A Florida mother is appealing a West Palm Beach court ruling that threw out her lawsuit against America Online, whom she says enforces its rules so lackadaisically that it often becomes "a home shopping network for pedophiles and child pornographers."
In arguments before Florida's Supreme Court, the woman's attorney says that, under current court rulings, Internet service providers looking the other way regarding child porn in their chat rooms cannot be sued, regardless of how outrageous their conduct is.
The suit was dismissed both in West Palm Beach and by the 4th U.S. District Court of Appeals. The video in which the woman's son appeared was said to have been shown and peddled five years ago.
Richard Lee Russell pleaded guilty four years ago to federal and state charges from an assault on the boy and a friend in 1994, says the Associated Press. The schoolteacher admitted he used AOL to meet fellow pedophiles and sold the videotape to an Arizona man he met there. He is now serving a 14-year federal prison sentence.
