US high court to consider ban on promoting pedophilia

WASHINGTON - The US Supreme Court on Monday agreed to consider whether a law banning the promotion of pedophilia is compatible with the US constitutional right to free speech.
In 2002, the highest US court threw out a law, passed in 1996, banning the production of images of "virtual" children engaged in sex acts. The following year another similar law, while less restrictive, was passed.
In April 2004, a police officer set a trap for a man, Michael Williams, who took part in a pedophilia chat room on the Internet. Once arrested, Williams was convicted of possessing such images, and for promotion of pedophilia, a crime under the new legislation.
On appeal Williams saw his sentence of five years in jail at first upheld and then thrown out over the issue of "promotion," as the new law was judged potentially too restrictive of freedom of speech.
The high court on Monday agreed to take up the issue later this year.

03/26/2007 20:12 GMT