Mom Can't Sue AOL Over Child Porn
Originally published by The Associated Press, March 8, 2001
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — The state Supreme Court said Thursday that federal law shields America Online Inc. from illegal transactions—in particular, the sale of child pornography—taking place on its service.
In a 4-3 decision, Florida's high court said the Communications Decency Act gives the Internet service provider immunity from a lawsuit filed by a Florida woman, whose 11-year-old son appeared in a lewd videotape sold by one AOL user to another.
The mother alleged that AOL violated Florida criminal law prohibiting the distribution of pornography and was negligent by not knowning that one of its subscribers was a seller of child pornography and for not stopping him once complaints had been made.
Richard Lee Russell, a school teacher from a West Palm Beach suburb, admitted that he used AOL to meet other pedophiles and that he sold a lewd videotape of the boy to an Arizona man he met on AOL.
The boy's mother sued AOL and Russell, who pleaded guilty to federal charges in 1995 and is now serving a 14-year prison sentence.
Writing for the majority in Thursday's decision, Chief Justice Charles Wells said the federal act preempts Florida law and makes Internet providers immune from lawsuits like the one filed against AOL.
But Justice R. Fred Lewis wrote a strongly worded dissent in which he said the majority opinion was based on faulty analysis.
The majority's interpretation "flies in the face of the very purpose of the Communications Decency Act," Lewis wrote.
"The interpretation adopted today provides a foundation for far-ranging forms of illegal conduct … which (Web providers) can, very profitably and with total immunity, knowingly allow their customers to operate through their Internet services," Lewis wrote.
During oral arguments in September 1999, AOL attorney Patrick Carome told Florida's high court that by protecting online service providers from the threat of lawsuits, Congress eliminated the incentive for them to take a "see-nothing, know-nothing" stance.
Once the threat of lawsuits is removed, online service providers can take steps to police themselves, Carome argued. He said AOL has an elaborate system to encourage members to report child pornography.
But the boy's mother accused AOL of enforcing its rules so poorly that it became a "home shopping network for pedophiles and child pornographers."
Brian Smith, a lawyer for the woman, didn't immediately return a phone call.
Carome, a Washington attorney, also didn't immediately return a call.
