Is hardcore porn illegal in the UK
 

Is it illegal to supply hardcore porn from the UK ?
I read some articles on google that UK has really strict porn and obsenity laws but couldn't find something specific.

Ie.. If I run a porn site from the UK full of hardcore porn maying it available worldwide, is that illegal?

Thanks

the internet aspect of it is unclear and in the least the only sites they have really gone after are those that have kids, animals or very extreme stuff.

However, in other forms of the media you are mostly correct. Barriers are starting to fall a bit at at time. Last year for the first time some hardcore videos were able to be sold legally in licenced sex shops. Yet, in most cases you still can't even show an erect penis in a magazine.

You can have softcore porn all you want - on tv at night, in newspapers but hardcore is still frowned on. I belive it is covered in the 'obscene publications act'.

The Liberal Deomcrats, one of the three UK political parties, has openly debated the notion of legalising hardcore porn. I feel that over the next 10 years the laws will quietly slip away to allow the gov't to go after the more extreme aspects (kids, animals) without getting tied up going after erect dicks.

Part of my reasoning is our increasing intergration into mainland Europe where a on a recent trip a friend of mine was able to buy 'nun sex volume 3' in a candy shop when we stopped for a break.

don't host here, there is no real point anyway - may as well host in Holland, as it's so close.

it used to be much worse, but thankfully the days of illegal shoots on scummy mattresses in Soho are over - now they are legal, same mattress though.:winkwink: :winkwink:

Host in America dude... Cheaper, faster and the majority of online purchases come from the US as you know.

I'm not talking about hosting. I'm talking about a company owning and operating a hardcore porn site from the UK.

the answer is there isn't a clear answer...it all depends on who you ask and when. I think a lot of the industry just try to make sure that pretty much all aspects of the opperations are outside the UK. Plus, you aren't going to find many webmasters in the UK pushing too hard for the law to be clarified because they could always clarify it by saying it is illegal.


I thought Canada and Australia had fairly strict laws too..am I wrong?

Of course its not...

we dont walk round in bowler hats, easting fish and chips, taking about the queen... ffs

We're pretty much like the US when its comes to porn... ;)

Dazza sorry you are wrong. There is a huge gulf between what is allowed to be produced and viewed in the UK and what is allowed in the USA.

If you live in the UK you know full well you can't easily buy legal hardcore porn.

Yes

Dopy - you are incorrect.

That's what we have the R18 regulations for. This only covers video. Most webmasters in the UK work to these guidelines.


BTW I do know of a case where a contact of mine who's an ex-playboy photographer and provided video for the Adult Channel on Sky was taken to court regarding producing hardcore material.... the police lost and he was awarded around £100,000 in damages.


Sarah is correct though... in respect, they only target extreme, kids and beast sites.

As for frowned upon... If anyone gets Film 4 Extreme which is basically a normal Sky Channel... watch out for Ai No Corrida - that shows erections, oral sex, ejeculations in the mouth and face, full penetration, group sex and insertions.... It's in Japanese but worth watching that film is rated as Certificate 18 NOT R18 which means for export and sale in licensed sex shops;)

It is actually very much like America in the respect of obscenity.... it's not illlegal until you appear in court and are found guilty.... look at the Paul Cambria, even he as a well known attorney can't say for sure what will be prosecuted in the states as obscene, he can only advise on past case history. This is why there is a grey area here too. They, the UK, do not want it defined so clearly.

Look at the Daily Sport's website - that's very hardcore and run by the newspaper guys in the UK. My advice - stick to the r18 guidelines....

The law in the UK is very hazy. It basically says it's obscene if it will corrupt those it is intended or likely to see it.

Otherwise what's legal in the US is legal in the UK. Penertration, erections, oral, cum shots, anal, DP, etc is all legal and pretty well trouble free in stills. If you are doing moving images you are going to have to have a sex shop license, obtained from the local council, and these are very hard to get.

Go to a Pakistani run newsagents and look at the top shelf mags, you will be surprised at what is allowed.

How do I know all this? I sell the pictures to UK magazines. :)

Your biggest problem is where you host from, if you host from the US you are not publishing in the UK. Therefore not governed by the UK publications laws. But steer very clear of kids, animals, toilet, abuse, pain and force related content.

Bottom line ask a lawyer for legal advice before you go forward.

I watched Ai No Corrida the first time it was shown uncut (no pun, you will get that if you saw it) on film four. They made a point of stressing it was a break through in the UK censorship laws.

I am often amused and puzzeled by the silly boundries in this country. It looks very much like a case of laws being slapped down over the years but not really being looked at to see if they make any sense. For example, we subscribed to the Adult Channel for a little bit (it was horrid, we canceled) they weren't able to show a woman giving a blowjob yet they were allowed to show a woman going down on a very realistic dildo. Now, what is the difference, she was holding the dildo in such a way that for a moment it looked like it was attached to a man.

The laws are comming down as soon as a politican gets the guts.

Charly are you sure about still photography? I ask because if you go to a licenced sex shop in soho and buy magazines imported from the US they often have black stickers over the hardcore portions of the magazines.

...hence my point about hosting, basically the risks you are likely to run into are all associated with hosting, or production - and production only if it's beast/rape etc...

My company works in the UK, banks in the UK (worse luck) and makes sure it hosts anywhere else on the planet it can.

haha, yes I've seen it at least twice ;) Yes, I do agree they did make a point about the break through and also the same with the 'Story of O' which was previously banned... but I have to admit, I can't see why the latter was banned. The biggest film I believe to be a complete contradiction in terms of R18 is the "Something Something.. or 120 Days in Sodom" shown over the last few months on Film4 Extreme. German filim, I think. That goes through many perverse acts - Shows Peeing on people, and depcits scat - shit eating out of a bowl... rape, and the worst part, how the female mistress tells the story of how she first sucked off a guy when she was 8 along with being a child prostitute and the other masters wank off while she tells this story... now that film is also classed at Cert 18, previously banned. I know this is on a artistic and supposedly on an informative level, but I've think you would agree... it was probably 100 times more sicker than anything shown on a 'true' adult webmaster's site in or out of the UK.


Charly and I both know the pioneering webmaster I was referring to in my previous post btw... and his comment about stills is correct.

nike
I wouldn't host in the UK regardless....;) hosting here is shite. The UK is too far behind in that field in terms of what's provided and the price.

Yes very sure. The obscenity laws make little difference whether it's a licensed sex shop or newsagents except in the people who are likely to see it. The problem is the locality and the local police.

I shoot for these magazines and know what is allowed, or at least what the authorities can get a conviction on.

According to UK law it doesn't matter where your websites are hosted if you upload to your server FROM the UK.
There was a case a couple of years ago where someone was jailed when he was found guilty of publishing porn from the UK, even though he hosted in the US.
They found that publishing occured upon upload.

Things have changed for the better recently (with what, and how much, you can show) and will hopefully continue to do so but, as already stated, it is a very grey area.

If in doubt get a solicitor to check it out for you, far better than risking a short stay at HM pleasure.


My 2pence

PM

good to know Charly. My hubby has wanted to try taking some content for us (I know, another one) but has been worried about that aspect of the law.

if you upload from your uk computer to your us hosting you are publishing it from the uk.

...damn, just as I was planning on a network of sites based on famous children's presenters fucking animals, bang goes BIG-CAT-DEELEY.com, ANT-AND-DEC-AND-THE-DOBERMAN.com etc...

As a sort of sub-question, does anybody know of a good UK webmasters board?

adultwebmasters.co.uk

Not too sure about "good" though.

Nice to see 95% of the posts are written by people who have a clue and can get the facts right :) It's all been summed up and the only bit of information which was wrong and has been pointed out is the uploading. There have been successful convictions for stuff hosted in the US and uploaded from here for the reasons stated. However, the convictions were for sites containing stuff such as beast and scat and there as yet have been none for 'normal' hardcore porn.

Even so if you wanna play 100% safe I'd advise against hardcore outside of some kind of protected area although the risk is VERY small.