Lincoln, Neb.) Attorney General Jon Bruning praised an agreement reached between the National Cable and Telecommunications Association (NCTA), the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), and the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG).  Under the agreement, cable operators that bring Internet service to 87 percent of homes will take additional voluntary measures to limit the distribution of child pornography.

The cable companies agreed to use NCMEC's database of Web sites containing child pornography to ensure the sites aren’t hosted on the cable companies’ servers.  The agreement also provides information to cable providers that will help them identify instances of child pornography, facilitating the reporting of the material to NCMEC as required by federal law.  This will allow the NCMEC to refer the cases to law enforcement for investigation and prosecution.

 "Predators and child pornography are prevalent on the Internet," said Bruning.  "Cable companies taking these extra steps will make it harder for people to store and exchange explicit images of children."

The cable companies executing the agreement within 30 days are: Comcast Corporation; Time Warner Cable; Cox Communications; Charter Communications; Cablevision System Corporation; Bright House Networks; Suddenlink Communications; Mediacom Communications Corp; Insight Communications; Bresnan Communications; Midcontinent Communications; Broadstripe; US Cable Corporation; BendBroadband; Eagle Communications; GCI; Sjoberg’s Inc.; and Harron.

Bruning was one 45 attorneys general who signed a letter in support of the agreement.

Internet safety has been and continues to be a top priority for the Nebraska Attorney General’s Office. Over the last five years, the office:

    * Helped reach agreements with MySpace and Facebook to enhance online safety.

    * Reached an agreement with Yahoo! that shut down 70,000 chat rooms frequented by sexual predators.

    * Worked with the legislature to create the offense of Online Enticement.

    * Worked with the legislature to pass cyberstalking legislation.  LB 142 made it a felony for an adult to send sexually explicit material to a child under 16.

    * Increased penalties for the possession of child pornography – one to 20 years for the first offense.  One to 50 years for each subsequent offense.

    * Hosted Websafe, an internet safety conference for local law enforcement and prosecutors, educational administrators, community officials and victim advocacy groups.

    * Launched www.safekids.gov, an Internet safety Web site.

    * Launched www.safekids.gov, an Internet safety Web site.