WASHINGTON -- Vermont's Patrick Leahy adores the Grateful Dead, lauds Ben and Jerry's ice cream and is known as one of the Senate's most ardent civil libertarians.
But the Democratic head of the Judiciary Committee said this week that even though he believes a new child pornography bill may violate the First Amendment, he's co-sponsoring it anyway.
Leahy said in a statement that "parts of the bill are closer to the First Amendment line" -- but nevertheless exhorted his colleagues to support the awkwardly named "PROTECT Act" (Prosecutorial Remedies and Tools Against the Exploitation of Children Today).
Leahy's attempt to ban "morphed" or computer-generated child porn follows on the heels of a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court striking down Congress' earlier attempt to outlaw the stuff.
Leahy's co-sponsor, Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), said their new bill -- a similar one has already been introduced in the House -- "plugs the loophole that exists today, where child pornographers can escape prosecution by claiming that their sexually explicit material did not actually involve real children."
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Privacy snafu: Sen. Fritz Hollings' attempt to approve a controversial privacy-regulation bill in his committee was abruptly thwarted on Thursday by the Senate's top Republican.
Nearly every business group imaginable opposes Hollings' Online Personal Privacy Act, which strictly regulates how websites may "use or disclose personally identifiable information about a user of that service or website."
The bill imposes more regulations on Internet companies than exist for meat space firms.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce calls it "bureaucratic red tape." The Computer and Communications Industry Association predicts "this legislation will cause great harm to the Internet." A group of tech CEOs from companies that include Dell, Intel and IBM describes Hollings' bill as "unfortunate."
They found a friend in Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott, who managed to derail the hearing and prevent Hollings from reporting the privacy bill out of the Senate Commerce Committee. After losing a series of votes on amendments, Lott invoked a procedural rule that prevents committees from meeting more than two hours while the Senate is in session.
"This was an underhanded way to try to defeat the online privacy bill," Hollings complained afterward.
Noting that a majority of the committee supported the bill -- so final approval was inevitable -- he pledged to hold another vote soon afterward. The committee successfully reported out the legislation on Friday.
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So much for free speech: A closely divided federal appeals court has said a website sporting photos of gore-splattered fetuses and "wanted" posters for abortion doctors is making illegal threats.
On Thursday, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled (PDF) 6-5 that the so-called Nuremberg Files website, which lists names and home addresses of doctors, was not protected by the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of expression.
A three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit had gone the other way, deciding last year that the website and related posters were perhaps offensive but entirely legal.
"Names of abortion providers who have been murdered because of their activities are lined through in black, while names of those who have been wounded are highlighted in gray," the majority ruled. "As a result, we cannot say that it is clear as a matter of law that (the list) is purely protected, political expression."
Next stop: the U.S. Supreme Court.
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Detect this: Will radar detectors be regulated out of existence?
The Federal Communications Commission is being told (PDF) that radar detectors can disrupt automated gas pumps because they transmit a tiny amount of radio frequency energy on similar wavelengths.
ChevronTexaco told the FCC that radar-detector-equipped miscreants could steal fuel or cause incorrect prices to appear on the pump.
