WASHINGTON, DC – The conservative advocacy group Family Research Council is praising the Department of Justice and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales for cracking down on the internet porn industry, citing last week’s indictment of three alleged spammers in particular.“Attorney General Gonzales deserves our thanks and congratulations for the Department of Justice’s new, aggressive approach to prosecuting pornography-related offenses,” said FRC’s senior legal counsel Patrick Trueman. “General Gonzales is taking dead aim at the heart of the porn industry by targeting those who randomly send unsolicited pornographic emails in an effort to gain new customers.”

Last week, a federal grand jury in Arizona returned a nine-count indictment against Jeffrey A. Kilbride, 39 of Venice, California; James R. Schaffer, 39, of Paradise Valley, Arizona; and Jennifer R. Clason, 32, formerly of Tempe, Arizona. The indictment charged all three defendants with two counts of fraud and related activity in connection with electronic mail under the CAN-SPAM Act and one count of criminal conspiracy. In addition, Schaffer was charged with one count of operating three pornographic Internet websites without including required statements describing the location of identification and other records for the performers portrayed in the websites.

“Until now, Internet pornographers have been given carte blanche to do as they please, including violating the privacy and sensibilities of children and adults who do not wish to receive unsolicited pornography,” Trueman said. “But a new day is dawning at the Department of Justice, and the porn industry now knows that the Attorney General meant business in May when he announced a new effort to target the sale and distribution of illegal pornography portrayed on websites, as is required by federal law.”

The FRC has also voiced strong opposition to the proposed .xxx top level domain, encouraging their members and supporters to contact Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) in an attempt to stop the .xxx domain from being approved.