A new piece of legislation, the Child Pornography and Obscenity
Prevention Amendments of 2006, was sent by the Bush administration
to Congress the same day. It primarily seeks to protect children
and target those who prey upon them, but other elements were
criticised today by an industry body that battles for free
speech.
In his address to the National Center for Missing and Exploited
Children, Gonzales gave a graphic description of some of the
criminal evidence his office has seized to justify the need for
tighter laws. "I think it's time to deliver a wake-up call about
the true nature and the scope of this criminal activity, the depth
of the depravity, and the harm being inflicted upon innocent
children," he said.
The full details of the new law had not been revealed at the
time of writing. Gonzales said it will help ensure that
ISPs report
the presence of child porn on their systems by strengthening the
penalties for failing to report it. But this appears to stop short
of requiring ISPs to monitor their systems. Instead, according to
an accompanying Department of Justice statement, "the legislation
would triple the current criminal fines levied against providers
for knowing and wilful failures to report, making the available
fines $150,000 for the initial violation and $300,000 for each
subsequent violation."
Warning labels will be required on every page of legal adult
porn sites. The detail of this requirement was not revealed. In
addition, the legislation would prohibit such sites "from initially
displaying sexually explicit material without further action, such
as an additional click, by the viewer." There is some ambiguity in
the Department's statement: does every page require an additional
click – or just the homepage?
The legislation will also ban porn sites from hiding innocuous
terms in their code or meta tags so that a search for common terms
yields links to the porn site. The law would prohibit an individual
from knowingly acting with the intent to deceive another into
viewing obscene material, and also prohibits an individual from
knowingly acting with the intent to deceive a minor into viewing
material harmful to the minor.
The Internet Content Rating Association (ICRA), an industry body
that works to protect children from objectionable material while
preserving free speech on the internet, welcomed the measures to
protect children; but "vigorously opposed" the Government-mandated
labelling system.
"ICRA strongly believes that self-regulation of legal internet
content leads to the best balance between the free flow of digital
content and the protection of children from potentially harmful
material," said CEO Stephen Balkam today. He warned that US-based
servers will simply move offshore, "to avoid this well intentioned,
but fatally flawed law."
ICRA's self-labeling system is applicable in any language.
Parents can use filtering software to allow or disallow access to
websites based on the information declared in the label. "A
nationally mandated system like the one proposed today for sites
with sexually explicit material cannot guarantee international
compliance," added Balkam.
Disclaimer: We hope you find OUT-LAW’s content useful. It’s prepared by the lawyers at Pinsent Masons. Please remember, though, that it’s intended as general information only. It’s not legal advice. If that’s what you’re seeking, please
contact us. See also: our
full disclaimer
