Shoring up the PROTECT Act against critics, Congress researched 15 rulings to justify a "compelling interest" in the continued enforceability and effectiveness of its prohibitions against child pornography:

Congress cited a 1982 child pornography case, New York v. Ferber, where the Supreme Court wrote, "the most expeditious if not the most practical method of law enforcement may be to dry up the market for this material by imposing severe criminal penalties on persons selling, advertising, or otherwise promoting the product."

The Free Speech Coalition, a watchdog organization for the adult novelty and entertainment industry, has followed Williams' case closely, and a spokesman says the current act makes it a federal offense to merely describe a stick figure as child pornography.

"Prescribing to such a law would have a chilling affect on speech," Reed Lee, lawyer and FSC board member, told the Deseret Morning News during a phone interview,

The FSC's involvement with the case is relevant to the adult industry they represent because many adult producers bank on such descriptions. Videos, magazines and Internet sites commonly display words such as "very young," "school girls" and even "child" to interest viewers — "any of which could be argued as pandering child porn," Lee said.

"If there were a narrow enough provision, we would agree to it," Lee said. "But I just can't believe that there's enough (child pornography) out there to justify such a restriction."

FBI officials disagreed.

"Take that (pandering section) away, protect them with the First Amendment and watch these (offenders) freely talk about and embellish what they've done or dream of doing to these little kids," said an FBI sex abuse specialist out of Los Angeles, who asked to remain anonymous because he is not an official spokesman. "That kind of talk encourages other perverts to do the same (things)."

Art Bowker, vice president of the international high technology crime investigation association, who works closely with the FBI, called the Internet a kind of support group for predators.

"Before the advent of the Internet, individuals with deviant tendencies usually were isolated," said Bowker. "Today, however, offenders feel normal because they see from chat rooms and Web sites that many other individuals have the same interests. Thus, the behavior becomes reinforced, perhaps emboldening them to commit acts, such as sex with a child, in the real world."

---

E-mail: jhancock@desnews.com