In April of this year, TN Rep. John DeBerry (D-Memphis) gave a great speech on the House floor on the necessity of the state of Tennessee to fight pornography. Rep. DeBerry, also a minister from Memphis who often opens the House floor in prayer, rallied the House of Representatives to a 92 – 0 unanimous vote, with nearly a quarter of the House to co-sponsor House Joint Resolution 133. The resolution calls for Congress to “readdress the crisis problem of children being exposed to and purposefully accessing Internet pornography.” The resolution is awaiting a Senate vote in 2020 before reaching the governor’s desk.
What’s next? This week our organization met with Congressional offices in Washington D.C., on the back of this success, concerning solutions to a child’s instant access to pornography. We presented to the offices of Tennessee Congressional Delegates Senator Marsha Blackburn, Representative Mark Green, and Representative Chuck Fleischmann the U.K.’s age-verification law passed in 2017, inviting them to work with our organization on a similar law for the U.S. The law would wrap a thick layer of protection around commercial porn sites disallowing children to access. Porn sites will have to implement a “robust” program (according to the BBFC regulation guidelines) that verifies the age of the user before that user gains access to their site. If porn sites fail to comply, they may suffer fines, and eventually, be blocked by U.K. Internet providers. The law provides a series of ‘checks and balances’ throughout that will allow it to adapt with time and new technology. U.K.’s age-verification law (a part of 2017 Digital Economy Act) is finally set for implementation on July 15th and on paper, it looks strong.
The U.S. needs new laws. Right now a child has instant access to anything on the Internet, while law and technology are available to make pornography harder for a child to access, and make a parents job easier to protect their child. The TN resolution addresses this phenomenon, as well as all known factors that would inhibit a Congressman from introducing a new law citing time-tested failings of former Supreme Court cases striking down past Congressional attempts to protect children from pornography. The primary intent of the resolution is to push the federal government to act, and especially Congressmen representing TN. We hope to create more momentum with this resolution in other states in 2020. Other prominent groups support this solution for the U. S. including Enough is Enough, and Ernie Allen of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.