Proposed Legislation Will Require Labels for Sex Sites
By: Ericka Rachelle
From AVNOnline
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Senate is proposing a new law that will affect owners and operators of websites that contain sexually explicit content.
According to the bill, known as Stop Adults’ Facilitation of the Exploitation of Youth Act, or Internet Safety Act, sites would have to post warning labels on each offending page; those who fail to comply with the law would face severe prison sentences and fines triple to those that exist within the current law.
The 24-page proposed law concentrates on new penalties related to child pornography and online sexual content. Penalties will be increased from the Justice Department’s original proposal. Site owners failing to comply with the new laws could face up to 15 years in prison for some offenses and up to 20 years for others, including those who knowingly imbed words or images in source codes in an attempt to attract minors into viewing “harmful†content. In addition, ISPs failing to report child pornography sightings on their networks will have to pay $150,000 for the first violation and $300,000 thereafter. Site operators who fail to place “clearly identifiable marks or notices†will also face the 15 year prison sentence.
In a statement, Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) says, “The increase in Internet use has given sexual predators new ways to prey on children. This bill, among other things, is intended to shut down these opportunities, and severely punish the degraded individuals who are involved in the sexual exploitation of our youth.†The senator is one of eight members of the Republican Party who introduced the bill this week.
Due to the broad definitions of what the Internet Safety Act deems as sexually explicit, anything from masturbation to “lascivious exhibition of the pubic area,†many free speech advocates have been quick to criticize the legislation.
“Obviously we are concerned about seemingly punitive laws as this one,†says Tom Hymes, communications director for the Free Speech Coalition. At press time, the FSC was researching the proposed legislation.
One exception to the controversial bill will not require large websites to be labeled if there exists a “small and insignificant part†of sexual content.