House set to pass online child protection bills

The House was poised to consider a handful of bills on Tuesday afternoon that are aimed at advancing technological and law enforcement efforts to protect children on the Internet. Votes were scheduled for late evening but could be postponed until Wednesday.

Legislation introduced in August by Rep. Melissa Bean, D-Ill., would require the FTC to "carry out a nationwide program to increase public awareness and provide education regarding Internet safety." H.R. 3461 would authorize $10 million for the effort in 2008.

Another bill, H.R. 3845, set for floor action would create a special counsel within the Justice Department to plan and coordinate child exploitation prosecution efforts as well as bolster the regional Internet Crimes Against Children task forces.

The measure, sponsored by Florida Democrat Debbie Wasserman Schultz, would authorize more than $1 billion over the next eight years for grant programs; new federal agents dedicated to child exploitation cases; and increased forensic capabilities.

A companion bill, S.1738, was introduced in the Senate by Delaware Democrat and presidential hopeful Joseph Biden and California Democrat Barbara Boxer. That bill is awaiting action by the Judiciary Committee.

Legislation that would create a registry of e-mail and instant-messaging addresses of convicted sex offenders also was on the House's agenda. North Dakota Democrat Earl Pomeroy's bill, H.R. 719, would make it a crime for adults to lie about their ages online to engage in sexual conduct with minors.

Additionally, the House also was expected to debate a measure, H.R. 4120, introduced last week by Rep. Nancy Boyda, D-Kan., aimed at tackling part of the child pornography problem, which has been cited in numerous hearings this session and in the 109th Congress.

In prepared remarks, Boyda said the bill would close a jurisdictional loophole that let a man in her state who was convicted of possessing child pornography escape punishment. "Congress must provide a unified message that we, as a society, will not stand for anything less than a safe Internet," she said.

Several of the bills were part of a Web criminal crackdown unveiled in August by House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers. "We cannot allow the Internet to be a playground where our children are one mouse-click away from sexual predators," the Michigan Democrat said at a press briefing at the time.