The following press release was received from anti-porn group Morality in Media (MiM):
WASHINGTON, D.C.—News that the first hard-core porn company is now in business on the .xxx domain caused Morality in Media today to call for an investigation of ICM Registry, the company behind the .xxx domain, for possible violations of federal laws prohibiting distribution of hard-core obscene Internet pornography.
"Title 18 United States Code Sections 1462 and 1465 prohibit distribution of hardcore, obscene Internet pornography. Yet, isn't that the purpose of the .xxx domain?" asked Patrick A. Trueman, President of Morality in Media and former chief of the U.S. Department of Justice Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Criminal Division in Washington, D.C.
"Further, Title 18 U.S.C. Section 2 prohibits aiding and abetting a federal crime and title 18 U.S.C. 371 prohibits a conspiracy to commit a federal crime. The U. S. Attorney General, Eric Holder, should review the activities of ICM Registry in relation to these federal criminal laws immediately," said Trueman.
"The establishment of a .xxx domain will do nothing but increase the spread of Internet porn," said Trueman. "In fact, ICM has recently indicated that they have nearly one million 'expressions of interest' for new XXX sites. Yet not one porn company has announced plans to close its .com site to relocate to the XXX domain," Trueman said.
Pornography is causing grave social costs which are documented at www.PornHarms.com.
"Will Attorney General Holder stand by and watch this pandemic of harm continue to spiral when he has laws at his disposal that can be enforced against this destructive material? We take this opportunity to urge him to vigorously enforce federal obscenity laws against major online commercial distributors of hard-core adult pornography and those who aid and abet its distribution," said Trueman.
"If Attorney General Holder won't investigate ICM Registry now, we will press the next attorney general to do so," said Trueman. "This issue will never go away for ICM Registry or for Internet pornographers who attempt to hide their criminal activities behind the .xxx domain."
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To be fair, of course, it should be pointed out that, despite MiM's incessant claims, not all hardcore content is "obscene," and it is clearly NOT the purpose of ICM Registry's .xxx domain to "distribut[e] ... hardcore, obscene Internet pornography," nor to "aid and abet" nor to engage in a "conspiracy to commit" a federal crime; i.e., distribution of "obscene" material.
There is apparently also some question as to whether ICM actually has "nearly one million 'expressions of interest' for new .xxx sites," and should the Justice Department decide to take MiM up on its suggestion, perhaps that figure will be clarified.
And of course, the "grave social costs" attendant to "pornography" are largely in the imaginations of MiM and its followers—but if Republicans are successful in unseating President Obama in the next election, that "next attorney general" that MiM hopes will investigate both ICM Registry and every adult content producer in the country may arrive sooner than any adult industry member or supporter expects.
