to Sex Trafficking

Michael Pratt, former owner of the rogue website GirlsDoPorn, pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California on Thursday to sex trafficking and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking charges, according to a report by City News Service.

Federal Judge Grants Partial Halt of Florida AV Law

The United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida, Tallahassee Division, has granted a preliminary injunction against HB 3, the state's age verification law, as a lawsuit filed by two online trade associations challenging the law makes its way through the courts.

Aylo Releases Statement on Suspending Access to Pornhub in France

Technology and media company Aylo, which operates adult sites including Pornhub, YouPorn, and Redtube, has released a public statement regarding its decision to block access to its sites in France.

Pornhub Blocks Access in France in Response to SREN Law

Pornhub parent company Aylo has opted to block access to its sites in France rather than comply with age verification requirements under the country’s Security and Regulation of the Digital Space (SREN) law.

Canadian Senator Revives Push for National AV Law

Sen. Julie Miville-Dechêne, whose previous multiple attempts to legislate national age verification requirements all failed, has introduced a new bill that would impose fines of up to $500,000 on adult sites that do not implement age verification for Canadian viewers.

FSC Submits Statement to House Committee in Support of FIRM Act

Free Speech Coalition has announced that it submitted a statement to the House Financial Services Committee in support of the Financial Integrity and Regulation Management (FIRM) Act.The announcement follows:

Trump Tariffs Remain in Effect Pending Appeal of Trade Court Ruling

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Thursday stayed an injunction by the U.S. Court of International Trade, delaying the trade court’s order blocking the Trump administration’s sweeping tariffs, which have significantly impacted the pleasure industry.

EU Investigating 4 Adult Sites for 'Suspected Breaches' of DSA

The European Commission has initiated formal proceedings against Pornhub, Stripchat, XNXX and XVideos for “suspected breaches” of the Digital Services Act (DSA), the Commission announced in a statement Monday.

Luxembourg Rejects Request to Enforce French AV Law

Government officials in Luxembourg have rebuffed a French government request to help enforce France’s Security and Regulation of the Digital Space (SREN) law by taking action against webcam platform LiveJasmin, the Luxembourg Times is reporting.

Show More