Knightdale Grandmother Wants To Put Porn Sites In Their Place

A Knightdale grandmother is working on what she believes is the perfect solution to prevent kids from taking accidental trips into the world of porn.

Mary Conyers' granddaughter accidentally ended up at a porn site after she added an "s" to the word "teen" in a Web address.

"There are so many sites like that that are deliberately set to draw people in," Conyers said.

Conyers was so mad, she called the State Bureau of Investigation, but said she was told there was nothing the agency could do. An agent suggested she write letters.

"I've written to every PTA in the nation, written to every magazine that concerns children. I wrote to all of the Wake County legislators and the U.S. Congressmen, I wrote the President," she said.

In her letters, Conyers seeks support for porn to be moved to its own ".xxx" domain.

"The porn dealers are still in business," she said. "We've not taken them out of business. It's just moving them to a different place in the store just like we had to move adult magazines to [another] place in the store."

The nonprofit public policy organization, the

Center for Democracy and Technology

, said the ".xxx" idea has been floated around before and will not work.

Spokesman Ari Schwartz said it would be impossible to determine which Internet sites should be in the domain since pornography is viewed differently around the world.

Schwartz also believes the Supreme Court would find such a move unconstitutional, because it would be a restrictive means of speech.

Conyers said she has heard back from many people, including North Carolina Senators John Edwards and Jesse Helms.

State Representative Sam Ellis of Wake County said he is preparing a resolution to be sent to Congress urging the body to take up the ".xxx" domain.

The Center for Democracy and Technology suggests Conyers should press the Federal Trade Commission to go after porn Web sites with names similar to kids Web sites for deceptive advertisement.

Last month, The U.S. House of Representatives approved a bill to create a kid-focused Internet zone intended to be free of pornography, violence and other adult material. It would be called ".kids.us" and would be appropriate for children 12 years and younger.

North Dakota Senator Byron Dorgan says he will introduce similar legislation in the Senate.

Anyone who is interested in joining Conyers' crusade can contact her by

e-mail

or write to her at :

Soapbox P. O. Box 749 Knightdale, N.C. 27545