Abstract

This Article considers the Supreme Court's suggestion that creating a market for virtual pornography is not only innocuous to actual children, but could actually protect them, and recommends a mechanism to regulate the virtual pornography market in a manner that balances the rights of virtual pornographers with the prosecution of actual child pornographers. Part II traces the events leading up to the Free Speech decision, commencing with the enactment of the Child Pornography Prevention Act of 1996 (CPPA). Part III discusses the Free Speech opinion and the post-Free Speech cases. Part IV examines the PROTECT Acts -- the legislative response to the Supreme Court's decision. Part V concludes that regulation of the virtual pornography industry is the most effective method of protecting children and free speech rights. Building upon existing statutory record-keeping provisions and adapting them to virtual pornography can best accomplish such regulation.