“Both the Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have taken the position that child pornography is so outrageous that all the resources available should be devoted to fighting child pornography…”

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I flew into Washington on the heels of the final presidential debate for a program entitled “Tools and Strategies for Protecting Kids From Pornography on the Internet And The Applicability To Other Inappropriate Content.” The National Research Council is an arm of the renowned National Academy of Sciences operating as a committee of Congress. The Chair of the conference was Richard Thornburgh who served as President Bush’s Attorney General.

The three day program covered a range of panels and closed door sessions on topics such as filtering from an ISP’s perspective on Thursday, to a panel of adult entertainment industry representatives which included J.T. Edmond of Flying Crocodile, Danny Ash of Danny’s Harddrive, Gloria Leonard, President of Free Speech Coalition, of which I am a board member, and Gerard Von Der Lughn of Penthouse, on Friday. Due to my case load I was only able to break away for one day, but felt compelled to attend Wednesday’s panels which were entitled: “Understanding the Obscenity Statutes.”

The first panel dealt with governmental perspectives featuring lawyers from the Department of Justice, Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section as well as representatives from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Of course, this panel was meeting just two days prior to the release of the COPA report, which called for an increase in obscenity prosecutions on the Internet. With the election just around the corner, there was more change in the air than just the colors of the leaves.

“Both the Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have taken the position that child pornography is so outrageous that all the resources available should be devoted to fighting child pornography…”

The lawyers for the Justice Department, the FBI agent, and the lawyer for National Center for Missing and Exploited Children all spoke of their concerns, resources, and priorities. Both the Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have taken the position that child pornography is so outrageous that all the resources available should be devoted to fighting child pornography and that there is still significant child pornography going on despite their efforts. Former Attorney General Thornburgh asked if it was simply a matter of resources and attempted to make the representatives for the Justice Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation admit that they were under-funded to prosecute obscenity on the Internet. While both the Department of Justice and FBI repeatedly defended themselves for a lack of federal obscenity prosecutions, they espoused the position that it was a priority and not just a matter of resources.

I felt really good after hearing the viewpoints of these gentlemen who seem to be very zealous in protecting children from being utilized for child pornography or being victims of sexual predators over the Internet, but not being overzealous when it comes to adults viewing adult material. On the other hand, Terry Lord, the head of the Child Protection and Obscenity Enforcement Unit for the Justice Department indicated that they are currently in the process of making 15-20 obscenity cases targeting violent materials and bestiality. Of course, the Justice Department announced that their research shows that there are only twenty something reported decisions in the 1\’\’0’s involving the prosecution of obscenity on the federal level. More important, however, is that when a new president is elected, new people will be chosen to fill these positions.

“Both the Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have taken the position that child pornography is so outrageous that all the resources available should be devoted to fighting child pornography…”

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