Yahoo slammed over porn sites

Yahoo continues to allow child pornography and obscenity to be posted on its servers, according to a US pro-family organisation.

Patrick Trueman, the chief lobbyist for the American Family Association (AFA) said yesterday that, although Yahoo said it would remove such material two months ago, it was still accessible.

"A search of Yahoo's Clubs and GeoCities sites, which are available to anyone, including children, indicates that a seemingly endless number of the sites contain pornography depicting children in a variety of sexual poses and involved in sex acts," he said.

In early April the AFA urged US Attorney General John Ashcroft to investigate the internet giant for federal child pornography and obscenity violations, and Trueman is now bringing Yahoo to the attention of Ashcroft again.

"Although Yahoo seems to have removed many Clubs and GeoCities sites with potentially illegal material, and has discontinued sales of hardcore pornographic videos, the company is still a magnet for paedophiles and those seeking all varieties of hardcore pornography," said Trueman.

"Yahoo is involved in something that I maintain is illegal, both on the child side and with respect to obscenity," he added.

Both Ashcroft and Trueman attended a House Judiciary Committee in May at which time Ashcroft said he was concerned about obscenity and how it relates to children.

"The electronic data transmission revolution has revolutionised certain kinds of criminal activity and the technology involved in it makes it much more difficult for limited law enforcement agencies to operate as effectively as they might otherwise if the digital universe were not involved," explained Ashcroft.

He maintained that his office would try to be especially accommodating to local law enforcement. "I would think that would be an objective of ours in this respect," he said.

Yahoo did not respond to calls concerning the accusations. On its website the company's terms-of-service agreements acknowledge that some areas contain "adult or mature content" and prohibits the posting of "vulgar" or "objectionable" material.