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

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

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

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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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