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In an attempt to give parents more control over the Internet material available in their homes, lawmakers Tuesday passed through committee a bill that would set up a "rating system" for Web sites, as well as a registry of those with adult content.

"Pornography is the most dangerous addictive substance available in America," said Fraser Bullock, a spokesman for Citizens Against Pornography.

"This is an unseen epidemic happening in nearly all of our homes."

The sponsor of House Bill 260, Rep. John Dougall, R-Highland, said the bill is a multi-pronged approach to solving the problem.

The foundation of the bill is education focusing on researching limited access technology and educating parents.

The other two aspects are notification - through both an in-state rating system and a registry of harmful content - and tools to block such material if the consumer chooses.

The bill also seeks $250,000 to pay for public service announcements, research and to establish the "adult content registry."

Although no one spoke against the bill in the committee, the Internet Commerce Coalition (ICC) issued a statement opposing the measure and accusing it of limiting free expression.

However, Kent Millington, former president of Verio, one of the world's largest Web hosting companies, said the ICC inaccurately depicted and grossly overstated the flaws in the proposed system.

The original draft of HB260 required blocking offensive material and carried a constitutional note indicating it had a "high probability" of being struck down as violating free-speech guarantees.

A substitute version, which gives consumers the choice of accessing or blocking material, is free of the legal warning.

Because of interstate commerce laws, Utah can require only those providers within the state to adhere to the proposed new regulations.

But supporters said other states would jump on the bandwagon.