Sex Bloggers, Webmasters: Will the FBI Come After You?
• BDSM , • Laws and Politicians, Mostly Bad
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 "****, 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.
Any website that has content containing "****, 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."
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 Sheriff's office.
"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."
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.
"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."
To contribute to the appeal of the CDA lawsuit, go to:
www.ncsfreedom.org/donations.htm
National Coalition for Sexual Freedom - www.ncsfreedom.org
Barbara Nitke - www.barbaranitke.com
###
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@ncsfreedom.org
www.ncsfreedom.org
Comments
i was just beginning to build a website about my personal experiences in the BDSM lifestyle. ifthecollarfits at geocities, but have allowed my cowardice to overtake me on this issue. i thought that my military service was to help protect O/our freedoms in this nation. My only income is from my military disability, but rest assured i will be contributing as much as possible to the NCSF to assist in their fight on this issue of speech trampling by the feds!!
Posted by: vnv6869 | October 20, 2005 10:18 PM
In an era when our government spending is in the BILLIONS, it frightens and angers me to think that the US is wasting time and OUR money prosecuting those who are simply expressing their right to expression without trampling on the rights of others. Isn’t that what our Constitution is all about? Why is the Dept. of Justice squandering our tax dollars to bog down an already over-burdened justice system with these Victorian-era values when we have drugs and crime in our schools, children being thrown from bridges by their parents, and a war without end killing our military in the Middle East? Doesn’t anyone in Washington see the disconnect in our ‘morals’??
Posted by: Lisa | October 21, 2005 4:12 PM
This is all the more reason I would strongly encourage people to join the ACLu, the Free Speech Coalition and the Electronic Frontier Foundation. $20 each per year can help to assure YOUR rights and liberties. NO one else is going to fight on your behalf on this and other issues. Consider that many people spend that same amount on Starbucks lattes in a month. Its a few cents per day so come on people, please contribute a few dollars and some effort and support. :)
Posted by: Ms. MacComb | October 21, 2005 6:42 PM
Its time for a whole lot of civil disobedience!
Posted by: th | October 22, 2005 2:33 AM
I wonder if AG Gonzales would consider going after Lynn Cheney and Lewis “Scooter” Libby for their writings? Incest, lesbian incest, beastiality, kidnapping, it all doesnt quite sound like the “family values” the far right so often heralds. :)
Posted by: Ms MacComb | November 13, 2005 1:27 AM
Another example of the planned systematic reduction of our nation into a fascist state. When our police forces are being increasingly trained to be urban military units & the “homeland security act” gives them the authority to raid homes, arrest people, sieze property, eavesdrop, all without a warrant. All just in the name of “HOMELAND” security. Exactly the kinds of things the nazi party did once it gained power in the 30’s.
Posted by: Casca | January 16, 2006 12:36 PM