Congress enacted COPA, the Child Online Protection Act. This much needed legislation will require the pornographers to take a credit card number, adult verification number, or access code in order to restrict pictures to adults. Chief Counsel Bruce Taylor and Senior Counsel Bob Flores were legal advisers to the Congressional sponsors and committees. Congress also passed a law which increases protections for children from sexual predators. The possession law allows prosecution for illegal possession of even one item of child pornography.
Present law requires three items for a federal violation.
Thanks to the tireless efforts of these legislators and NLC's staff, this bill passed unanimously in both the Senate and the House. NLC also supported this bill, which contains good protections for children under 13 and their parents from list brokering of personal information on children gathered by commercial online sites directed at kids. This bill, sponsored by Senators John McCain and Fritz Hollings, would require public libraries and public schools to implement the use of filters on all computers used by minors.