Amy Klobuchar Discusses Legislation To Remove CSAM From Online Platforms And Websites

4 days ago

At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing prior to the Congressional recess, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) spoke to witnesses about efforts to curb CSAM online.

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00:00Questions all right the floor is yours. Thanks for being here. Thank you all and thank you very much

00:08Miss signs for your story and for being willing to come forward

00:14Do you believe that we need to put in place mechanisms to require online platforms to immediately take down

00:21non-consensual in and intimate images

00:24Thank You senator

00:25I absolutely do agree as I mentioned in my testimony earlier

00:29What happens if we're if my photos were to be publicly posted again?

00:34Do I think that big tech would have my back and immediately take it down? No, never

00:39I don't so we absolutely need this in place. So companies as soon as they see these images, they're immediately taken down

00:48That saves the victim a lot of shame

00:51Imagine you are back in middle school or you're back in high school and now everybody has a cell phone

00:57You can get on the web at any time. You can screenshot screen record share it

01:01Those images aren't just circulating by the predators online. They're circulating through these children's schools

01:07Yes, exactly, and I thank my colleagues for their work on this important bill. I actually wanted to ask about an additional bill. Mr

01:16Mr. Tonego and that is

01:18Both senator Cornyn and I have the shield act and senator Cruz and I have a take it down act

01:23which was actually referred to at the State of the Union and

01:28The first lady has done a press event

01:31Supporting the bill in your risk written testimony

01:34You called for the codification of a notice and takedown regime in federal law as you know

01:40these bills create a mechanism through

01:43Which platforms are required to remove sexual abuse materials from their sites and

01:48It is unanimously the takedown act has unanimously passed shield act passed. Why is it so important that Congress pass into?

01:57Law a requirement that platforms permanently remove sexual abuse imagery from the internet

02:03Well, thank you so much of that question

02:05I think we've heard from a very brave survivor today about the harm

02:11That is that is done to survivors when their abuse material

02:15continues to circulate online and I think it shouldn't be the

02:19responsibility of survivors to have to scour the internet looking for

02:25Images and videos of their abuse and then repeatedly requesting companies to take it down. I think once they have

02:33Asked a company to take down their CSAM

02:36The company should absolutely do and there should be a law that requires them to do it so that it's not voluntary

02:41But after that that company is on notice

02:44they know that that image or that video is known CSAM and they can use technology to prevent the

02:52Recirculation and re-uploading of that image ever again, and that's what should be required of them. Okay

02:58Thank you. Mr. Schiller the US Attorney's Office in Minnesota has prioritized

03:04Combating child sexual exploitation online

03:07in fact

03:07Just last month after an investigation with federal law enforcement the Minnesota Bureau of criminal and prehension and the Winona County Sheriff's Office

03:16Man was sentenced to 27 years in prison after targeting more than 60 young girls

03:22Primarily between ages 9 and 12 in an online

03:26extortion scheme based on your experience as a former a USA

03:30What are the most effective tools that prosecutors currently have to stop the sexual exploitation of kids online?

03:37And what are the biggest challenges?

03:40Well, thank you very much senator

03:43This Congress and past Congress's have given us wonderful tools when it comes to

03:48laws punishing

03:50Online offenders we have minimum mandatories. We have online exploitation

03:57Communities that we can prosecute and we've got great criminal statutes to do that, but that's only one side of it

04:03We need other tools and to be honest with you the stop CSAM Act gives us some of those other tools

04:08For example, I've had cases where I've had children who were abused by their parents

04:15Or by other people who are guarding them

04:19They have no guard at all

04:21So we had to get them a guardian ad litem that becomes a difficult process

04:24When the courts have no funding for it, the courts are already strapped as it is financially

04:29So this bill gives them that funding and guarantees those children that protection and one other thing that we heard earlier from. Mr

04:35Tanaka is having a fiduciary if we have victims outside of our country or

04:41incapacitated victims

04:42They need to be able to maintain that restitution when it is finally awarded to them and this bill again does that for them?

04:48Okay, thank you. Mr. Pizarro last question here and I did have some questions on reporting of you miss the lawn

04:54But I think senator Blackburn took care of those. So

04:58Mr. Pizarro

04:59Could you tell me why it's so important to open the courtroom?

05:03Doors and reform section 230 for those who suffer harms like the two boys who you described in your testimony

05:10Well, like the reality is is that again? We've talked about this a while. There's not any penalties, right?

05:17so until there are penalties and

05:19People have their time in court for that victimization. How are we going to protect them?

05:24And ultimately that's what companies understand. They understand as long as it's not going to cost them. It's a business decision

05:32Ultimately that is going what's going to happen and ultimately that's what needs to happen

05:38Thank you. And I think the two leaders up here with me as well. Thank you. Thanks all of you. I

05:42I think we've got senator

Amy Klobuchar Discusses Legislation To Remove CSAM From Online Platforms And Websites

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