Smut Watch

67,000 complaints and zero prosecutions. And we're paying for it. NYTimes (08.09.07):

"Tom Rogers, a retired Indianapolis detective, toils away most days in his suburban home office reviewing sexual Web sites and other Internet traffic to see whether they qualify as obscene material whose purveyors should be prosecuted by the Justice Department.

His work is financed by a Justice Department grant initially provided through a Congressional earmark inserted into a spending bill by Representative Frank R. Wolf, Republican of Virginia."

Federal Effort on Web Obscenity Shows Few Results

"The grant, about $150,000 a year, has helped pay for Mr. Rogers and another retired law enforcement officer in Reno, Nev., to harvest and review complaints about obscene matter on the Internet that citizens register on the Justice Department Web site."

"In the last few years, 67,000 citizens’ complaints have been deemed legitimate under the program and passed on to the Justice Department and federal prosecutors."

"The number of prosecutions resulting from those referrals is zero."

Here's the good part. Their website cautions "against citizens searching the Internet for obscene websites to report. Men are particularly vulnerable to pornographic addiction with its highly destructive consequences."

"It is the job of law enforcement agents to police the Internet."

So guys, be careful out there.