[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 166 (Tuesday, December 20, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Page S14194]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. KERRY (for himself and Mr. Isakson):
  S. 2155. A bill to provide meaningful civil remedies for victims of 
the sexual exploitation of children; to the Committee on the Judiciary.
  Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, today Senator Isakson and I introduce 
legislation to increase civil penalties for child exploitation. Our 
legislation is a small piece of a larger battle that we believe will 
stop would-be child predators and protect our children. Predators like 
the ones who exploited Masha, a little girl who was featured on Prime 
Time Live a few weeks ago, and the thousands of other children who are 
victims of these horrific crimes.
  According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, 
child pornography has become a multi-billion dollar internet business. 
With the increasingly sophisticated technology of digital media, child 
pornography has become easier to produce and purchase. Countless people 
around the world have instant access to pictures and videos posted on 
the Internet and, unfortunately, millions of these images are 
pornographic depictions of infants and children. Masha is one of these 
children, whose images--hundreds of them--are on the Internet and being 
downloaded around the world. And while the man who sexually abused 
Masha and posted the pictures on the web is in jail, the damage has 
been done and will continue until people stop downloading pictures of 
her off the internet.
  Under current law, a victim of child exploitation is entitled to 
civil statutory damages in U.S. District Court in the amount of 
$50,000--less than the civil penalty for illegally downloading music 
off the internet. This penalty is far too low to effectively deter 
would-be child pornographers. This legislation increases the civil 
penalties recoverable by victims of child sexual exploitation, 
including internet child pornography, to at least $150,000. This 
increased penalty will serve as a deterrent to those who disseminate 
and possess child pornography, as well as a means of compensating 
victims of this terrible abuse. If someone downloads a song off the 
Internet, Federal copyright law provides for statutory damages to be 
awarded to the copyright holder in the amount of $150,000. Downloading 
child pornography is far more detrimental to the victim than 
downloading copyrighted music and, as a result, the penalty should 
reflect that.
  But it is not only the statutory damages that are flawed. The current 
statute states that ``Any minor who is a victim of a violation [of the 
act] may sue in United States District Court''. This language has been 
interpreted literally by a Federal district court to restrict recovery 
to plaintiffs whose injuries occurred while they were minors. Thus, 
when victims turn 18 they cannot recover against their perpetrators 
even if pornographic images of them as children are still distributed 
via the internet. Our legislation would clarify the statute to include 
victims of child pornography who are injured as adults by the 
downloading of their pornographic images.
  This bill takes an important step towards ensuring justice for 
victims of child exploitation. I would urge speedy passage of this 
legislation as a stand alone bill or encourage its inclusion in a 
larger child protection package. It is the very least Congress can do 
for Masha and the thousands of children like her who have suffered at 
the hands of these criminals. I thank Senator Isakson for his co-
sponsorship, and I look forward to working with him and all my 
colleagues to see that it passes the Senate.

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