Ed Vitagliano

AFA Journal news editor

October 2007 – Living Biography Productions and Lake of Fire Productions have produced a powerful, award-winning documentary that is sure to alarm parents as well as community and church leaders and hopefully move them to take action against one of America’s spiritual and cultural scourges: pornography.

Traffic Control: The People’s War on Internet Porn is sad, scary and mesmerizing. With top-notch production values, it is full of personal testimonies and fascinating interviews. While not titillating, the film is a graphic description of the loathsomeness of the so-called “adult” industry, and is not for the fainthearted.

One of the most compelling aspects of the film is that it follows the stories of two ex-porn stars – one man and one woman – as they relate the tragic tales of how they got sucked into the pornography industry and, almost miraculously, how they broke free. While the documentary is not a specifically Christian product, the redemptive story of Shelley Lubben, who as a porn star was nicknamed “Roxy,” has clear Christian elements in it. Despite the sometimes gut-wrenching subject matter of Traffic Control, Roxy’s journey back to becoming Shelley once again is worth the trip.

The video’s single potential weakness is its apparently unflinching recommendation of only one solution to the problem – the Internet Community Port Act. Also known as Community Port 80 or CP80, Traffic Control says CP80 “asks that adult content be placed on separate channels (ports) on the Internet so that parents can keep it out of their homes and schools.”

AFA believes that such an approach would be, at best, only a limited solution, since much of the pornographic content available online does not originate in the U.S. and might not be subject to such regulation.

Also, the difficulty involved in defining what is and is not pornography – and thus what would be forced onto a separate port – could mean that the producers of “adult” content might simply refuse to isolate their material in an online ghetto. Legal challenges – probably successful ones – would be sure to follow.

In defense of his company’s approach to CP80, writer and producer Bryan Hall told AFA Journal the intent of Traffic Control was not to limit the discussion of solutions but to encourage parents to get active in the search for one.

AFA has always supported congressional action against the porn industry, as well as federal prosecution through the U.S. Justice Department. However, AFA has also strongly recommended that parents get good filtering software for their computers. While not the final answer to the problem of Internet porn – especially as kids get older and more savvy about computers – filtering does provide a strong level of protection for younger kids.

With that single perceived flaw aside, the effect of Traffic Control on the viewer is haunting and visceral. No one who watches this film can ever again see porn as a “victimless crime.”