Two bills in the Florida state legislature aim at protecting children from Internet porn, but at least one of them could prove problematic when proof becomes involved.
One of the bills, APBNews says, would criminalize posting lewd or lascivious material online that can be viewed by minors. The second would require reporting of computers housing child pornography. Both bills have been approved by the state House Committee on Juvenile Justice.
Sponsors and supporters want to crack down on Internet child porn and stop Webcam sites associated with Net porn and voyeurism, APBNews says.
The "lewd and lascivious" bill would mandate criminal penalties against those transmitting such material over the Net if there's "reason to believe the material will be seen by anyone 16 or younger, the online crime news service continues. Supporters say current law doesn't impose penalties for offenders exhibiting lewd or lascivious acts in "the virtual presence" of a child, rather than in person.
The goal may be cutting down on children seeing Net porn sites, and the bills also include liability for Web administrators or systems people who see child porn on a computer and don't report it. But chief assistant state attorney Jay Plotkin tells APBNews prosecutions might be difficult because many people share computers and various workers might handle a single machine.
He's seconded and then some by assistant criminology professor Cecil Greek at Florida State University. "State-enacted legislation that involves crimes committed via the Internet is likely to create nightmares to actually enforce," Creek tells APBNews. "If the victim and offender are not in the same state, a multi-state investigation will need to be initiated. It might be better to bring these legislative proposals to the national level and get clear definitions acceptable to all states," said Creek.
But that, others suggest, could run potentially into Constitutional issues.
Florida's is just the latest legislative bid to protect children from Net porn. APBNews says West Virginia Gov. Cecil Underwood may issue an executive order to ban online pornography from state offices, schools and public libraries, unless state lawmakers back a bill to eliminate underage access to online pornography, a measure that failed last year. Michigan Attorney General Jennifer Granholm wants all public libraries' computers to be equipped with filtering software, while a South Carolina lawmaker is proposing a bill to hold library officials criminally liable if children see pornography online.
