News that the .XXX Domain is going live today caused Morality in Media to call for an investigation of ICM Registry, the company behind the .XXX domain, for possible violations of federal laws prohibiting distribution of hard-core obscene Internet pornography.
“Title 18 United States Code Sections 1462 and 1465 prohibit distribution of hard-core, obscene Internet pornography. Yet, isn’t that the purpose of the .XXX domain?” asks Patrick A. Trueman, president of Morality in Media and former chief of the U.S. Department of Justice Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Criminal Division in Washington, D.C.
Trueman says Title 18 U. S. C. Section 2 prohibits aiding and abetting a federal crime and Title 18 U. S.C. 371 prohibits a conspiracy to commit a federal crime. As he sees it, U. S. Attorney General Eric Holder should review the activities of ICM Registry in relation to these federal criminal laws immediately.
“The establishment of a .XXX Domain will increase not decrease the spread of Internet pornography,” says Trueman. “In fact, ICM has indicated that it has nearly one million ‘expressions of interest’ for new .XXX sites. Yet not one porn company has announced plans to close its .com site to relocate to the .XXX domain. Porn on the Internet my double due to the .XXX Domain.”
Will Attorney General Holder stand by and watch this pandemic of harm continue to spiral when he has laws at his disposal that can be enforced against this destructive material? That’s what Trueman wants to know—and he’s taking this opportunity to urge him to vigorously enforce federal obscenity laws against major online commercial distributors of hard-core adult pornography and those who aid and abet its distribution.
“If Attorney General Holder won’t investigate ICM Registry now, we will press the next attorney general to do so,” says Trueman. “This issue will never go away for ICM Registry or for Internet pornographers who attempt to hide their criminal activities behind the .XXX Domain.”
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