Originally Posted by Libertine

They only deserve it if you consider the law in question to be a just one. They did not get convicted for being open about what they did, they got convicted for publishing materials deemed obscene.

A legal system should not be based on forcing people to keep a low profile, and law enforcement should not answer to public outrage. "Don't ask, don't tell" is not a sound principle upon which to build justice.

At present, obscenity laws are awful. The principle of "community standards" only serves to avoid having to make decisions about basic liberties. The principle itself is a refusal to acknowledge the fundamental truth that having freedom of speech will lead to a situation in which people can and will make comments that others will consider both distasteful and offensive.

The situation right now is comparable to one where the principle of freedom of religion is upheld only up to the point at which people start choosing religions that the majority of people do not agree with.

Personally, I find the EA content disgusting, and I consider Rob Black and Lizzy Borden to be absolute idiots. Nevertheless, they most definitely did not deserve this conviction, since it was based on a fundamentally flawed and unjust law.