June 21, 2006 | Sex & Society

Congress considers mandatory web labeling

A new bill, introduced last week in the U.S. Senate, has people wondering, "What, exactly, is porn?"  The Stop Adults' Facilitation of the Exploitation of Youth Act could define as pornographic everything from graphic photos of sex acts to suggestive snapshots of lingerie -- and could require all of it to be labeled as explicit.

Also known as the Internet Safety Act, the bill was introduced last week by Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), according to CNET News.com, and would require "commercial" website operators to flag all pages that contain "sexually explicit material." Those who do not could face fines or up to 15 years in prison.

Many adult websites already voluntarily label their pages so that Internet filtering programs can readily prevent them from being viewed by minors.

As usual, some measures of the bill are aimed at combatting child pornography online and would increase penalties for child porn offenders.

Critics of the bill, however, worry that its broad definition of "sexually explicit" material could restrict free speech. And in fact, the current definition of the term in the U.S. Justice Department includes any "lascivious exhibition of the genitals or pubic area of any person," naked or clothed.

At least the bill exempts from labeling sites on which sexual material is a "small and insignificant part of the whole," though First Amendment advocates are quick to point out the ambiguity of the word "insignificant."

Of course, ambiguity is a recipe for censorship, and on Capitol Hill it's feeding time for anti-porn conservatives.

• Critics say antiporn effort could affect wrong sites [CNET News.com]
• Proposed legislation will require labels for sex sites [AVN Online]