Issues@Hand

AFA initiatives, Christian activism, news briefs

June 2001 – A major Internet company’s involvement in the pornography business has led AFA and other prominent pro-family organizations to ask the Justice Department to remedy a dangerous situation virtually condoned by former President Bill Clinton and his administration.

Twelve representatives from pro-family organizations, including Don Wildmon and Pat Trueman of AFA, and U.S. Reps. Steve Largent (R-OK) and Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) met May 10 with Attorney General John Ashcroft to call for a commitment from his department to track down and prosecute businesses and individuals involved in distributing obscene material and child pornography.

The meeting was given added urgency after an April story in the Los Angeles Times reported Yahoo!, the most widely used Internet portal, or entryway to the Internet, had reorganized its online adult stores to increase sales of hardcore pornographic videos and DVDs in order to boost revenue. Yahoo!’s decision, stemming from quarterly losses due to sagging advertising revenue, came under heavy attack from many of its users and pro-family forces, including AFA. 

Trueman, AFA director of governmental affairs in Washington, D.C., wrote Ashcroft asking for an investigation into Yahoo! for trafficking obscene material and child pornography. Though Yahoo! itself might not deal directly in the trade, the fact it allows such material to be housed on its servers makes it culpable, Trueman said.
“AFA wrote to Attorney General John Ashcroft and pointed out that Yahoo!’s new effort to sell hardcore pornographic videos is likely illegal because trafficking in obscenity is a violation of federal law,” Trueman said. “Also, we pointed out that Yahoo!, particularly in the Geocities portion of its server space, has child pornography available for anyone who attempts to view it. Because the material is on Yahoo!’s own servers, they are particularly vulnerable to federal law, and we asked that they be investigated and prosecuted for child pornography violations.”

During the 2000 presidential election AFA, after repeated requests, was able to obtain a letter of commitment from President George W. Bush that his administration would make it a point to enforce obscenity laws. The Clinton administration virtually ignored these laws. A Syracuse University report (TRAC, 1997) found obscenity prosecutions had decreased 86% since 1992, when Clinton took office. In a letter to Dr. Jerry Kirk of the National Coalition for the Protection of Children & Families, dated October 27, 2000, Bush stated, “As parents and leaders we have an important obligation to help keep pornography out of the hands of our children. Only if we are united and involved, can we protect our most precious resource — our children.”

Trueman, chief of the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Criminal Division of the Justice Department from 1988 to 1992, said it’s now time President Bush and his administration take the stand they pledged.

“This is something either the Justice Department will handle, or we will continue to up the ante with the Justice Department, providing them inescapable proof Yahoo! is trafficking in illegal material. So we’re going to keep at this until there is a prosecution, or at least an investigation of Yahoo!” Trueman said.

Yahoo! Adult Clubs
Two days after the news broke, and after receiving some 100,000 complaints from members, Yahoo! officials reversed course and said they would not sell pornographic materials, and would remove such items from their shopping and auction pages. Yahoo! also moved to limit or end access to pornographic images stored on its servers by users of Yahoo! adult clubs.

Yahoo President/CEO Jeff Mallett told The Associated Press porn sales didn’t account for a significant portion of Yahoo! revenue anyway, and the company made the decision because, “Our main concern is our users. Their opinion matters most.”

Yahoo! had been involved in the business of peddling porn for more than two years through its online stores. The company began reorganizing the store last year to increase security and centralize all adult material. It wasn’t until the Times story broke that most people knew of the situation. “A lot of members hadn’t been aware of it,” Mallett told The Wall Street Journal. “They told us this didn’t work for them.”

While the dot.com did cut access to a portion of the adult clubs, users could still obtain obscene images on Yahoo! servers through “back doors.” American Family Filter technician Simonne Jordan said she was easily able to get access to a host of images, and said many users could, too.

An Internet club, Jordan said, operates much like a virtual bulletin board. Users can post entries, chat and share photographs, e-mail addresses, and other information. While the Yahoo! clubs for adult members require proof the user is at least 18 through credit card verification, it’s easy for those underage to get around that roadblock. Also, Jordan said visits to the clubs reveal pornography, especially child pornography, isn’t relegated to adult sites.

“One of the Yahoo! clubs is for 11-14-year-old children, and it has porn in it,” she said. This raises concerns that children could be exploited by pedophiles and others.

AFA Executive Assistant Buddy Smith said within days of some material being taken down by Yahoo!, it appeared the move might have only been temporary, a way to quieten the uproar.

“It looks like the new clubs in the adult areas have been posted back. While they’ve gone in and made a few deletions, they’ve not even begun to correct the problem,” Smith said. “Apparently it was just a smokescreen to make us and others think some changes were being made.”

Yahoo! isn’t the only high-profile online company to dabble in the porn business. eBay, a popular auction site, and others either directly or indirectly sell adult-related material. However, America Online doesn’t allow adult material to be sold on its service and told The Times “that (policy) is not going to change.” AOL does, however, host a number of adult chat rooms and groups.