Special Reports

Real Porn, Faked Porn

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

January 22, 2001 / 12:31 PM EST / CBS

The Supreme Court agreed Monday to decide whether Congress can attack child pornography by banning computer-altered pictures that only appear to show minors involved in sexual activity.

The court said it will hear the government's argument that by banning sexual images that do not actually portray children, a 1996 law "helps to stamp out the market for child pornography involving real children."

A coalition of adult-oriented businesses that challenged the ban says it violates free-speech rights, and a San Francisco-based federal appeals court agreed.

The Child Pornography Prevention Act expanded a long-standing ban on child pornography to prohibit any image that "appears to be" or "conveys the impression" of someone under 18 engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

The law targets computer technology that can be used to alter an innocent picture of a child into a depiction of a child engaged in sex.

The Free Speech Coalition, a California-based trade association of adult-oriented businesses, challenged the law in federal court. The group said it opposes child pornography, but that films and photos produced by its members could wrongly be deemed to show minors engaged in sexual conduct.

The group did not challenge a section of the law that banned the use of identifiable children in computer-altered sexual images.

A federal judge upheld the law, but the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decided in December 1999 the provisions challenged by the coalition violated the Constitution's free-speech protection. The court said the government did not show a connection between computer-generated child pornography and the exploitation of actual children.

Several other appeals courts have upheld the provisions, and in the appeal acted on Monday, Justice Department lawyers asked the nation's highest court to resolve the conflict.

The government has a compelling interest in preventing the sexual abuse and exploitation of children, government lawyers said, adding that pedophiles often use pictures to seduce other children into sexual activity.

Because it is hard to distinguish computer-generated pictures from those actually portraying children involved in sex, "The government may find it impossible in many cases to prove that a pornographic image is of a real child," Justice Department lawyers said.

The Free Speech Coalition's lawyers said that even without the disputed provisions, the 1996 law "remains a comprehensive and effective tool for fighting the real evils of child pornography."

In other action Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court:

let stand the death sentence of Gregory Wright. The justices issued no opinion in refusing to hear the appeal of the 34-year-old Texas death row inmate.
agreed to decide five cases which will affect the price consumers pay for local phone service and the number of choices consumers have on how many companies will compete to provide that service. At ssue is a complicated fee system that currently determines how much competing phone companies have to pay to get access to existing phone lines.
Local phone companies are hoping the justices will toss out part of the price rules set up by the Federal Communications System. In an interview with CBS News Radio, David Butler, of Consumers Union, says that would mean higher prices for consumers.
The five cases are Verizon Communications v. FCC; FCC v. Iowa Utilities Board; General Communication Inc. v. Iowa Utilities Board; AT&T Corp. v. Iowa Utilities Board; and WorldCom Inc. v. Verizon.
agreed to decide whether cable television systems that also offer high-speed Internet access should be allowed to benefit from government regulations placing limits on how much a cable company can be charged for attaching their equipment to utility poles.
rejected, without comment, arguments by female Ameritech phone company workers who contend that their retirement benefits are less than they should be. The women say the retirement benefits formula isn't fair, because it doesn't compensate for pregnancy leave policies - since abolished - which denied seniority credit to women who took maternity leave in the 1960s and 1970s.
agreed to use the case of a woman severely injured in a car accident to clarify whether health care plans can sue to enforce some plan requirements. The Health and Welfare Plan for Employees and Dependents of Earth Systems Inc. wants Janette Knudson of California to pay it hundreds of thousands of dollars she won in a settlement of her suit against those responsible for the accident.
agreed to decide whether Indian tribes, like states, are exempt from some gambling taxes. The Chickasaw Nation and Choctaw Nation tribes claim they should not be taxed on the pull-tab lottery cards that they sell to finance a variety of tribal activities.