House panel passes Internet decency bill

Last year the Supreme court struck down the 1996 Communications Decency Act, Congress' attempt to limit youth access, as too broad and likely to keep such material from adults who have a right to see it.

Rep. Mike Oxley, (R-Ohio) chief sponsor of the bill, said the measure limiting access by people under 17 can survive a court challenge because it is a "more reasonable product" than the 1996 law.

The House Commerce subcommittee on telecommunications, trade and consumer protection approved the bill by voice vote and sent it to the full committee for further review.

The Senate passed a version sponsored by Sen. Dan Coats (R-Ind) as part of the 1999 spending bill for the departments of Commerce, Justice and State.

Oxley's House bill would require operators of commercial adult Websites to limit access by minors. Internet service providers would escape liability for adult-oriented material they do not produce, but they would be required to inform consumers about devices available commercially to block children's access to material "harmful to minors."

According to the bill, the phrase means any communication, picture, image, article, recording, writing or other matter of any kind that an average person applying contemporary community standards would find is designed to appeal to the "prurient interest."

Violators could face civil and criminal penalties. The bill said access to such Web sites could be controlled by requiring use of a credit card, debit account or adult personal identification number, among other methods.

Oxley said "common sense" and more than 40 years of research into child development have shown that exposure to sexually explicit images cause significant harm to children.

"It is our responsibility to protect young people from the corrosive, debasing effects of the voluminous graphic adult content readily available on the World Wide Web," he said.

Rep. Rick White (R-Wash) cautioned against giving the public a false sense of security that government can solve the problem. "That will never be the case," he said.

Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Calif) said pornographic Internet sites originating outside of the United States would not be covered by the bill. "Enacting a criminal scheme that doesn't get at the problem is more government and less relief than our parents and kids are entitled to," he said.

An Internet civil liberties organization, the Center for Democracy and Technology, also weighed in with criticism that the bill as constitutionally flawed and ineffective.

"Ultimately, parents are the best people to protect kids online," said Alan Davidson, staff counsel for the organi

09-18-98