GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 2003

S                                                                                                                                                    D

SENATE RESOLUTION DRSR15002-LG-6  (1/8)

Sponsors:	Senator Reeves.
Referred to:

A SENATE RESOLUTION ENCOURAGING the congress of the united states TO enact legislation PROTECTING OUR CHILDREN BY establishing aN EXCLUSIVE WEB domain EXTENSION OF ".xxx" and limitING the posting and dissemination of OBSCENE OR pornographic materials to the designated domain.

Whereas, in recent years there has been a proliferation of pornographic web sites on the Internet; and

Whereas, these pornographic web sites are easily accessible by children who may be negatively impacted by the materials posted on the web sites; and

Whereas, Congress has sought legislative solutions to this growing epidemic through the Child Online Protection Act (47 U.S.C. § 231) and the Children's Internet Protection Act (Pub. L. 106-554); and

Whereas, the Children's Internet Protection Act required that schools and libraries that receive specified federal funding certify that they have in place an Internet Safety Policy that includes monitoring the use of Internet access by children and implementation of technology that will filter out objectionable content; and

Whereas, House Bill 478 was introduced by Representative Sam Ellis and cosponsored by 75 other members of the House of Representatives in the North Carolina General Assembly on March 5, 2001, and referred to the House Committee on Science and Technology; and

Whereas, House Bill 478 would require that all libraries and public schools that provide minors access to the Internet use an Internet provider service that provides services to shield minors from obscene and violent material on all computers that are used by minors; and

Whereas, a three-judge panel sitting in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania issued a decision on May 31, 2002, finding major provisions of the Children's Internet Protection Act facially unconstitutional and violative of the First Amendment and therefore permanently enjoined the government from enforcing those provisions; and

Whereas, other attempts to limit children's access to adult content through filtering software and on-line informational web sites designed by service providers have been largely unsuccessful; and

Whereas, the evolving of adult content production on the Internet has led to a situation in which legal standards regarding content can no longer be enforced effectively or affordably; and

Whereas, it would be in the best interests of our children and the entire nation to require the operators of any web site or on-line service whose primary business is making available material that is pornographic, obscene, or harmful to minors to register and operate such web site or on-line service only under a domain specifically designated for such materials; Now, therefore,

Be it resolved by the Senate:

SECTION 1.  The Senate urges the Congress of the United States to support and enact legislation that would establish a ".XXX" Internet domain for the posting and dissemination of material that is pornographic, obscene, or harmful to minors and to limit such material to the designated domain.

SECTION 2.  The Principal Clerk shall transmit copies of this resolution to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Majority Leader of the Senate, and to each Senator and Representative from North Carolina in the Congress of the United States.

SECTION 3.  This resolution is effective upon adoption.