Ultimately, policing Web is up to individuals

Law enforcement officials say they need the help of the private sector to fight child pornography, but Internet service providers are torn between shielding children from inappropriate material and supporting free speech rights.

Ultimately, it is the responsibility of individuals to obey the law, they say, or in the case of children, the responsibility of parents to supervise them.

"We support the free flow of information. We don't exercise editorial control," said Dan Greenfield, vice president of corporate communications at Internet provider Earthlink.

Earthlink doesn't have people constantly monitoring Web sites, but when workers learn of child pornography abuse through their search engine, they alert the company's lawyers.

Because Earthlink doesn't have its own chat rooms, it uses TalkCity, which can have anywhere from a dozen to hundreds of chat rooms going at any time.

Jenna Woodul, one of that firm's co-founders, said TalkCity tries to monitor its rooms, which come in two varieties: hosted rooms in which people chat about a specific subject and unhosted rooms that people may start up themselves.

Hosts ensure the chats comply with the law, and the interface contains a button that, when clicked, immediately calls for help.

Rooms for younger children must be hosted. Rooms started by kids are "an invitation to pedophiles" and are closed down immediately, Woodul said.

"But that doesn't mean they're always safe," Woodul said. "Kids lie."

Adults lie, too.

"One of the other problems on the Internet is that it's not always easy to find out who these people are. They come in through these masked addresses," Woodul said. "But when we identify the person — and sometimes we can and sometimes we can't — we always give it to the FBI."