Judge upholds porn rules - with limits
Records must be kept on performers; chatrooms excluded
Sarah Langbein, Rocky Mountain News
Friday, December 30, 2005
A federal judge in Denver has upheld new guidelines that require the porn industry to keep records on performers, saying the government has a legitimate interest in cracking down on child pornography.
But the ruling, issued late Wednesday, also limited the application of those rules.
U.S. District Judge Walker D. Miller said some of the guidelines were overly broad. As a result, he granted a preliminary injunction preventing the government from enforcing those rules on Internet chatrooms and Web sites that are out of the control of adult pornographers.
What will remain in place are rules that require producers of sexually explicit material to keep records of their performers, including verifying their names and ages. Performers must be 18 years or older.
The Free Speech Coalition, which represents more than 600 people in the pornography industry, filed the lawsuit in federal court this summer, arguing that the new rules violated their clients' First Amendment rights.
On Thursday, the Woodlands, Calif.-based group's spokesman said Miller's ruling "deals a substantial blow to the government regulatory scheme."
"We're pleased with some of it. We're confused with other parts of it," Tom Hymes said.
The group's lawyers were combing through the ruling Thursday afternoon, deciding whether they would ask the judge for clarification.
The group's lawsuit was triggered by revisions in May to the Child Protection and Obscenity Enforcement Act of 1998. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales approved the revised regulations.
The government said the new guidelines were designed to cut down on child pornography, one of Gonzales' top priorities.
Failure to comply could send first-time offenders to prison for five years. The result of a second offense: two to 10 years.
"Child pornographers will be denied access to commercial markets, and everything else will go forward," U.S. Justice Department trial attorney Samuel Kaplan said at a hearing in August.
Calls to the Department of Justice on Thursday were not returned.
langbeins@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-2536
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