GOP hopes for more porn prosecutions; Bush to weigh MS case

[Declan McCullagh]

http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,41164,00.html

    As the Porn Peril Turns
    by Declan McCullagh (declan at wired.com)

    2:00 a.m. Jan. 13, 2001 PST
    WASHINGTON -- The peril of online porn is why John Ashcroft should be
    the next attorney general, conservative organizations said on Friday.

    At a press conference organized to support Ashcroft's embattled
    nomination, the groups predicted that, among his other virtues, he
    would kick off a wave of Net-sex prosecutions.

    Beverly LaHaye of Concerned Women for America said that Ashcroft,
    unlike Attorney General Janet Reno, would enforce "laws against
    obscenity."

    Donna Rice-Hughes, the former Gary Hart gal pal turned antiporn
    activist, described herself as an "Internet safety advocate in support
    of John Ashcroft for attorney general."

    "The $1.5 billion online porn industry has continued to prosper with
    an anything-goes green light from the current Justice Department,"
    said Rice-Hughes, who founded Enough is Enough.

    "When George W. won, the porn industry lost," said Rice-Hughes, who
    claimed that online prurience "exploits women, preys on men and
    invades the innocence of (America's) children."

    [...]



http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,41163,00.html

    DOJ Pushes Case Against MS
    by Declan McCullagh
    9:45 a.m. Jan. 12, 2001 PST

    President-elect George W. Bush and his cabinet will soon decide what
    to do about the Microsoft antitrust case, a spokesman said on Friday.

    "The incoming administration and the incoming attorney general will
    review them and make any decisions as necessary," Ari Fleischer,
    Bush-Cheney transition spokesman, said in response to a question about
    Microsoft and other lawsuits the Clinton administration has filed.

    Fleischer, at the daily transition press conference, said he would not
    comment further on the Microsoft case. But he said that in general,
    Bush believes that the feds "too often engage in litigation to solve
    problems."

    "The president-elect will not rush to litigate the way some folks in
    Washington enjoy litigating," Fleischer said.

    [...]