From Deseret News archives:
Utah aims to stop porn e-mail to kids
Child Protection Registry is similar to the do-not-call list
Touting Utah as the second state in the nation to do so, Shurtleff on Tuesday unveiled a Web site where parents can put e-mail addresses to tell Web-based businesses not to send promotions for porn and other adult-related solicitations. On July 1, Michigan put its service online.
Utah's Child Protection Registry, www.kidsregistry.utah.gov, went online last Friday.
"The registry is a lot like the do-not-call list. Basically it's giving parents the ability to say 'do not send porn to my children,' " Shurtleff said.
Registered e-mails will become part of a database that means businesses will be required to remove those e-mails from their mailing lists.
Shurtleff, however, acknowledged that the registry does not eliminate all spammers from reaching children and does not "let parents off the hook" when it comes to supervising their children on the Internet.
Former Rep. Mike Styler, a key supporter of legislation last session that created the registry, said up until now, he feels spammers have had free rein over the Net to send unwanted e-mails. "I believe they really are targeting our children," Styler said.
The law requires any business that uses e-mails to advertise sexually oriented products to "scrub" its lists of any e-mails on Utah's registry. Businesses must do this every 30 days beginning Aug. 15 or face possible prosecution by the attorney general's office.
The registry, regulated by the state Division of Consumer Protection, will be fully funded by a fee of 1 cent per e-mail charged to businesses for scrubbing their lists.
Ben Dahl with Unspam Technologies, a Park City-based company contracted by the state to maintain the registry, said the state's registry will not be vulnerable to hackers seeking to break in and commandeer the information.
Dahl acknowledged that the registry will not be able to block all spam e-mails but added the incentive for legitimate companies is to improve their reputation among potential customers.
When asked about any possible legal challenges by companies, Styler said the program was reviewed by constitutional experts.
"We believe that this will stand up to any challenges," Styler said.
Already, the attorney general's office and the state of Utah are facing a federal suit over its planned Adult Content Registry, a program that requires that any Internet sites that deal with adult content register with Utah and thus be blocked by some Internet service providers, per user request. The law also makes distributing potentially harmful material to minors a felony offense.
More than a dozen bookstores, artists and related trade organizations, plus the American Civil Liberties Union, filed the suit last month. The groups claim Utah is attempting to regulate adult content that is constitutionally protected.
Attorney general spokesman Paul Murphy said the state plans to file a response to the suit in the coming weeks. As for what will be deemed inappropriate content for the e-mail registry, Murphy said his office is still working on the definitions.
According to a 2003 study on e-mail and children, 80 percent of children in the United States are the targets of inappropriate messages.
E-mail: gfattah@desnews.com
