Bill would imprison Net sex chatters

A bill has been proposed that would make sexually explicit Internet chat between an adult and a minor an offense punishable by up to two years of jail time. The National Council for the Child submitted a proposal to the Justice Ministry that would classify such communication with minors under the age of 14 as sexual harassment, an offense already punishable with up to two-year sentences. The law would be a breakthrough in Israeli law, which does not now forbid any Internet communications that are not "translated" into real-world actions.

According to attorney Vered Windman, deputy legal counsel at the Council for the Child, the existing law against sexual harassment only recognizes harassment of minors if the minor is dependent in some manner on the adult. Since Internet acquaintances don't have the weight of relationships between children and teachers or other authority figures, the law does not apply. According to Windman, after an investigator on a Channel 2 show masqueraded as a 13-year-old girl and illustrated how adults try to seduce her, the council decided the amendment was necessary.

According to the watchdog group, several other laws recognize that children under 14 do not have the ability to decide whether to offer consent in various matters. The proposal also includes a clause that would make it an offense to treat as a sex object any adults masquerading as children in Internet chat rooms.

Windman acknowledged the problems inherent in passing a law that considers use of words as an actual offense: "Israeli law used to include the offense of `sexual innuendo,' but it was removed precisely due to this problem, so it is hard to guess what the Justice Ministry position on the matter will be."

There have been numerous attempts to pass similar laws in the U.S., but they have all been thrown out by the courts for imposing restrictions on the First Amendment-protected freedom of speech.