LANSING - Starting today, Michigan will offer the nation's first child protection registry to stop Internet pornography vendors from spamming minors with unsolicited X-rated e-mail messages.
The registry also will be used to protect kids against vendors of other products or services legally banned for kids, including alcohol, gambling, tobacco, drugs, fireworks and firearms.
"It's like a do-not-call list for Internet porn," Gov. Jennifer Granholm said. "Parents in Michigan can now rest a little easier." But experts said the effectiveness of the plan is doubtful.
Jennifer Kunz of Troy said she favors the plan and hopes it will help protect her 7-year-old son when he starts to search the Web for more than Cartoon Network.
"It's protecting our kids and that's a wonderful thing," Kunz said. "I'd definitely sign up for something like that."
Parents would register online, at www.michigan.gov/protectmichild, and submit their child's e-mail address. They will receive a confirmation that their child has been added to the list.
Customer lists then must be screened for these e-mail addresses. If porn vendors continue sending ads to kids 30 days after parents register, then enforcement action and fines begin.
Schools are included under the plan, which makes sense to Joann Wright, principal at Oak Park High School, which has 1,400 students and 300 computers.
"We don't have a problem in our (student) computer labs but in the classrooms, the teachers are getting pop-ups that are inappropriate for adults, let alone children," Wright said. "I'm more concerned about the (unsolicited) ad for Viagra the secretary is getting."
Peter Lark, chairman of the Michigan Public Service Commission, which crafted the pioneering plan, said it's technically feasible.
"Parents have expressed outrage and frustration at the endless stream of unwanted messages to which their children have access," Lark said.
But computer security expert David Burt, with Secure Computing in San Jose, Calif., said the registry is not likely to work. "It's not a good idea. The do-not-spam list was proposed by some in Congress and rejected," he said. "Pornographers aren't going to pay any attention to it and they will continue sending spam."
Tony Cruz, a computer science teacher at Rochester College, said he'd sign up to safeguard his 11- and 17-year-old daughters. He recently switched computer carriers after he kept receiving pornography from Korea through his previous one.
"I embrace anything that'll preserve our privacy and protect us from these kinds of materials," he said.
Vendors who continue to bombard children on the registry with adult material may face up to three years in jail and a $30,000 fine. A first violation would be a misdemeanor and subsequent violations would be felonies.
The program will be funded by a fee on Internet vendors, who will have to pay seven cents per name to have their customer lists vetted for the registered e-mails. The fee is expected to generate between $200,000 and $1 million a year.
"This is a good step, but there's no silver bullet to create safety in technology," said Sharon Claytor Peters, who head's Michigan's Children, a child advocacy group.
"For every technological firewall, there come ways to circumvent them. You can't put your feet up and be assured that no problem will come. So there's still a need for vigilance."
You can reach Mark Hornbeck at (313) 222-2470 or mhornbeck@detnews.com.
By Mark Hornbeck and Charlie Cain / Detroit News Lansing BureauIn your voice
