[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 6]
[House]
[Page 8263]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              PEER-TO-PEER SOFTWARE ENDANGERS OUR CHILDREN

  (Mr. PITTS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, peer-to-peer file-sharing software poses a 
danger to our children. At any given time, 22 million children are 
online sharing files on peer-to-peer networks. They usually trade music 
and photos. But another group of peer-to-peer users has a different 
agenda. Most parents do not know about it. Most kids do not have a 
clue.
  Pornographers and child predators use these networks to expose young 
children to the crudest forms of pornography imaginable, much of it 
child porn, always disguised using innocent-sounding terms. Often, 
these predators attempt to arrange meetings with young people through 
this software. These contacts pose a significant risk to the safety of 
our children when they use the computer.
  This week, the Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on 
Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection will take up this issue. Among 
the solutions to be discussed is my bill, H.R. 2885, the Protecting 
Children From Peer-to-Peer Pornography Act. The bill addresses the 
cyberdangers of file-sharing programs, like KaZaA.
  Congress must act to protect children from this threat. If left 
unchecked, peer-to-peer networks will become the worst base of 
operations which child molesters, pornographers, and predators use to 
attack our kids in our homes online.

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