A lawsuit filed against a registry that blocks pornographic e-mails and texts from going to children has been dropped.
The Free Speech Coalition, which consists of members of the adult-entertainment industry, sued the state in 2005 for violation of free speech after the Legislature created the Utah Child Protection Registry. The Web site allows users to enter phone numbers and e-mail addresses into a do-not-call type of service. Companies that advertise pornography, alcohol, illegal drugs tobacco and gambling are required to screen their messages against the list and remove anyone registered.
"So many states have been waiting for the outcome of this lawsuit, and now I think you're going to see many other states creating such sites," said Paul Murphy, spokesman for the Utah Attorney General's Office.
But Jerome Mooney, the coalition's Salt Lake City-based attorney, said his clients dropped the suit because they realized concerns the 4-year-old registry would hurt the adult-entertainment business in Utah were unfounded.
"There was not sufficient significant impact to justify continuing the lawsuit," Mooney said.
Utah was the first state to create such a service, and only Michigan has followed since. About 340,000 Utahns have signed up at https://donotcontact.utah.gov.
"This registry really protects businesses who want to send out pornographic e-mails to customers, and it also protects children from receiving e-mails that no one wants kids to have," Murphy said.
