Quote:
Originally Posted by GatorB
And even a conservative SC will not agree with the fact that some backwater community standards should apply tot eh internet. A porn shop is a real building that is in the community. The internet is something that each individual let's or not into his own home. No SC will agree with the fact that your neighbors can dictate what you watch on TV or your computer in the privacy of your own home.
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I wouldn't be so sure about that. There was a case a while back where a judge said that by posting something on the internet you are making it available to all communities and that you could be held accountable by some of them. He said that a person doesn't have a constitutional right to put something on the internet especially if the know it could be considered illegal in some areas.
It has a been a while since I saw the article so I don't remember what judge said this and it wasn't a ruling but basically he was saying you could make a porn video and sell it locally and you would be exercising your freedom of speech, but that the freedom of speech doesn't guarantee you the right to sell it anywhere you please. They could easily take someone to court in Godwater, Deep South and say that you are making that available to our community and we think it is obscene. People in California may not feel that way, but we do so we have the right to take you to task for it.
So I wouldn't be so sure if that argument was made the the SC would not find for them and say that local governments can go after websites that are available in their community. This has been a conversation that has been going on for some time and there was never a case out there that set any kind of legal precedence. If this ruling is allowed to stand there would now be one.
I would like to think that somewhere up the chain someone would agree that the internet is a voluntary thing and that each of us determines our own standards when using it. There is all kinds of filtering software out there that lets you block things you don't want so, as you say, your neighbor shouldn't be allowed to tell you what you can and can't look at in your home and you can block stuff you don't want to see. That said you never know what a court will do and I can see how some of the SC judges could find themselves saying, "Communities should be allowed to protect themselves from having this filth piped into their homes."
All this said, I think mainstream stuff, anything softcore and stuff considered pretty much vanilla, would be very hard to prosecute anywhere. Hell, half the shows on MTV are nearly porn and regular porn is becoming more and more mainstream with each passing day. I don't think there will be an all out war on porn, but I wouldn't be surprised (if this case eventually is allowed to stand) if there were not more prosecutions of the extreme type content.