May 24, 2000 10:56am
Committee Hearing Reveals Complicity of Justice Dept. In Distribution of Porn to Kids
Source: American Family Association
by: Company Press Release
(WASHINGTON) -- A hearing before the U.S. House Commerce Committee yesterday demonstrated that children are getting obscenity (hard-core pornography) over the Internet while the Justice Department looks the other way.
Several witnesses before the committee complained that children have ready access to obscenity online, but the Clinton Justice Department refuses to enforce existing federal laws against companies that target children. ``By giving a green light to obscenity distributors who target our children, the Clinton Administration is complicit in this evil practice,'' said Patrick Trueman, director of governmental affairs for American Family Association. ``Obscenity distribution to kids is a terrible form of child abuse,'' said Trueman.
Congress amended federal obscenity laws in 1996 to clarify that Internet obscenity is illegal. When pressed by Rep. Chip Pickering (R-MS) to name even one case prosecuted under this law, Clinton Justice Department officials could not name one. Nor could they name one major distributor of Internet obscenity when pressed by the committee. ``The obvious fact is the Clinton Justice Department sides with pornographers rather than children when it comes to the Internet,'' said Trueman.
Patrick Trueman is the former section chief of the Child Exploitation and Obscenity section in the criminal division of the U.S. Justice Department during the Reagan and Bush Administrations.
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