GUILT BY ASSOCIATION? Other 976 vendors complainAuthor(s): Nancy BlodgettSource: ABA Journal, Vol. 74, No. 4 (APRIL 1, 1988), p. 31Published by: American Bar AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20759837 .

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sage network." Carlin Communica

tions v. Mountain States, 827 F.2d 1291 (1987). In 1986, the llth Circuit held similarly in Carlin Communi cations v. Southern Bell, 802 F.2d

K 1352. Phone companies are scram

bling to find solutions to the problem of children's easy access to dial-a

porn. The Federal Communications Commission has urged methods to re strict minors' access. These include

1 requiring callers to use an access code or pay with a credit card before they can hear the messages.

In the California case, plaintiffs had asked Pacific Bell to imple ment?at no customer expense?

screening or blocking devices to the f 976 prefix generally used by dial-a

porn vendors. And in December, the state's Public Utilities Commission did order Pacific Bell to block such calls upon request.

?Nancy Blodgett

GULT BY ASSOCIATION?

Other 976 vendors complain

Bernard David Walter

Charging that their images have been tainted by porno services, phone information services that share the 976 prefix with dial-a-porn vendors have begun to sue them and the phone companies. One plaintiff, Tel eline Inc. of Beverly Hills, Calif., is seeking $1 million from the porn vendors.

The information services bit terly complain that they're spending

more time telling people they don't sell sex messages than they do pro moting their own services.

Plus, some phone companies, like Pacific Bell, are now allowing resi dents to block all 976 calls from being made. The phone company's action was taken to help customers prevent their children from running up sky high phone bills. But blocking 976 calls also cuts off services that offer such information as sports news, stock prices and job listings.

In January, Teleline, a "whole some" educational service for chil dren, sued dial-a-porn vendors

Premier Communications and Debby Propoprsky for interference with economic opportunity and unlawful business practices. The firm also sued

Pacific Bell for breach of contract and negligent misrepresentation. Tele line v. Pacific Bell, No. 886497 (S.F. Super. Ct.).

Pacific Bell had broken its prom ise to Teleline that it would not give dial-a-porn providers similar num

bers without first telling the firm, ac

cording to the complaint. "Dial-a-porn is running legiti

mate services out of business and tainting the 976 industry," asserted Bernard David Walter, the San Fran cisco lawyer for Teleline.

Walter says that the dial-a-porn defendants were given phone num bers from Pacific Bell similar to Tel eline's and that children have misdialed the number only to receive information about violence, mutila tion and incest.

A British firm with offices in San Francisco?Healthcall, a medical in formation 976 line, also claims injury from the dial-a-porn vendors and is likewise considering legal action against Pacific Bell.

"We've had to keep telling peo ple that our line is not porn because 976 has become synonymous with that," lamented Dr. Michael Ognall, spokesman for Healthcall.

Operating since April 1987, Healthcall has spent $900,000 pro moting its 976 number, which offers 314 different tapes on subjects rang ing from cancer to mental illness. Last September, however, it ceased all ad vertising because it was spending too much money trying to disassociate it self from dial-a-porn.

To remedy the problem, Pacific Bell proposed that Healthcall move to the 900 prefix?at the medical line's expense. "We're not enthralled with that," Ognall said.

In January, AT&T issued a re lease explaining its policy on dial-a porn, saying it "must deal with the difficult issue of pornography on its network without abridging its com mitment to privacy and freedom of communications.

"We will not censor messages or refuse to carry them based on their content. Where we have a choice, however, we clearly choose not to be associated with pornography."

The 9th and 11th Circuits have already ruled that phone companies can choose not to give porn vendors access to their dial-a-message net

works. ?Nancy Blodgett

ABA JOURNAL / APRIL 1, 1988 31

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