An Open Letter to Senior U.S. District Judge Lowell Reed Jr.
Dear Judge Reed,
I read today that you struck down the 1998 Obscenity Law that would have helped parents and protected America’s children [1]
PHILADELPHIA — A federal judge on Thursday dealt another blow to government efforts to control Internet pornography, striking down a 1998 U.S. law that makes it a crime for commercial Web site operators to let children access “harmful” material.
I know that you are not accountable to me and I am sure that you meant your best at the recent ruling regarding access to adult material by children on the Internet. I’d like to comment however.
If we as a society do nothing while children are allowed to view pornography online, then we are no better than child pornographers or pedophiles. Isn’t that what they do?
In the real (physical) world, we would never allow our children to be exposed so easily to adult material. Children and families deserve to be able to access the entire Internet without concern that large volumes of free samples of adult material are readily available to entice those kids online. Government, business, and technology leaders should be looking for ways to make the Internet more child and family friendly, not less. Parents deserve easier-to-understand solutions than what exist today.
I’ve studied the problem of online access to adult material by children for many years and the law you struck down was the best solution that exists in America. Like it or not, we can’t stop adult material on the Internet, but we can and should do all that can be done to mandate that adult content providers verify the ages of their users before providing adult material to children. I would have thought you knew better.
Your ruling was a victory not for free speech, but for child pornographers, pedophiles, and those who would exploit America’s children for profit.
Sincerely,
Joe Martinico