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FC: "Child modeling" bill would instead censor commercial photography

------- Forwarded message follows ------- Date sent: Thu, 9 May 2002 10:25:11 -0400 From: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com> To: politech@politechbot.com Subject: FC: "Child modeling" bill would instead censor commercial photography Send reply to: declan@well.com

Text of the Foley-Lampson "child modeling" bill: http://www.politechbot.com/docs/foley.child.exploitation.bill.050902.pdf

Rep. Foley's press release: http://www.gop.gov/item-news.asp?N=20020507140831

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http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,52379,00.html

Too Broad a Ban on Child Models? By Declan McCullagh

2:00 a.m. May 9, 2002 PDT WASHINGTON -- A new bill in Congress designed to outlaw child-sex websites would instead ban nearly all commercial photography of minors.

Rep. Mark Foley (R-Florida) announced the proposal would ban websites featuring controversial images of nude preteen children. "These websites are nothing more than a fix for pedophiles," Foley said.

He said there has been a disturbing increase of websites with names like "Sunny Lolitas," that show off prepubescent girls playing with stuffed animals or stretched out pin-up style against hot red backgrounds. His press release says pedophiles pay to see photos and video clips of the children in sexually suggestive poses.

But -- whoops! -- that's not what his bill (PDF) actually covers.

Five legal scholars contacted by Wired News said that Foley's proposal, cosponsored by Rep. Nick Lampson (D-Texas) and touted at a press conference on Monday, is so broadly written that it would imperil perfectly innocent photography and videography of children and teenagers.

In addition to prohibiting commercial photography of anyone under 17 years old, their bill would make it a federal felony for stock photo houses like Corbis or Getty Images to license images of minors from their catalogs -- a billion-dollar industry -- or for news photographers to sell images of minors.

James Mitchell, associate general counsel for Corbis, said the Child Modeling Exploitation Prevention Act, or CMEPA, would "negatively impact the industry" and likely violates the First Amendment's guarantees of freedom of speech.

[...]

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