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------- Forwarded message follows ------- Date sent: Wed, 24 May 2000 07:22:26 -0400 To: politech@vorlon.mit.edu From: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com> Subject: FC: Antiporn activists demand end to sex sites, more COPPA problems Send reply to: declan@well.com
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,36525,00.html
Antiporn Activists Lobby for Laws by Declan McCullagh (declan@wired.com)
3:00 a.m. May. 24, 2000 PDT WASHINGTON -- These are trying times for anti-porn activists.
A federal judge has barred the Justice Department from prosecuting most sex sites, the Communications Decency Act has been overturned, and this week the Supreme Court struck down a cable TV sex-scrambling law.
But that didn't stop anti-porn advocates from descending on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, lurid printouts in hand, to demand that something be done about raunch and ribaldry on the Internet.
"I'm here to make an appeal for you to do anything and everything that is possible to hinder this horrible industry," said Joseph Burgin, a self-proclaimed ex-porn addict who said smut was to blame for his divorce and $100,000 in legal fees. Burgin said that sex sites had made his "addiction" even more terrible.
To the Republicans who control the House Commerce telecommunications subcommittee, Burgin's tale of woe provided ample evidence that prurience had run amok -- and the Clinton administration was to blame.
"Frankly, I think the Justice Department's record on prosecuting obscenity and indecency on the Internet is appalling," said Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-Louisiana), the subcommittee chairman.
[...]
Janet LaRue, senior director of legal studies at the Family Research Council, claimed that perverts can view porn in public libraries, and more obscenity prosecutions would solve that problem.
"What we're asking is that the existing obscenity laws be enforced," LaRue said. "If this is the case, then we believe the other problems will take care of themselves."
LaRue tried to introduce as evidence a series of JPEGs she downloaded to show panel members how explicit some of the sites were.
Tauzin, the subcommittee chair, hesitated and said he didn't know whether it was appropriate to accept as evidence material that might be deemed obscene by the very laws that they were there to debate. After conferring with the subcommittee's attorney, Tauzin said he could accept the material but not let anyone else make copies.
[...]
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-1810683.html
ICQ shuts out adults posing as children By Patricia Jacobus Staff Writer, CNET News.com May 4, 2000, 4:00 a.m. PT
It may be acceptable to lie about your age at a cocktail party, but don't try it with America Online's popular ICQ instant messaging service. In response to a tough new online child privacy law that went into effect two weeks ago, ICQ is forcing members under the age of 13 to forfeit their accounts. That's not just tough luck for real kids; the policy also is causing headaches for some adults who, for whatever reason, registered with fake birth dates. Those who tried to pass themselves off as younger than 13 have been shut out of ICQ and some other Web services until they can prove they're old enough to play without mom's or dad's permission.
[...]
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