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Like the blogger at Chasing Rainbows, I too support freedom of speech. After all, it's a basic right guaranteed to all Americans, isn't it? Yet, I also agree with the Chasing Rainbows blogger when she questions whether free speech protection should apply to pedophiles like Jack McClellan. McClellan, according to a story in the The New York Times writes unabashedly about his pedophilia and openly admits he is a pedophile, including sharing information about his favorite places to stalk children.
Despite his openness about his desire to have sex with children, law enforcement can't touch McClellan, who according to reports claims he's never touched a child in a sexual manner. Criminal databases appear to support this claim; he has no record. Without a record and due to free speech protection, it seems there's nothing anyone can do to stop McClellan from writing openly about his pedophilia and his desires.
He claims he's never molested a child, but one police officer quoted in The New York Times story said he's never met a pedophile who hasn't acted out his perversion.
It may seem that no one can stop this pedophile, but that's not stopping outraged mothers on the Internet from investigating what can be done about McClellan legally.
One group of mothers, whose members by and large have never met before, will soon band together in a coffee shop to hammer out plans to push lawmakers in Sacramento to legislate Mr. McClellan out of business. “Just the idea that this person could get away with what he was doing and no one could press charges has made me angry,” said Jane Thompson, a stay-at-home mother in East Los Angeles who recently read Mr. McClellan’s comments about a festival in her neighborhood in which he seemed to be describing her child. ... Mothers from Pasadena to Marina del Rey will soon gather to discuss possible legislative options, Ms. Thompson said. (from The New York Times article)
Furthermore, some Los Angeles parents familiar with McClellan's blog are committed to "tracking and recording" McClellan's movements.
As Linda Perry of PeachheadFamiles.com said in The Times story, "At least we know what he looks like." If any BlogHer readers are curious about McClellan's appearance, you'll find pictures of the pedophile at The Times article, which also quotes first amendment expert Eugene Volokh from the University of California. (Please see update at the end of post. McClellan is angry that police have posted his picture on the Web.)
Are you outraged? Will you rethink posting your children's pictures on the Web?
According to the professor, it's possible that legislation could be enacted to stop the kind of information McClellan posts. He suggests such legislation would be similar to a federal statute that "bars the posting of bomb-making information on the Web." However, he also said that "simply providing information about where children gather was not likely to constitute such a crime." (See The New York Times )
The professor also commented on the use of photos taken in public:
“The general rule is pictures of people in public are free for people to publish. Now if it is without permission and the person is a child and he suggests the children are sexual targets, you can imagine a court saying this is a new First Amendment exception. But it would be an uphill battle.” (The Times)
Perhaps it was this statement that caused MySpace blogger Cynthia to say "This is why I will not post my children's pics on my page."
I decided to no longer post my children's pictures (of which I had only posted a few) more than a year ago when I realized the perverted categories they might fall into under Google Images. Like many mommy bloggers, I think some pictures of my children are funny enough or cute enough to share, but the difficulty in controlling the use of these pictures disturbed me.
I also used to have on my website the "Baby Beyonce" video which showed a little girl (a toddler) imitating Beyonce Knowles. It never occurred to me that pedophiles would flock to the video. Ignoring the objections of web surfers looking for the "Baby Beyonce" video, I took it down and left it down. I'd noticed porn sites linking to the video and that was enough for me.
Some who found my stance prudish said things like "Her parents sent
