WebProNews

Verizon, Sprint and Time Warner Cable have reached an agreement with New York officials to ban access to child pornography.

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said the Internet service providers will block access to child pornography newsgroups and remove the content from their servers.

The agreements will affect customers in New York and in the rest of the country. Talks are ongoing to get other Internet service providers to adopt the same policy.

"The I.S.P.s' point had been, 'We're not responsible, these are individuals communicating with individuals, we're not responsible,'" Cuomo told the New York Times referring to Internet service providers.

The companies will also pay $1.125 million to help support efforts to rid child porn from the Internet.

"By shutting down offending newsgroups and contributing to funds that will combat child pornography online, we are working to remove this content permanently," said Verizon Deputy General Counsel Tom Dailey.

"No one is saying you're supposed to be the policemen on the Internet, but there has to be a paradigm where you cooperate with law enforcement, or if you have notice of a potentially criminal act, we deem you responsible to an extent," Cuomo said.

"This literally threatens our children, and there can be no higher priority than keeping our children safe."