Posted on 08/29/2007 4:14:06 PM PDT by wagglebee
A Colorado congresswoman is calling for House Democratic leaders to pass legislation that would close a loophole in federal law that allows pedophiles to view child pornography without downloading it.
Representative Marilyn Musgrave (R-Colorado) is sponsoring a bill that would prohibit the access of child porn. The Child Pornography Elimination Act of 2007 (HR 3148) would also impose mandatory criminal penalties for possession of child porn and increase civil penalties for Internet service providers that fail to report child porn to law enforcement. In addition, it would provide mandatory restitution for child pornography victims.
The congresswoman says the new leadership on Capitol Hill has different priorities, and that protecting children should be their highest priority. "I'm frustrated with leadership, and I hope that they will take action on my bill and a number of other bills that address child porn and these victims who suffer for the rest of their life," says Musgrave.
According to Musgrave, child porn is an "incredibly profitable global enterprise."
"The technical sophistication of these heinous criminals is just staggering," Musgrave observes, "and children who are used in this just hellish industry are just some of the most pitiful victims of abuse and molestation that you would ever see. And you know, unfortunately, around the world in many countries it's not even criminal activity," she says.
The Colorado lawmaker says although current law prohibits the possession, trafficking, or transport of child pornography, the Internet allows pedophiles to view the material without actually downloading or printing it.
Unfortunately, the Demonrats' biggest priority is their own power.
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What about the browser cache?
Also, is hacker interference a defense against such charges? I suspect planting child porn could become a vicious tactic among the most vengeful, if it hasn't already.
Admittedly I have not read this bill, but having seen well-intentioned but poorly-considered and very poorly-written bills at the state level, I'd be a bit concerned.
What does "access" mean? If you click a link purporting to take you to something innocent and you end up with a page of "this" in front of you, does it behoove you to immediately save your browser history and a copy of page of origin for your defense in the ensuing criminal trial?
If somebody (let's say from somewhere outside the country and beyond prosecution) posts "this" on a new thread on FR and I click through before the Admin Gods catch it, am I now a criminal defendant? (And OMG, a Seattle jury would likely call for the death penalty for reading FreeRepublic -- half-kidding.)
Valid points, but I would like to think that the law would have provisions for this.
I’ve wondered this too. If you type in “child pornography” in a browser just to research the term, and actual illegal material comes onto your computer how can you protect yourself? I’ve viewed some pretty wild things on the internet, but I’ve never knowingly sought out illegal material. It seems like there should be a mechanism where a person has to be making a concerted effort to obtain the material KNOWING it is illegal, before you can make a case. Otherwise it seems you could easily entrap a lot of innocent people. Internet porn is a gigantic business and I’m certain that the vast majority of computer users have been exposed to it, willingly or not.
Crap like this is why libertarian and independent/swing voters have completely abandoned the GOP. This Congresscritter wants to pass a redundant law under the guise of protecting the "children." You got Mike Huckabee who wants to ban smoking and make everyone exercise. If the GOP keeps this up they're going to lose even more seats in 2008.
That’s interesting and points to the technological complexity of the matter, as well as broader implications. Why focus on the internet when they don’t control printed child pornographic material? If they can’t stop the creators of that, or the buyers, with a pretty simple distribution system, what a mess they might make trying to control the internet. I do agree, however, that ISP’s cannot abdicate all responsibility as “we just sell a service”, they profit by offering social service and they have a public trust and obligation to see it’s not used to abuse children.
Actually, this sounds like a "filler" bill, one which is designed to "tweak" the present laws already on the books so as to close loopholes, stiffen penalties, etc. If this is the case, then it isn't exactly "redundant".
And opposing child pornography isn't the sort of "nanny statist" it's-for-the-children type of law that you seem to be trying to portray this to be. Are you for child porn? Are libertarians actually so degenerate as to think that it's okay for people to have child porn if they want to, despite the damage it does to these children and their families for the rest of their lives? Your objection sounds to me like it's just more typical liberaltarian bumperstickery - no thought behind the slogans.
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