Until earlier this week, a PSA announcement aired on an Arizona radio station informing listeners how to safely keep child pornography.
Paul Lotsof is the man behind the recording. Lotsof owns an oldies country station called CAVE 97.7 FM that would air the PSA late at night.
The PSA told listeners how to properly save child pornography. “Always use an external drive and hide it where nobody will ever find it. Likewise, never keep paper pictures, tapes or films of naked juveniles where anybody else can find them,” the PSA said.
After being aired for two years, people created a petition on Change.org where they asked the FCC to take away Lotsof’s license.
Although the PSA is receiving harsh criticism, Lotsof is not backing down and is defending the child porn PSA. He believes that the PSA needs to be heard because penalties for possessing child pornography are ‘too harsh.’
Lotsof said, “My feeling is that these people don’t deserve life in prison just because they have pictures of naked juveniles.”
In Arizona, ‘exploitation of a minor’ is considered a class 2 felony and requires a sentence of at least 10 years.
Mark Dannels, a Cochise County Sheriff, said, “This is very disturbing to know that a member of our local media, who should be one of the responsible groups of people to provide factual information to our public to keep them safe, is promoting and encouraging criminal behavior.”
However, the PSA is considered free speech and protected under the First Amendment.
“Freedom of speech does not include telling people to commit crimes and continuing to pass on this information could lead to judicial action being taken,” said Dannels.
See the full story on the WashingtonPost.com.