---

The second amendment, which the House agreed to by a 406-15 vote, represents Congress' second attempt to outlaw "morphed" or virtual child pornography. Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court slapped down Congress' first law banning nude images of computer-generated minors and underage teens, saying the 1996 measure violated the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of expression.

After amending the bill, called the Child Abduction Prevention Act (CAPA), the House then approved it by a vote of 410-14.
"The Internet can be used to deceive children into viewing inappropriate material," said Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., who drafted the domain name amendment. "These Web sites use legitimate-sounding domain names to lure children to sites with sexually explicit material. Imagine your own child visiting a Web site with a domain name that sounds like it contains educational or child-related materials, only to have a lewd image pop up on the monitor."

CAPA originally was intended to create an "Amber Alert" notification network for child kidnapping cases. The name refers to Amber Hagerman, a 9-year-old girl abducted in Arlington, Texas, and later found murdered. The proposal encountered modest opposition after House Judiciary Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wisc., decided to transform it into a broader proposal addressing criminal penalties, sex tourism and wiretapping.

"I commend the House for acting today on legislation that will help expand, enhance, and coordinate the successful Amber Alert system across our nation," President Bush said after the vote. "I look forward to the legislation reaching my desk as quickly as possible so that I may sign it into law."

One obstacle standing in the way of a speedy presidential signature is the Senate, which already approved the Amber Alert proposal without the additions the House glued onto it at the last minute. Because the two bills are different, a conference committee will be appointed to draft a compromise proposal.

The domain name amendment is similar to a bill that Rep. Pence introduced during the last session of Congress and reintroduced this year...

---