Call Goes Out for Feds to Crack Down on Proliferation of Web Porn
by James L. Lambert
January 14, 2005
(AgapePress) - The daughter of a well-known pornographer says the DOJ needs to make a concerted effort to prosecute owners of websites that promote sexual relations between adults and children. And a former FBI investigator says if something is not done in the next four years to curb illegal obscenity, it may never get done.Tonya Flynt-Vega, daughter of Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt, is sickened by the thousands of websites on the Internet that promote and display child-adult sex. Unlike her father, Flynt-Vega is very much opposed to the porn industry. She understands the negative effects porn has on the minds and habits of many Americans. But through her spiritual commitment to Jesus Christ, Flynt-Vega has been freed from her own past struggles caused by pornography.
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Tonya Flynt-Vega |
According to Flynt-Vega, pornographers always look for new ways to stretch norms and push the cultural envelope. A clear example of this is the "Taboo" video series introduced to the public in the late 1980s and early 1990s. These popular movies, which chronicled incest relationships between family members, were rented and sold in video stores across America.Today, this form of perverse sexuality is found on the Internet -- not with actors, but with teens. It is more extreme and features real children and real adults. There are hundreds of websites that specifically promote incest. Including other sites that actively promote and show child-adult sex, such sites on the Internet number in the thousands.
"Portals" -- Internet entry ways or access -- for these sites are often promoted by mainstream hard-core porn websites, or websites that serve as advertisers for these perverse sites. All the user has to do is to find what type of fantasy he or she may be looking for and then transfer from one hyperlink to another. It is a tragedy that often these sites offer free unrestricted "teaser" pictures in their attempt to attract new viewers. Internet pornographers know full well that their type of "drug" is addictive. They know that the more erotic the site, the greater the possibility viewers will come back for more.
Now or Never?
Flynt-Vega believes that the Department of Justice's prosecution of this type of material will only come about when concerned citizens express their outrage to officials who have the clout to actually do something about it. A portion of the DOJ's own mission statement declares that justice "is focused on waging an aggressive battle to protect children from individuals who use computers ...." The statement continues, saying the Department's attorneys "provide proposals for prosecution [of] obscenity for federal prosecutors."
Flynt-Vega and many pro-family advocates think this has not been the case during the last four years. She says it is time for the Justice Department to send a clear warning to these obscene purveyors of porn and hold them legally accountable. "Incest, child-adult sex and the like are clearly illegal and ... should be prosecuted by the Department of Justice immediately," says Flynt-Vega.
The proliferation of material focusing on child-adult sex highlights other problems as well. As the Canadian group Citizens Against Sexual Exploitation (CASE) reports, "In June of 2001, a study by the American Medical Association stated that 20% of children who use the Internet are targets of online sexual solicitations." Toronto police authorities report from their own metropolitan data that 42 percent of adults, who collect imagery showing child and child-adult pornography, will at some point sexually abuse children themselves. Anti-porn warriors like Flynt-Vega realize that when the culture is so saturated by smut peddlers who defend and promote child-adult sex, the society as a whole is denigrated.
Former FBI agent William P. Kelly believes anti-porn advocates are in the midst of a "real guard action" against the pornography industry. But prosecutions against the porn industry during the second term of George W. Bush, he says, are critical.
"If we [as a society] do not soon make some progress, we will not be able to keep these barbarians from completely coming over the walls of our civilization," he warns.
Kelly, who testified against the porn industry during the 1986 Federal Report on Pornography, believes "if progress is not made against adult obscenity in the next few years, the struggle to [limit and restrict] the industry will be [forever] lost."
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Paul McGuire |
Cracking Down on Porn Spam
Flynt-Vega agrees -- and so does Southern California syndicated radio talk-show host Paul McGuire. The radio veteran says he is particularly upset about the amount of pornographic spam and e-mail he receives via the Internet. As he points out, "young people are [looking at] these sites and reading spam that depicts rape for pleasure, sodomy, and incest which can be downloaded from their computer." (See related story)Says McGuire, "Millions of Americans are receiving spam from these hard-core pornographers. Children and families are being exploited. There is a proliferation of hard-core sites on the Internet that stimulate pedophiles and victimize children."
Who is to blame? McGuire feels this type of sexual exploitation has to be laid at the feet of the Justice Department and Andrew Oosterbaan, chief of the DOJ's Child Exploitation & Obscenity Section. "They have failed to enforce the law," McGuire says. "The Justice Department has a legal obligation to enforce the laws, prosecute, and arrest the men who are distributing this type of illegal material."
McGuire and Flynt are convinced individuals can make a difference in this situation by contacting the office of Assistant Attorney General Christopher Wray, voicing their concerns, and urging Wray to take action.
Assistant Attorney General Christopher Wray can be contacted at (202) 514-2601 or via e-mail: Chris.Wray@usdoj.gov.
James L. Lambert, a frequent contributor to AgapePress, is the author of Porn in America (Huntington House), which can be purchased through the American Family Association. He is a licensed real-estate mortgage loan sales agent and can be contacted through his website.
