Media Record Keeping
Issue
In the 109th Congress, a proposed bill would have extended the age
verification and record-keeping requirements used in the production of pornography to
include models and performers in simulated sexual content. Working with sponsors of
the bill and the Department of Justice, a broad coalition of media companies and
associations worked to exempt mainstream film and television producers from
record-keeping rules.
AAF Position
As written, the proposed legislation would have done far more harm than good.
Because of the difficulty of defining simulated content, proposed changes could
have cause many examples of currently acceptable practices, including
advertisements, to be considered and treated as pornography. This effort is harmful to
legitimate producers but will not help prevent child exploitation. The proposed
changes might have placed the entire law into questionable constitutional stature,
with challenges that could result in laws that prevent child exploitation being
stricken.
Opposition
Supporters of the bills say the intent is to prevent the sexual exploitation
of children by targeting home pornographers. They contend the law is required in
order to provide law enforcement with the necessary tools to fight child
pornography, as well as to close legal loopholes. It is important to note that since
age-verification requirements were first introduced in 1988, no law enforcement
inquiry has ever sought to examine a distributor's files on model and actor ages.
Status
H.R. 3726: Child Pornography Prevention Act of 2005. Introduced by Rep. Mike
Pence, R-Ind. This bill would have significantly expanded the types and
categories of conduct that would trigger existing record-keeping rules to include
simulated sexual conduct and would require age-verification disclosure of all models
and performers who appear to be 25 years old or younger.
Most provisions of Pence's bill were merged into H.R. 4472: Children's Safety and Violent Crime Reduction Act of 2005, introduced by Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner, which passed the House on March 8, 2006. The final version of the bill included a stipulation for mainstream film and television producers exempting them from strict record-keeping rules required of pornography distributors. President Bush signed H.R. 4472 into law. The AAF considers the matter settled.
Last updated: April 2007