Saying he wants to ensure no minors are used in sexually explicit books, films, magazines, and Websites, Attorney General John Ashcroft called June 14 for tougher records inspections for the adult entertainment industry.
The new proposal would tighten the list of acceptable forms of identification and scrap college ID and Selective Service cards, while also requiring forms of ID be accessible to government agencies to guarantee their legitimacy, according to a published report.
Ashcroft said new guidelines would be finalized following a period of public comment.
"These changes will put teeth into our efforts to ensure that children are not being used as performers in the sexually explicit productions of the media," he told a Washington press conference. "There will be no excuses for anyone who takes part in abusing children for sexually explicit productions."
Free Speech Coalition executive director Kat Sunlove said the group isn't likely to oppose the newly proposed regulations, though she maintained underage actors are not used in adult entertainment. "We don't need to," she told reporters. "There are too many 18-year-olds that knock on the door on their birthday."
The news of the newly proposed rules came as the Justice Department reportedly conceded they had performed no records inspections of the industry in the previous 12 years, despite rules allowing for them, one report said.
House Judiciary Committee chairman Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wisconsin), who appeared at the press conference with Ashcroft, said he applauded the new proposals but said enforcement until now of the existing rules "across administrations from both parties, has been less than stellar, to put it mildly."
