INFO from USA
MDS, 22 Oct 2005 21:03:05
Wave of Obscenity Prosecutions by Feds.
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>National Coalition for Sexual Freedom
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>Contact:
>Susan Wright, NCSF Spokesperson
>(917) 848-6544
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>Wave of Obscenity Prosecutions Leads to Closure and Self-Censorship
>of SM Websites
>
>October 20, 2005 - Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has announced
>that his office will specifically target "bestiality, urination,
>defecation, as well as sadistic and masochistic behavior" in
>pursuing new obscenity prosecutions. The Department of Justice began
>recruiting in late July for a new anti-obscenity squad to pursue
>obscenity prosecutions, and the FBI announced in September that it
>was forming an anti-obscenity task force to crack down on
>pornography.
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>Any website that has content containing "bestiality, urination,
>defecation, as well as sadistic and masochistic behavior" should be
>forewarned that prosecution is possible. Additionally, Federal
>sentencing guidelines state that any obscenity-related punishment
>should be "enhanced for sadomasochistic material."
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>Forty people and businesses have been convicted of obscenity since
>2001, and 20 additional indictments are pending according to Andrew
>Oosterbaan, chief of the Justice Department's child exploitation and
>obscenity section. There were only four obscenity prosecutions
>during the eight years of the Clinton administration.
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>Though adult content is, in theory, protected by the First
>Amendment, only a jury can determine if a work is obscene or not
>under the subjective set of standards that vary from one community
>to the next established in the 1973 Supreme Court ruling, Miller v.
>California.
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>Text is not inherently more protected than images when it comes to
>obscenity charges. The erotic fiction website Red Rose Stories is
>facing obscenity charges after federal agents raided the owner's
>home on October 3rd, taking computer equipment and diskettes that
>contained all of their files and site information.
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>The Department of Justice is clearly hoping that websites will self-
>censor or
>remove their content entirely. Midori, a fetish model and SM
>educator who teaches classes on bondage, has removed her website,
>BeautyBound.com, citing fear of obscenity prosecution. The owner of
>three SM websites, known as GrandPa DeSade, removed his websites
>from the Internet.
>SuicideGirls.com also announced they are self-censoring their
>materials over concerns about a possible obscenity crackdown.
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>Recent prosecutions of obscenity on websites include: A former
>police officer in Lakeland, Florida, was arrested on October 7th on
>over 300 obscenity-related charges for the sexual content posted on
>his website. The same day, webmaster Chris Wilson, owner of amateur
>website NowThatsFuckedUp.com, was raided on charges of obscenity by
>a local Sheriffs office.
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>"I think it's crucial for us to stand up for consensual
>sadomasochism and other
>alternative sexual practices," says Barbara Nitke, fetish
>photographer. "This is a battle worth fighting, and I hope everyone
>who can will just censor out the most provocative material from
>their websites, but keep them up. I also appeal to the lawyers in
>our community to help us find ways to keep people's websites up."
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>Barbara Nitke and the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom (NCSF)
>have proactively challenged federal obscenity laws as applied to the
>Internet, arguing that obscenity laws based on "local community
>standards" are too vague and their existence burdens protected
>speech, resulting in self-censorship due to the fear of prosecution.
>A district court three-judge panel in New York ruled that while
>Nitke and the NCSF members were at risk, more proof was needed that
>obscenity laws cause otherwise protected speech to be restrained
>through acts of self-censorship. The case is currently on appeal to
>the United States Supreme Court.
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>"The effect of silencing alternative lifestyle speech was exactly
>why we brought the lawsuit," says attorney John Wirenius, lead
>counsel for NCSF. "The self-censorship we are seeing underscores the
>importance of supporting our ongoing obscenity challenge."
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>To contribute to the appeal of the CDA lawsuit, go to:
>www.ncsfreedom.org/donations.htm
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>National Coalition for Sexual Freedom - www.ncsfreedom.org
>Barbara Nitke - www.barbaranitke.com
>
>###
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>A project of NCSF
>
>The National Coalition for Sexual Freedom is a national organization
>committed to creating a political, legal, and social environment in
>the United States that advances equal rights of consenting adults
>who practice forms of alternative sexual _expression. NCSF is
>primarily focused on the rights of consenting adults in the SM-
>leather-fetish, swing, and polyamory communities, who often face
>discrimination because of their sexual _expression.
>
>National Coalition for Sexual Freedom
>822 Guilford Avenue, Box 127
>Baltimore, MD 21202-3707
>410-539-4824
>media@...
>www.ncsfreedom.org