January 6, 2005

An attorney with the Family Research Council says parents need to be aware of the latest trend -- pornography being downloaded on cell phones and hand-held computers.

Pornography is one industry that expertly employs technology to make millions of dollars. The latest craze is downloading pornographic images on cell phones or on personal digital assistants (PDAs).

Pat Trueman, a senior legal counsel for the Family Research Council, says this activity poses an even bigger problem because these devices are common in everyday situations -- which means children could be doing more than just chatting on the phone.

"One thing that's a real worry is that kids, as well as adults, have cell phones, and it's a safety device to give your kid a cell phone to use at times when they go places," Trueman notes. "But now kids will have the ability to get hard-core pornography on their cell phone -- and what parent wants that?"

It is a major problem that Trueman says must be dealt with swiftly by the Justice Department, where he used to head up the Child Exploitation Division as a prosecutor. He says he is optimistic that incoming Attorney General Alberto Gonzales will aggressively fight "cyber porn."

"We now know, as a result of the elections, that the 'values voters' -- the people who really made a difference in the re-election of President George Bush -- have an agenda. It's an agenda to clean up the culture," he says.

"Everyone in this administration is aware of that. I think you'll see this attorney general be more supportive of prosecutions than perhaps the Justice Department has been in the past."

According to Trueman, there is no need for any more laws dealing with pornography. He says it is just a matter of enforcing the existing laws.