FC: "Child modeling" bill would instead censor commercial photography

From: Declan McCullagh (declanat_private)
Date: Thu May 09 2002 - 07:25:11 PDT

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    Text of the Foley-Lampson "child modeling" bill:
    http://www.politechbot.com/docs/foley.child.exploitation.bill.050902.pdf
    
    Rep. Foley's press release:
    http://www.gop.gov/item-news.asp?N=20020507140831
    
    ---
    
    http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,52379,00.html
    
       Too Broad a Ban on Child Models?
       By Declan McCullagh
    
       2:00 a.m. May 9, 2002 PDT
       WASHINGTON -- A new bill in Congress designed to outlaw child-sex
       websites would instead ban nearly all commercial photography of
       minors.
       
       Rep. Mark Foley (R-Florida) announced the proposal would ban websites
       featuring controversial images of nude preteen children. "These
       websites are nothing more than a fix for pedophiles," Foley said.
       
       He said there has been a disturbing increase of websites with names
       like "Sunny Lolitas," that show off prepubescent girls playing with
       stuffed animals or stretched out pin-up style against hot red
       backgrounds. His press release says pedophiles pay to see photos and
       video clips of the children in sexually suggestive poses.
       
       But -- whoops! -- that's not what his bill (PDF) actually covers.
       
       Five legal scholars contacted by Wired News said that Foley's
       proposal, cosponsored by Rep. Nick Lampson (D-Texas) and touted at a
       press conference on Monday, is so broadly written that it would
       imperil perfectly innocent photography and videography of children and
       teenagers.
       
       In addition to prohibiting commercial photography of anyone under 17
       years old, their bill would make it a federal felony for stock photo
       houses like Corbis or Getty Images to license images of minors from
       their catalogs -- a billion-dollar industry -- or for news
       photographers to sell images of minors.
       
       James Mitchell, associate general counsel for Corbis, said the Child
       Modeling Exploitation Prevention Act, or CMEPA, would "negatively
       impact the industry" and likely violates the First Amendment's
       guarantees of freedom of speech.
    
       [...]
    
    
    
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