OTHER NEWS - July 17, 1991

Phone Sex Ruling Rings Up End of an Era: Callers to dial-a-porn services may soon find the sultry voice at the other end of the line has been disconnected, now that a federal appeals court agreed to make access to the sex messages more difficult. A law requiring customers to request access in writing was upheld by the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, overturning a lower court’s opinion and clearing the way for enforcement nationwide. Experts said the ruling could pose a fatal threat to the dial-a-porn industry, which like other phone services connected after the breakup of American Telephone & Telegraph in 1983 is highly dependent on the type of impulse calls the new restrictions are likely to squelch.