WASHINGTON — The Senate has passed a bill designed to tighten restrictions on so-called “virtual child pornography.” On Feb. 25 the chamber passed without dissent the bill designed to overcome the Supreme Court’s objections to a similar bill they called unconstitutionally vague in its banning of synthesized images that appear to depict children engaged in sex acts.
The new bill prohibits the marketing or consumption of anything representing itself to be actual child pornography, even if it does not depict actual minors. The bill attempts to answer the Court’s objections by placing the burden on the government to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused pornographer intended for consumers to believe the material was actual child pornography.
The bill also places the burden of proof on accused pornographers to show that the images they purvey are not actual children, but imitations. “If the Supreme Court cannot see that any sexual depiction of children is obscene on its face, whether it involves real kids or not, then we are in real trouble,” said Ken Connor, president of the Washington-based Family Research Council.
The bill now moves to the House, where it is expected to pass and be signed into law by President Bush. (TAB)
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