[Barry Crimmins can be contacted at BarCrim@aol.com] Attachment B Correspondence Between Barry Crimmins and America Online 2-2-95 To: the Tosadvisor, Last week I forwarded child pornography to aol that was sent, unsolicited, to me through your service. After 7 days I received a response that told me that even though I was an offended party I had no right to be informed of the actions (if any) that were taken against the criminal who offended me. This is a completely unsatisfactory response. That aside, the problem I have with private rooms is not that I'm harassed in them. I never frequent these rooms except to follow obvious pedophiles into them. My problem is that aol has a policy of suggesting that offensive member rooms become private rooms when the tos advisor shuts them down. I have seen this happen (and have a record of this) when the suggestion was made in a room full of people exchanging child pornography. As far as I'm concerned, this announcement was a formal facilitation of child pornographers by aol. I have written and asked for a clarification and all you suggest is I hit the ignore button. Well ignoring child pornography does not stop its spread, nor does it relieve aol of its responsibilities when its service is being used as a "safe harbor" for such criminals. It took one week to receive a completely unsatisfactory response from aol about these matters. I have tried to give aol a fair chance to take appropriate action or to even say, "Now that you bring that up, perhaps we need a more specific policy about ....", Instead all I received was a corporate suggestion to "ignore" pedophiles. Well I will not bury my head in the sand about this, nor will I be silent about my dissatisfaction with your service. Please let me know who I should address formal journalistic inquiries to at aol and kindly include a telephone number. Thank you. Very truly yours, Barry F. Crimmins 1-29-95 To TOS Staff, I am a journalist as well as a children's rights and safety advocate. I have filed dozens of complaints w/aol about pedophile chat rooms. Lately, to your credit, there has been an improved vigilance by tos staff on these matters. However, I have been sent child pornography without solicitation (when I was just checking out child pic exchange), I forwarded it to aol and never had it acknowledged. Also I cannot complain severely enough about aol's practice of suggesting (when they shut down obvious pedophile rooms) that the occupants continue their endeavor in a private room. This results in the formal sanctioning by aol of "safe harbors" for pedophiles, child pornographers etc. I hope that the piece I'm writing has a happy ending. I hope it is the story of how aol used some of its massive profits to assure itself and the world that the safety and innocence of children are your service's utmost priority. If this is the case please contact me as I think I can be of assistance. Very truly yours, Barry Crimmins Date: Thu, Feb 2, 1995 3:50 PM EST From: TOSAdvisor Subj: Re: Terms Of Service To: [Barry Crimmins] Dear Member: Thanks for reporting the adult graphics file you received. We'll look into it and take the appropriate action. America Online takes the transfer of this material very seriously, and will cooperate with investigations by local, state or federal law enforcement agencies in order to curb this activity. For confidentiality reasons, we cannot disclose information on actions we've taken against other members, however, the resources available to us include written warnings and account termination. If the situation merits, we may bring charges against the senders. Actions within a private room do not fall under the jurisdiction of the Terms of Service. We strongly suggest that if you are being harassed by someone in a private room, you use the "ignore" button to block their dialogue from your screen. Regards, Terms of Service Staff America Online, Inc. Date: Wed, Feb 8, 1995 5:26 PM EST From: PHYPOLITE Subj: Re: pic To: [Barry Crimmins] Dear Mr. Crimmons: Thanks very much for forwarding this information to me. While policy does not allow me to relay the exact status of another member's account to you, please know that I have taken appropriate action against the sender. AOL has zero tolerance for any exploitation of children on our service, and I'm sure you are aware that we take very strong steps to respond to these activities, once they are brought to our attention. I have also taken the liberty of forwarding your email to our Corporate Communications Department, so that they are allowed the opportunity to address your concerns as they relate to media. Again, thank you for your interest in upholding AOL's community standards, and if you have any further questions or comments, please be sure to write again. Best Regards Pete Hypolite Manager, Terms of Service America Online, Inc. Date: Fri, Feb 10, 1995 10:18 AM EST From: PamMcGraw Subj: Online experience To: [Barry Crimmins] Hi, I'm Pam McGraw, Director of Media Relations for AOL. The issue of child pornography was addressed in a January letter from Steve Case (keyword: letter). If you have any additional questions regarding child pornography on AOL, please contact me directly. Regards, Pam McGraw Date: Sun, Feb 12, 1995 4:27 AM EST From: [Barry Crimmins] Subj: Perp rooms To: PamMcGraw cc: PHYPOLITE, Steve Case, Spiker M (Note I couldn't even get system to accept this guide page- got "Your message could not be addressed. Try again later "I have for 40 minutes. Not one of these rooms has been removed in the interim.) Dear AOL Officials, There seems to be no improvement with these type of rooms, no matter how many complaints and reassurances. The guide pagers are not getting the job done. I in no way am questioning AOL's intentions but as these two scrolls of chat rooms 4 hours apart indicate, there is a serious problem that has yet to be resolved. The offending rooms at 4am 2-12-95 in the guide pager report that "could not be addressed": Incest, Child pornography, pedophilia, rape etc. Promoted in these rms (some were reported 4+hrs ago) - Vyung fmpics, Daddy, dadsn daughters, Hot4 auntie, Boy 4 Big Brother, Family fun, M4m Jr High only, personal teen pics, Ynggirl14mom, trading teen pics, Luv hairy boys m4m, Dad nds hot yngr f, under 15, Yngm iso daddy, iso yng girl, boys in undies pics, Rape fantasy, forcd fantasy forF, Daddys home lil girl. Thank you for prompt attn. cc/ P.Hypolite, P Mcgraw, S.Case Date: Sun, Feb 12, 1995 11:18 PM EST From: [Barry Crimmins] Subj: Aol pedophile policy To: PamMcGraw Dear Pam, Thank you for your letter. I have been on-line for dozens and dozens of hours researching on-line pedophiles. It is rare for there to be less than ten rooms that are serious problems. If I had to put a figure on it I would say the average number of offending chat rooms per scroll is at least 15. There have been times lately when there are only three or four of these rooms but there has never been 24 straight hours when the problem hasn't risen to previous levels. Although it seems to me that some sincere efforts are being made by AOL, much more needs to be done. I am going to be writing and/or producing a story about this situation. I would prefer that it be the story of how AOL is truly setting standards not only as the best on-line service but the most conscientious. From the thoughtful notes I received from both you and Mr. Hypolite, I know that there are people in authority at AOL who are willing to make that happen. I have many, many documents that verify what is going on in the chat rooms. I have been sent child pornography on six occasions. I also have a considerable amount of correspondence with AOL guides, advisors etc. that illustrate a rather naive approach to dealing with this problem. I would be glad to make portions of this material available to AOL in hopes that it would increase awareness about the problem of pedophiles on-line. I also have a number of suggestions that may be helpful as AOL revamps the procedure for closing these offensive rooms. I would like to speak to you about these matters as soon as possible. I can be reached at**********. I will also try to call you at AOL. Thank you for your time. Very truly yours, Barry F. Crimmins Hypolite and Mcgraw read the ?s 2-15-95 @ 1 pm est- response pending This last email seems great until you receive it from three different guies in a 2 week period Date: Tue, Feb 14, 1995 10:54 PM EST From: Guide JAL Subj: Re: Guide Pager To: [Barry Crimmins] Thank you for the Guide Pager notice! Room names such as the one you are referring to are created by members. Room names are scanned on a regular basis, but rooms at one end of the list are freqently recreated by the time the other end of the Rooms list is reached. The TOS staff is currently in the process of revamping the procedure for closing such rooms so that this problem can be better handled. If you have any questions or comments regarding a specific room name, you can contact the Terms of Service staff via Keyword: TOS, or by selecting the Terms of Service option from PC Studio (either the PC Studio icon on chat screens, or Keyword: PC Studio). Thank you for your understanding. :) Guide JAL Attachment C Questions from Barry Crimmins to America Online Sent: 95-02-14 Dear Pam, I in no way want to ambush anyone I speak to about this story (except of course pedophiles). So here are some of the questions I will be looking to have answered: 1- What is AOL's assessment of the problem of on-line pedophiles? 2- In a letter from a Tos guide, I was informed that AOL is "revamping its procedure" for closing offensive rooms. If true, what does this procedure entail? 3- Has AOL brought in any consultants who are experts on pedophiles? If so, who? 4- Has AOL ever considered segregating "adult chat rooms"? (For example nobody with a profile that says they are a minor is permitted) 5- Would AOL consider creating a different chat area for teens? 6- Does AOL realize that if abuse survivors want to search for a chat room to discuss their lives with other survivors, they are often subjected to scrolling through any number of rooms that celebrate sexual abuse? 7- Just recently AOL stopped suggesting that participants in offensive rooms, closed for TOS violations, consider just moving their gathering in a private room. Why and when was this policy changed? Why was it ever in place? 8- Is it possible for AOL to restrict access to certain areas to any account (not screen name but entire accounts) that has been used repeatedly to participate in obvious pedophile chat rooms? 9- Would AOL consider giving a cyber-hub (if that's what you call it) to a consortium of pro-child non-profit organizations? 10- Would AOL consider placing an Email address for the FBI on its service so that people, sent illegal files (child pornography in particular), could instantly transfer them to the federal authorities? 11-How is the AOL on-line staff selected and trained? Are these people all paid employees? 12-Why doesn't AOL have the equivalent of broadcasting's "kill switch"? In other words as soon as someone creates a room it would have to get through AOL's "goalie". If it is in obvious violation of TOS it is closed before it opens. 13- How does AOL feel about its service being misused to the point where it has become an integral part in a network of child pornographers? 14- In the past AOL has assured users that it could handle the burgeoning problem of on-line pedophiles "in-house". However the incidence of such criminal activity has grown dramatically in the past year. What changes in policy, implementation etc., has AOL adopted to transform current assurances into a workable and consistent program of enforcement of your services own TOS policies? 15- How many AOL staffers are currently assigned to policing member created rooms? How many worker hours per week does this entail? 16- What is AOL's take on the Baker BBS Rape fantasy case in Michigan? 17-Some legislators are already looking into on-line abuses. Does AOL expect the government to get involved in the regulation of on-line services? I am certain that in the course of any interviews I conduct, several extemporaneous questions will also occur. I hope that this advance list will be considered as a show of good-faith on my part. I am also sending Mr. Hypolite a copy of this letter because I feel many of the questions are about matters that are under his jurisdiction. Thank you for your time. Very truly yours, Barry F. Crimmins Attachment D America Online's Response to Questions Posed by Barry F. Crimmins Sent: 95-02-21 09:46:20 EST Dear Barry, Thanks for your letter pertaining to the problem of pedophiles online. I hope the following answers clearly indicate where America Online stands on this issue and what is being done to combat the trafficking of child pornography on the service. Throughout these answers we refer to TOS -- Terms of Service -- which are guidelines for using the AOL service. I trust you are aware of these and you can access TOS by using keyword: TOS. 1. AOL has been forthright about the issue both with its members and with law enforcement agencies (see Steve Case letter dated 1/695). Unfortunately, the gravity of such offenses can sometimes leave the mistaken impression that they are much more commonplace than is true. With more than 2 million subscribers - the largest online service in the U.S. - the number of pedophiles using America Online represents a tiny fraction of our member community. | 2. America Online is considering a number of tools to make the jobs of TOS and AOL Guides easier. However, at this point in time, it would be premature to discuss the details. 3. Child pornography is illegal. When the transmission of child pornography through private communications is brought to AOL's attention, once it is deemed illegal, the proper authorities are notified. 4. America Online expects all members to follow its TOS guidelines. To segregate rooms based on behavior in those rooms would imply that AOL sanctions different rules and regulations for different rooms. AOL has one community and one set of rules for the members of that community. 5. There is an area on AOL for teenagers called "Teen Chat" in the People Connection. 6. While we are aware that there are chat rooms that offend the sensibilities of some of our members, unless the rooms violate TOS we cannot remove them from the service. If the rooms, as you suggest, "celebrate sexual abuse," TOS should be notified and the offending rooms will be removed. 7. Rooms terminated for TOS violations are removed from the service. TOS may suggest members create private rooms in instances where participants are scrolling or otherwise creating a nuisance and disturbing other members. 8. If a member violates TOS, he or she may be warned or, depending on the severity of the infraction, be removed from the service. 9. AOL has conducted a number of conversations with various non-profit organizations, some of them dealing with children's welfare. 10. Members who receive illegal information through the service can forward that information to TOS and, if it is deemed illegal, the proper authorities are notified. 11. Members of the TOS staff are internal, paid employees who are trained in TOS rules and procedures. AOL Guides are remote volunteers who use overhead accounts. They are also trained by TOS staff and are screened before becoming Guides. 12. Online is a real-time, interactive service. America Online is considering a number of tools to make the jobs of TOS and AOL Guides easier. 13. While we acknowledge such activities do take place, with more than 2 million members they are the exception rather than the rule. 14. While the number of such incidents may be going up in your eyes, so is the number of AOL members. We have added more than 500,000 members since December alone. Child pornography is illegal. When the transmission of child pornography through private communications is brought to AOL's attention, once it is deemed illegal, the proper authorities are notified. We've had a growing problem with member-created rooms whose title and discussion violate our Terms of Service. As more and more members abuse the privilege and establish rooms that suggest illegal activity, or detract from the enjoyment of others with offensive titles, we are faced with looking at a higher level of safeguards as it relates to member-created rooms. America Online is considering a number of tools to make the jobs of TOS and AOL Guides easier. 15. AOL staffs its service 24 hours a day and staffs according to growth. 16. AOL does not comment on specific cases. 17. Overall, the online services industry is a making concerted effort to police their own services. I hope these answers have been of assistance. Regards, Pam McGraw Attachment E Member Room Titles Found on AOL Some of these rooms seem innocent, but I have checked, and believe me, they are all frequented by pedophiles and traffickers in child pornography: Vyung fmpics Daddy dadsn daughters Hot4 auntie Boy 4 Big Brother incest is best Family fun M4m Jr High only personal teen pics Ynggirl14mom trading teen pics Luv hairy boys m4m Dad nds hot yngr f under 15 Yngm iso daddy iso yng girl boys in undies pics Rape fantasy forcd fantasy forF Daddys home lil girl Raunchy ynf f pics hairless little vulvas preschoolgyfs young teen pics preteen pic exchange teen snatch pics I do dghtr Rape Teen F polaroids y male pic trade found pics of sis For cool 10 to 13 yr teens 12 to 14 Hott teen fuc pics Momdadsisbro teen bottomless beach Bif25isotngteenf yngxpics dremz of little girls dadys personal pics incest dau Boyjpg yng fem oic trade Son4mom Rape fantasies teen masterbation ym 4m everseendad m4vryyngmpics ISOyngfempics family is incest preteens in bikinis Dad took pics Likes em under 12 brothers and sisters girl undershirt pics Have hot stepdaughter girls underwear pics wntd pubescent foto teenm who mastrb teen porno Jr high girls pix Preteen action gyfs Aunts and nephews parntsanddghtr need mommy to teach son teenpcc trade plus teen incest stories Daddy and son daadys lil girl yf pic bartering Daddy plays with son Teen pics of girls Pregggiiifffsssteen gm14 and 12 doin it parents who paddle Yoouuunngteen m inohio under16 snaps Family affairs Jr High gxxixxfxxs Gay sons 4 gay dad bear ny16old 4 ny 11old sex Crpl punsh at home daugher nds training My sis caught me child pooorn pedochattandgifff Dads4 sons incest for 6 gradersonly PREtty TEENPIC TRADE PREtty TEEN GYYYFS PREtty TEEN BOY ACTION PICS very pretean gyfs Yxnxgxpxixtxrxaxdxex1 There are dozens room names more that I will make available upon request. In the last few months AOL's software must be catching some more stuff because most of the rooms are now spelled incorrectly or employ the x-device. 1 note: this is the new device -- putting an x between every letter of the room title, this one says "yng pic trade." Mr.Crimmins may be reached by email at the following address: barcrim@aol.com End