FC: Antiporn activists demand end to sex sites, more COPPA problems

[Declan McCullagh <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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