A businessman who sells access codes to enter pornographic Web sites said Friday that companies are becoming more aware of their responsibility to keep adult material away from children. Laith Alsarraf, who runs AdultCheck, an age verification service that requires adults to input credit card numbers and other identification for free access to pornographic sites opened the government's defense of a law aimed at protecting children from sexual material on the Internet. The American Civil Liberties Union is challenging the Child Online Protection Act, which was signed by President Clinton in October but put on hold by a judge.
Supporters say the law is a sensible way to keep Internet pornography away from children.
The ACLU contends the law violates the First Amendment, which protects free speech. ACLU attorney Ann Beeson suggested Alsarraf had another motivation. That could be one of them. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All Rights Reserved.