Senator wants P500,000 penalty for e-mailing porn to minors

MANILA, Philippines – The days of viewing pornography through e-mail attachments and USB flash drives for minors may soon be over.

Through a bill, Senator Loren Legarda proposed that people who transmit “indecent and immoral” pornographic materials to persons under the age of 18 should be imprisoned and fined as much as P500,000.

Legarda noted that children should be protected from “virtual menaces” such as porn which continue to spread with the help of modern technology.

“Schools have included computer classes in their curriculum, thus making the children of today computer- and Internet-savvy. Unfortunately, children are not aware of the predators that lurk within the world wide web,” Legarda said in a statement.

She added, “Just as they are protected from the physical dangers, children should also be protected from virtual menaces.”

Materials covered by the Legarda bill include live shows or films that contain “obscene literature, indecent or immoral plays, scenes or acts” which:

– glorify criminals or condone crimes

– serve no other purpose but to satisfy the market of violence, lust or pornography

– offend any race or religion

– tend to abet trafficking and use of prohibited drugs

– are contrary to law, public order, morals, good customs, established policies, lawful order, decrees and edicts

Legarda called for the swift passage of the bill, saying that “our children must be protected from dangerously being at the receiving end of computer pornography.”

The act of viewing pornographic content is not inherently dangerous, but doing it in excess or in inappropriate situations can take a toll on a person’s life, according to Julie Walther Scheibel, counselor at Concordia Seminary Counseling and Resource Center in the United States. (Read story here.)

Just like in the case of drugs and alcohol, she said excessive viewing of porn may lead to strained relationships and job loss, among others. –abs-cbnNEWS.com