Obscenity Laws, etc.
 

I need to know if there is any website that you can go to where you can find out the obscenity laws, etc. for your state or country? Why do I need this? It is for girls who perform live with webcams. If anyone has this information, it would be greatly appreciated. Please email me at [email protected] or ICQ # 62863562. Cheers,

Illegal to do it in Toronto... Shitty deal! its legal over here in ottawa though

No, for that you'll really need to go to your friendly local First Amendment lawyer. You should be able to find several who specialize in free speech issues in any major community in your state, and since obscenity is one of the common free speech issues they can advise you.

The problem is, with obscenity law the statutes (the actual written laws, regulations, ordinances, what-have-you) are the least of your problems. The reason is, the statutes just forbid various sorts of "obscene" or "lewd" activities, behaviors, & displays. Definitions, if any, tend to be circular and confusing.

The "law" that you need to know about is more practical. You need to know what the local prosecutors think is obscene enough to prosecute, you need to know what the local cops think is obscene enough to confiscate or stop, and (most vitally) you need to know what local juries think is obscene enough to convict you for.

In other words, the "law" you need to know about is intensely local, and changes fairly fast depending on who just got elected Assistant Prosecutor based on his ability to pound the Bible. No website in the world can give you reliable info like that. Only a LOCAL lawyer who actually worries about this stuff and keeps up on it is likely to be able to give you the assurances you probably want -- and have them be worth a damn.

On the bright side, if you just want info and you find a lawyer who already knows, you should be in and out of his office in half n hour. Don't deal with a lawyer who says he'll research it for you -- that's not the guy you want. You want the guy who already knows. Easy test since you are interested in webcam stuff: Ask him what's happening with the Voyeur Dorm case -- any porn-friendly free speech lawyer will know what you are talking about and have a quick answer for you.

Good luck!

Whoops, sorry! I didn't notice you were in Canada. Everything I just wrote is based on conditions in the United States, it's probably different elsewhere.

All I know is my constitution bro... but this gives a general idea of what obceneity laws are...

http://www.adultweblaw.com/laws/obscene.htm

also - http://superbooger.com/sponsors.html

Are you sure about that?

I'm not sure where you are located but in the USA it is a very local thing and obscenity is taken on a case by case basis. It's is all about where you live. For example: Seymour Butts was recently proscecuted in Los Angeles for showing fisting on a video. They offered him a plee that basically was a slap on a wrist and said that it was okay to still sell that video as long as he let buys know there was a censored version availible. So basically what they are saying is that in Los Angeles fisting is no obscene because the procesecuters didn't feel that they could get a jury to convict him so they offered him the plee. But if that same case were filed in some bible belt state you can bet it would have been a much more involved case. So I would start with where this girl is at and determine what type of area she lives in and go from there.

I think the prosecutors screwed up by making Adam's 72 year old mother a co-defendant. She'd be enough to inspire reasonable doubt in any jury.

Good thing they did it tho ;)

Hey Muffy ... flash this guy your tits BRO !!! :1orglaugh

Unless I am reading this wrong.... it not only matter where you are but WHAT THE COMMUNITY standards are, which would explain Los Angeles hehee...


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The current definition of obscenity requires the application of a three-part test enunciated by the Court in Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15 (1973). Under the so-called "Miller Test," a jury from the jurisdiction where an obscenity charge is brought will decide whether the content in question is obscene by asking:


"(a) whether the average person, applying contemporary community standards, would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest,
(b) whether the work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by the applicable state law, and
(c) whether the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value."
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Quick ... Sombody call VideoSecrets and Lovesexxxy and warn them ... before they get busted !!! :(

In case you ask what community standards are.... I always like to get a legal definition...

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Contemporary Community Standards

What is considered "art" versus "obscenity" varies in different jurisdictions, based on the prevailing "contemporary community standards." Juries in obscenity prosecutions are asked to guess what most people in their community would think about the content in question. This means that if obscenity is charged in Hollywood or Manhattan, "obscenity" will probably mean something different than if the crime is charged in, for example, Cincinnati, Ohio.

The Internet is a unique forum in at least one regard: while other forms of communication such as magazines or videos must be physically brought into a hostile jurisdiction, allowing you to choose whether to do business there, the content of your adult website can be viewed by anyone anywhere with a computer and Internet access. What this means for adult site webmasters is that it doesn't matter where you, your pictures, or server are located - you risk prosecution if a prosecutor anywhere views your adult website or home page and believes that the content is obscene.

For example, a husband and wife operating a Bulletin Board System (BBS) from their house in Milpitas, California, were prosecuted and convicted in Tennessee for displaying obscene content. The BBS provided, among other things, access to GIF scans for a membership fee. A U.S. Postal Inspector purchased a membership from Memphis, Tennessee. The husband called the Inspector in Memphis and gave him an access code.

The Inspector brought six counts against the couple under 18 U.S.C. § 1465 for using a means of interstate commerce (a combined computer and telephone system) for the purpose of transporting obscene images, namely GIF files containing images of "bestiality, oral sex, incest, sado-masochistic abuse, and sex scenes involving urination." The couple was convicted on all six counts, and a few others including mailing a sexually explicit video to Tennessee. Their computer system was "forfeited" (the government took their property by force without compensation - see 18 U.S.C. § 1467), the husband was sentenced to 37 months in prison, and the wife was sentenced to 30 months. The Appeals Court upheld their convictions, and the Supreme Court refused to hear the case. See United States v. Thomas, 74 F.3d 701 (6th Cir.), Cert. denied, 117 S.Ct. 74 (1996).

Image files are not the only medium that can land you in jail. In another case, Jake Baker published stories in an Internet newsgroup entitled "alt.sex.stories," that graphically described the torture, rape, and murder of a woman with the same name of one of Baker's classmates at the University of Michigan. He also sent similar stories and communication via email to a friend. Baker was charged under 18 U.S.C. § 875(c) with threatening to kidnap and injure another person. A true threat to injure or kidnap another person is not protected speech under the 1st Amendment. The charges against Baker were eventually dismissed because his words were not "true threats," but he was kicked out of school, denied bail, and he spent one month incarcerated. Plain text, if it explicitly describes sexual conduct, might provide the basis for an obscenity charge.
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The best rule of thumb for gauging what's acceptable is look around and see what kind of videos and mags are available in your town.

I live in a small town, but it's a college town and in the NE so it's pretty liberal. There's plenty of porn, the convenience store down the street sells hardcore mags like Puritan, so I'm fearless so long as no one tries to fuck the dog.

However if you're in a town where people rent cable version porn and can't buy hard liquor, move.