Domain name registrars are being brought into the fight against child pornography in the United States, with registrars being included among those required to report child pornography. Failure to do so will be a federal crime.

The bill is one of several in legislation that was passed 418-8 on Friday, that included a proposal by Sen. Charles Schumer that will "require more electronic service providers to report online child pornography and make failure to report known child pornography a federal crime," reports AP.

"Currently, Internet service providers are required to report child pornography to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The legislation would expand those companies with reporting obligations to include search engines such as Google and Yahoo!, social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace, domain name registrars and wireless phone carriers.

"These companies would not be required to monitor Web sites, but the legislation would triple fines for knowing failure to report child pornography."

To read the AP report in full, see www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/7831093 or www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/26/AR2008092602437.html.