PUC Backs Suits by Phone Companies to Unplug Dial-a-Porn

In a ruling that could help to pull the plug on many sexually explicit telephone services, the California Public Utilities Commission decided Wednesday that Pacific Bell and other public telephone providers can act as private firms in taking legal action against so-called dial-a-porn operators.

The action, based on a 1987 federal court case in Arizona, means that phone companies in California can act to protect their own business reputations even though regulating agencies permit dial-a-porn services to operate under First Amendment protection, commission attorney Gretchen Dumas said.

Although the ruling does not automatically end dial-a-porn services, Pacific Bell officials described it as a significant step forward in the company’s long fight to remove sexually explicit messages from the company’s 976 public access system.

Pacific Bell, which operates nearly 80% of the phone lines in California, including most in the city of Los Angeles, has battled to remove dial-a-porn from its lines since the messages first became available four years ago, company spokeswoman Lissa Zanville said. Until now, she said, the company has been able to restrict dial-a-porn only by blocking access to the services for consumers willing to pay a small charge.

Critics of dial-a-porn, concerned that young children may be able to reach recorded and live sexually explicit messages, have often made Pacific Bell a target of their attacks, Zanville said.

‘Setback to Our Reputation’

“All of the sexually explicit 976 services have been a setback to our reputation,” she said. “We are painted with the same brush as the dial-a-porn services, partly because (the services) appear on our monthly bills. It’s done tremendous damage.”

Immediately after Wednesday’s ruling, the phone company’s attorneys rushed to file suit at the U.S. District Court in San Francisco, seeking to rid itself of “10 or 12” dial-a-porn services, Zanville said.

She said officials do not know when to expect the court to rule on the new lawsuit.

Dumas, who dealt closely with the issue, described the ruling as a “clarification” of the commission’s position a year ago when it said dial-a-porn could only be regulated through blocking. That picture changed in September, 1987, when the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Mountain Bell, which provides phone service in Arizona, could legally block dial-a-porn services there.

In light of that decision, Dumas said, “We’re simply saying that authority (now) exists.”

Past Efforts Thwarted

In its past efforts to end dial-a-porn, Pacific Bell was thwarted by First Amendment guarantees of free speech and legal problems of “prior restraint,” Zanville said. In other words, she explained, the phone company was not able to stop dial-a-porn messages that had yet to be communicated, even though past messages might be shown to be obscene.

The commission’s ruling gives the phone company a different legal argument with which to attack the problem, she said.

In a related action Wednesday, Pacific Bell announced plans to refund the $2 blocking fee paid by customers who have asked to be restricted from dial-a-porn. Zanville said the company will identify those who have paid the fee since blocking became possible in January and will give a $2 credit on the April or May phone bill.