WASHINGTON and LONDON — The WhiteHouse.gov petition asking the Obama administration to create an "opt-in" feature for online sexually explicit content has failed.
White House officials said on the petition's website that the petition failed to meet the signature threshold.
The petition needed 100,000 electronic signatures by Nov. 23 for some type of action to take place by appropriate policy experts in the Obama administration.
Meanwhile, a separate e-petition is circulating in the U.K. asking the Ministry of Justice to not make simulated rape porn a criminal offense.
"In January possession of all simulated 'rape' porn will be punishable by three years in jail," the petition says. "Simulation means between two consensually agreeing adults, not actual rape itself.
"This will have damaging implications; to say what people can and cannot fantasize about, to say what is right and wrong about a person's sexual preferences is not something we should expect in the world we live in today. It could even make people believe they are abnormal for having very normal fantasies. And if they are not carried out, safely at home online, then what could that lead to with low self-worth after believing they think 'criminal' thoughts?
"If this goes ahead, what next? A ban on particular adult toys, all films and books with violent rape scenes in? This is an unnecessary intrusion into our most private area of life and must be stopped to preserve free will and thought in society."
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