U.S. federal court overturns anti-child pornography act

By Stevie Smith Oct 25, 2007, 13:00 GMT

Yesterday’s news revealed that online giants AOL, Tiscali, MSN, and Yahoo! are helping to push the exposure of the Internet Watch Foundation’s new hotline, which is designed to help prevent the spread of Internet child pornography. However, any progression inspired by the collaboration could well suffer somewhat of a gut punch today after a U.S. federal appeals court quashed a child pornography law.

According to a report in the Cincinnati Post, a panel of judges at the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati has overturned the 1988 Child Protection and Obscenity Enforcement Act, labelling it as unconstitutional. The court outlined that the law applied restrictions against protected speech through excessive reporting and recording requirements.

Specifically, the law outlines that ‘producers’ of sexually explicit photographs must keep detailed records concerning the individuals depicted during the creation of their sexual content. The court explained that the word ‘producers’ can be interpreted as to include anyone creating material of a sexual nature through video, photography, or computer-based mediums, and offers no provision for those people creating content for strictly personal, non-commercial use.

"We are disappointed in the court’s ruling," commented Justice Department spokesman Charles Miller. "The statute was enacted to protect those who are underage from being used as performers in sexually explicit media. We are currently reviewing the ruling and in the process of determining what the government’s next step will be in this matter."

The court outlined that child abuse is already illegal, and that, through its deliberations, it had to discern whether the law regulated conduct or speech, especially as adult sexual conduct is not illegal and is "constitutionally protected".

Judge Cornelia Kennedy wrote that: "While the government is indeed aiming at conduct, child abuse, it is regulating protected speech, sexually explicit images of adults, to get at that conduct."