The Georgia Computer or Electronic Pornography and Child Exploitation Prevention Act of 2007

The Georgia legislature passed the Computer Electronic Pornography and Child Exploitation Prevention Act of 2007 to prevent the use of the Internet and other online and electronic services for the purposes of soliciting, arranging for, or facilitating the sexual exploitation of children (those under the age of 16). It contains several provisions banning certain practices.

Soliciting Or Providing Information On Children for Sexual Purposes

The law states that a person commits the offense of “computer or electronic pornography” if he or she “intentionally or willfully” compiles, enters into, transmits, makes, prints, publishes, reproduces, buys, sells, receives, exchanges, disseminates, causes or allows to be entered into or transmitted by computer or other electronic device “any notice, statement, or advertisement, or any child's name, telephone number, place of residence, physical characteristics, or other descriptive or identifying information for the purpose of offering or soliciting sexual conduct of or with an identifiable child or visual depiction of such conduct.”

In other words, it is illegal to seek out, provide or transmit information informing people about opportunities for sexual contact with children. Violating this provision carries a penalty of one to twenty years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.

Soliciting A Child Online For A Sexual Offense

The law also states that it is unlawful “for any person intentionally or willfully to utilize a computer on-line service or Internet service, including but not limited to a local bulletin board service, Internet chat room, e-mail, on-line messaging service, or other electronic device, to seduce, solicit, lure, or entice, or attempt to seduce, solicit, lure, or entice a child or another person believed by such person to be a child to commit” any unlawful sexual offense.

Thus, it is illegal to use the Internet or other services to attempt to lure a child into a sexual interaction. Anyone convicted of violating this provision is guilty of a felony and will be punished by one to twenty years in prison and a fine of up to $25,000. (However, if the victim was 14 or 15 years of age and the perpetrator was no more than three years older than the victim, the crime is a misdemeanor of a high and aggravated nature.)

Obscene Internet Contact With A Child

The law also says that a person commits the offense of “obscene Internet contact with a child” if “he or she has contact with someone he or she knows to be a child or with someone he or she believes to be a child via a computer on-line service or Internet service, including but not limited to a local bulletin board service, Internet chat room, e-mail, or on-line messaging service, and the contact involves any matter containing explicit verbal descriptions or narrative accounts of sexually explicit nudity, sexual conduct, sexual excitement, or sadomasochistic abuse that is intended to arouse or satisfy the sexual desire of either the child or the person.”

Basically, this means you cannot use an online service to have contact with children that involves sexually explicit messages. A conviction for this offense carries a sentence of one to ten years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000. (If the victim was 14 or 15 years old and the perpetrator was no more than three years older, the defendant is guilty of a misdemeanor of a high and aggravated nature.)

Responsibility of Online Service Providers

Finally, the law specifies that it is illegal “for any operator of a computer on-line service, Internet service, local bulletin board service, or other electronic device that is in the business of providing a service that may be used to sexually exploit a child to intentionally or willfully permit a subscriber to utilize the service to commit a violation” of any of the previous provisions “knowing that such person intended to utilize such service to violate” this law.

Therefore, online services providers are guilty if they intentionally allow subscribers to use their platforms to commit the offenses laid out above. A conviction for violating this part of the law is considered a misdemeanor of a high and aggravated nature.

A Georgia Child Pornography Defense Lawyer Can Help

If you have been accused of a sex crime in Atlanta or the surrounding areas, call The Berry Law Group today. We will work with you to begin building your defense right away!