bogus 'child porn' arrest
Jon Lebkowsky
Declan's permission.
eff.730: Martin Rimm and the Cyberporn Scare, Continued
<linked 2 places>
eff.730.844: Declan McCullagh (declan) Fri 5 Jan 96 15:15
Speaking of Kaplan and his friends in DC at the National Coalition
Against Pornography and the National Law Center for Children and Families:
Toni Marie Angeli, a Harvard student, took some nude pictures of her four-
year-old son for a Harvard photography class. The developing lab called
the police, who were waiting for her when she came in to pick up the pics.
They accused her of kiddie porn and told her that her son was going to be
taken away from her. Angeli freaked out, resisted arrest, and is now being
charged for assault and battery.
No kiddie porn charges will be brought after all and the Cambridge social
service workers won't be taking away her son. The whole incident is
outrageous, and the media are starting to cover it.
Bruce Taylor, "children's advocate," has been taking the side of the
police. You may remember him from the Marty Rimm debacle. He runs the
National Law Center for Children and Families and, as Mike revealed,
helped Rimm craft his study.
Taylor probably has been the most active lobbyist from the "antiporn"
side, fighting for the "indecency" language to stay intact in the telecom
bill. I seem to remember him claiming the ACLU and EFF were opposing the
"indecency" language so they "can trade dirty words and pictures."
This is an excellent example of how the Religious Right has fueled the
hysteria over child pornography (which, of course, they use to advance
sweeping legislation like the Internet "indecency" language).
Bob Chatelle (Boston Coalition for Freedom of Expression) and Harvey
Silverglate (a leading Boston free-expression attorney) have been active
in defending Angeli's actions. John Swomley (a former BCFE co-chair) is
Angeli's attorney.
Bob is at k...@world.std.com or (617) 497-7193.
Harvey is at h...@world.std.com or (617) 523-5933.
eff.730.848: Declan McCullagh (declan) Fri 5 Jan 96 19:23
And more on Bruce Taylor, "children's advocate."
Date: Fri, 5 Jan 1996 22:13:00 +0001 (EST)
From: Bob B Chatelle <k...@world.std.com>
Taylor said some fairly bonkers things. His argument was that Angeli's
pictures of her son could fall into the hands of pedophiles, who would
"trade them on the worldwide pedophile network" and use them to seduce
children. His closing comment was that "these pictures are dangerous."
Taylor's involvement in the case is just that CBS was looking for someone
willing to defend the photo lab and the actions of the police. The
police, by the way, physically brutalized Angeli (a cop choked her,
slammed her head into a door, and decked her husband when he protested.)
Prior to this, they'd told her that her son was going to be taken away
from them. The little boy, unfortunately, was present and witnessed the
whole thing. Not surprisingly, he's still having nightmares.
All this stupid brutality in the name of "protecting" children.
--
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Jon Lebkowsky <jo...@well.com> http://www.well.com/~jonl
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=