UTAH'S ATTORNEY GENERAL'S office filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit against the state by pornography trade group Free Speech Coalition that aims to get Utah's so-called child protection registry declared unconstitutional.
“This lawsuit shows the pornographer's true colors,” said Utah attorney general Mark Shurtleff in a statement. “They claim a right to market porn to adults, but by challenging our child protection registry, they have proven their real intent to force smut on our children in our homes and schools.”
The Free Speech Coalition, however, claims Utah's law does nothing to protect children from inappropriate e-mail and places a needlessly onerous burden on legitimate businesses. The group's Nov. 17 lawsuit claimed Utah's Child Protection Registry Act violates the U.S. constitution and is pre-empted by the federal Can Spam Act.
According to the coalition's suit, Utah's law “unduly burdens” legitimate businesses “and creates the kind of unworkable ‘balkanization’ of e-mail regulation that the federal pre-emption provisions of Can Spam are designed to prohibit.”
Shurtleff's statement didn't address the main arguments in the lawsuit.
It read, “The state of Utah will vigorously defend the fundamental right of parents to keep porn out of their homes. The First Amendment does not allow pornographers to send materials to kids and parents who have expressly asked not to receive them.”
Laws in Michigan and Utah went into effect over the summer establishing so-called children's protection registries. The registries allow parents and guardians to enter children's e-mail addresses and “other contact points” as off limits to material that's illegal for minors to view or buy.
Marketers who want to send e-mail with content inappropriate for minors are required to scrub their lists against the registries each month in Utah and Michigan for $5 and $7, respectively, per 1,000 e-mail addresses.
“The courts consistently have affirmed the right of local communities to set standards to protect children from pornography,” Shurtleff's statement continued. “The Utah Child Protection Registry creates an ‘adult section’ of Internet addresses and provides marketers a fair and secure way to keep salacious materials from children.”
It is likely just a matter of time before an individual or group sues Michigan over its registry as well.
