This led to further discovery of disturbing pornographic e-mail messages that her son had sent to a classmate whom he had a crush on.

On Sept. 14 the court upheld Mountain Bell's decision not to provide service to companies offering pornographic messages.

In 1999, a jury in Detroit found that Ms. Gilbert's male colleagues had harassed her for years with pornographic messages, vulgar talk and insults.

The penalties, $600,000 against each company, were the first enforcement actions the agency has taken against the operators of services in which telephone users pay a fee to dial and listen to pornographic messages.

Channel 4 News identified that Sulake was allowing users to post pornographic and violent messages - despite the fact that Habbo is targeted at young teenagers.

A two-month investigation found users posting pornographic and violent messages - despite the fact that Habbo is intended for young teenagers.

Indeed, Bright Light's founder, Sunil Paul, said that his inspiration for the company came when his wife expressed shock at receiving an unsolicited pornographic message.

Some users hold out ICQ, one of the earliest instant-messaging programs, as an example: The service, they say, has become plagued with unsolicited and often pornographic messages.

The dispatch said the purpose was to stop the spread of pornographic messages and false or deceptive advertising as well as to block illicit news and information.