How to Report Child Pornography

How to Report Child Pornography

Citizen Reporting

Report the site address for child pornography found on the Internet to your Internet Service Provider and your local or state FBI or Customs office listed in your telephone directory. Also, you can easily report child pornography online by forwarding the site address to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) at http://www.missingkids.com. NCMEC will forward your report to the appropriate investigative agency for follow-up.

Links to Reporting Agencies

U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation
http://www.fbi.gov/

U.S. Customs Child Pornography Enforcement Program http://www.customs.ustreas.gov/enforcem/cpep.htm

National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
http://www.ncmec.org/

Reporting Child Pornography Found in the U.S. Mails

If you have information regarding the use of the U.S. Mails to send child pornography, contact the U.S. Postal Inspection Service listed in the white pages of your local telephone directory. For more information, click onto the U.S.Postal Inspection Agency web page.

Reporting by Electronic ServiceProviders

The Protection of Children from Sexual Predators Act amends the Victims of Child Abuse Act of 1990 by requiring online service providers to report evidence of child pornography offenses to law enforcement agencies.

The Act also amends 18 U.S.C. § 2702(b) of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 to create an exception to the general statutory bar against a public provider's voluntary disclosure of customer communications to third parties. The online industry is encouraged to familiarize itself with the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of1996, 18 U.S.C. §2701, et.seq.

The reporting section, 42 U.S.C. § 13032, which is similar to 42 U.S.C. § 13031, Child Abuse Reporting, requires anyone who is engaged in providing an electronic communication service to the public, and obtains knowledge of a violation of the child exploitation statutes, to report such violation to a law enforcement agency or agencies. The Attorney General is in the process of designating a federal law enforcement agency which will be responsible for receiving such reports by electronic service providers. A failure to report is subject to a civil fine of up to $50,000 in the first instance and $100,000 for any subsequent failure. No service provider may be held civilly liable for any action taken in good faith to comply with the reporting requirement.

The online industry is also encouraged to familiarize itself with 47 U.S.C. §230. This "Good Samaritan" blocking and screening statute states that:

"no provider ... shall be held liable on account of any action voluntarily taken in good faith to restrict access to or availability of material that the provider ... considers to be obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, excessively violent, harassing, or otherwise objectionable, whether or not such material is constitutionally protected...."