Family Advocates Praise DOJ's Plan for Obscenity Prosecution Task Force
by Jody Brown and Rusty Pugh
May 11, 2005
(AgapePress) - Two prominent pro-family groups are applauding last week's announcement that the Department of Justice has established a task force devoted exclusively to the investigation and prosecution of obscenity cases. Both the Family Research Council and the American Family Association view the development as good news for those who are concerned about protecting the nation's children.According to a May 5 press release from the DOJ, the Obscenity Prosecution Task Force will focus on investigating and prosecuting distributors of hard-core pornography that meets the test for obscenity, as defined by the U.S. Supreme Court. Assistant Attorney General Christopher Wray stated that while the Justice Department will continue to respect and protect individuals' First Amendment rights, "the welfare of America's families and children demands that we enforce the laws on the books."
And that is precisely what the Task Force is designed to do, he said. "With the creation of this Task Force, our commitment to law enforcement in this vital area is taken one step further," Wray stated. One aspect of that commitment, according to the DOJ, is the Task Force's plan to address the increased use of technology to distribute smut.
"Advances in technology and mass marketing, particularly over the past decade, have enabled the traffic in obscenity to take on a more national and even global reach," Wray said. "The special challenges that obscenity cases pose in the computer age require an equally specialized response." The DOJ says the Task Force will be supported by computer and forensic experts in the department with knowledge of the Internet and other interactive computer systems such as peer-to-peer networks.
That is all good news to Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council. "It is about time," Perkins says. "We are thrilled to have some backing in our fight to protect our children." It will be critical who heads up the new group, says the FRC president.
"We will watch closely ... to see who is appointed to direct the effort," he says. "[But] we are encouraged that Attorney General [Alberto] Gonzales intends to follow through with his promise to enforce indecency and obscenity violations."
According to the DOJ, whoever is selected to direct the Obscenity Prosecution Task Force will work closely with Bruce Taylor, senior counsel to the DOJ's Criminal Division's assistant attorney general. Taylor is highly regarded by family advocates and is considered to be a strong defender of victims of the pornography industry. One former FBI investigator has described him as "one of the two top obscenity prosecutors in the country." (See related story)
Randy Sharp | |
Randy Sharp of the American Family Association says the combination of the new task force and Taylor's involvement "puts distributors of obscenity on notice that the Justice Department is serious about enforcing the law."Sharp, AFA's director of special projects, says his organization is willing to lend a hand. "We'll even help them get the Task Force off to a good start by recommending an investigation into the nation's largest retail distributor of XXX films," he says. "Video store chain Movie Gallery and its chairman Joe Malugen have long been purveyors of hard-core porn in hundreds of small towns across America."
And the AFA spokesman concurs that the technology aspect of obscenity must be met head-on. "It is equally critical that the [DOJ] be aggressive in their approach to obscenity in the area of technology," Sharp says. "The Internet -- and now wireless phones -- put our children at risk because parents are virtually helpless in stemming the sheer volume of porn directed at their children."
FCC Meeting on Cell Phone Porn
Along those lines, Sharp was in Washington, DC, on Monday (May 9) as a member of a coalition of pro-family groups to put pressure on the Federal Communications Commission to take action to stop a dangerous new trend in cell-phone technology. The pro-family groups are worried that more and more people -- even children -- are using cell phones to download pornography.
Sharp says the meeting with the federal agency went well. "We were pleasantly surprised to meet with the FCC," he offers. "We met with the telecommunications chief bureau. We met with some very high ranking officials -- and it wasn't just two or three. There were eight FCC representatives in that room to meet with us."
According to Sharp, plans are already in the works to use technology to prevent children from being able to do that. "[The FCC] realize[s] that this is a potentially serious issue for America's youth," he says, "and they also recognize that only by working together within the FCC and with concerned parents can something be done."
Sharp says one solution discussed was installation of special chips in cell phones that would prevent pornography from being downloaded.
