Delivering Weekly Censorship Updates to the Adult Entertainment Industry
Vol. X, No. 14, April 13, 2007 - A Member Service of the Free Speech Coalition Free Speech X-press is researched and edited by Scott Ross.
Copyright 2007 Free Speech Coalition. Permission to reprint granted to FSC members; please give credit.
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FREE SPEECH TAKES NEXT STEP IN THE 2257 CASE
CANOGA PARK, CA - On Friday, April 13, 2007, the Free Speech Coalition filed a motion with Colorado Federal District Court Judge Walker Miller seeking clarification and modification of his recent order. “This filing is in response to Judge Miller’s interim decision issued March 30, 2007,” explained Reed Lee, FSC Board member and President of the First Amendment Lawyers Association.
Additionally, in response to a joint request by FSC and the Government, Judge Miller has agreed to hold a status conference to consider scheduling further proceedings in the case. Further litigation will take account of the changes which Congress made to the statutory record keeping scheme last July. The status conference is scheduled to take place Wednesday, April 25, 2007.
“Judge Miller has not amended or vacated the preliminary injunction entered in December, 2005. As to secondary producers and all other matters addressed, it remains in full force and effect unless and until he does so or until he enters a final order in the case. That is not likely to happen soon. In the meantime, if the government moves to vacate a portion of that injunction, FSC is prepared to move that it be expanded.” Lee said. “We should have a better idea about the timing and direction of the 2257 litigation after the April 25 status hearing.”
“FSC will continue to provide regular updates on the status of 2257 as the case unfolds through our weekly XPRESS newsletter, e-mail alerts, and posting on our websites,” said Diane Duke, FSC Executive Director. “We are committed to providing accurate, up-to-date information to our members and the industry.”
Members of Congress departed Washington for a recess period that began on March 30th and will return to the Capitol on Monday, April 16th. Since the lights in the House and Senate chambers are dark and all legislation is on hold until the men and women of the 110th Congress return, we take this down-time opportunity to profile a few of the key committees and players presiding over the subject matter jurisdiction of our issues.
Perhaps the most relevant committees to the Free Speech Coalition's pursuits are the House and Senate Judiciary committees and Commerce-related committees. We'll look at the House Energy & Commerce Committee today and will examine the other three in future issues.
The full House Energy & Commerce Committee is comprised of six subcommittees, with the Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet ("T & I") being the most pertinent to the Coalition (the others include subcommittees on the environment, on consumer protection, etc). T & I's jurisdiction includes "Interstate and foreign telecommunications including, but not limited to all telecommunication and information transmission by broadcast, radio, wire, microwave, satellite, or other mode; and, Homeland security-related aspects of the foregoing, including cybersecurity."
Thus, the subcommittee oversees all internet activity and regulation in addition to all media laws. Chaired by Rep. Ed Markey (D-Massachusetts), the subcommittee has recently held hearings on the future of digital radio, the prospect of "net neutrality" as it relates to web site regulation, and America's transition to digital television in 2009.
A few short years ago, decency over the airwaves was examined as part of the aftermath of Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction. As is often the case with congressional committees and their investigations/hearings, the phrase "no news is good news" is quite relevant to an industry that falls under a subcommittee's purview.
At present, such is the case with the adult industry and the T & I subcommittee. All is quiet on the DC front.
-- The Raben Group
Using RTA Label Important Following Adult Industry COPA & .xxx Victories
OCEAN CITY, MD - A few weeks ago, the adult entertainment industry and free speech advocates hailed victory as a federal judge struck down the Child Online Protection Act (COPA), which would have placed the burden of keeping minors from accessing adult materials on the shoulders of commercial website operators. COPA would have required adult sites to verify users' ages, but the judge pointed to less restrictive methods like filters as a better option for parents who want to control their children's Internet use.
A second victory came just a few days later when ICANN rejected the proposal for a .xxx top level domain, which was heavily marketed as a child protection initiative. The Free Speech Coalition effectively communicated the adult entertainment industry's lack of support of the TLD due to fears that a .xxx TLD would quickly become mandatory for U.S.-based sites.
With both mandatory age verification and a separate adult TLD off the table for now, more attention will now inevitably be focused on filtering as the principal strategy for protecting children from viewing adult material online. In fact, there are already bills pending in Congress which would make website labeling mandatory for adult sites. Even if none of the current labeling bills pass, the government will keep tossing new rules against the wall until one finally sticks. Nobody knows how a government-devised labeling system would work - or how it might affect your business.
To help head that off, the Association of Sites Advocating Child Protection (ASACP) launched the RTA ("Restricted To Adults") label a few months ago. RTA is free, voluntary, and simple to use. RTA is endorsed by FSC and by many adult companies. Using RTA on your site is an opportunity to help demonstrate that the industry is capable of self-regulation. To make that case, we need the numbers to back it up. We need to be able to show that a lot of adult sites are already using RTA - so label your site today!
For more information about RTA and how to use it, please visit www.RTALabel.org.
Adult Webmasters' Lawyers File Motion to Define Community Standards
PENSACOLA, FL - Lawyers for adult webmaster Clinton McCowen, aka Ray Guhn, are challenging the application of local community standards to the Internet on constitutional grounds, according to an XBIZ report.
McCowen's lawyer, Lawrence G. Walters, filed a motion last week petitioning the court to determine the nature and geographic scope of the community whose standards will be applied in McCowen's obscenity case.
Walters argues that the relevant community must be the national community, rather than any state or local community, given the Internet's global scope and an inability to discriminate what locations can access adult content.
A similar argument has been advanced in the Extreme Associates federal obscenity case, which also involves content accessed via the Internet.
McCowen's June 23 arrest on charges of racketeering, engaging in prostitution, and the manufacture and sale of obscene material culminated a months-long investigation into the operations of McCowen's company, Global Technologies Inc., doing business as Ray Guhn Productions.
"Applying conservative community standards to adult content that is available globally via the Internet creates an unworkable burden on Internet operators," Walters told XBIZ. "Essentially, if you use a small community's standards and apply them to the Internet, it would effectively allow a small segment of the country to decide for all citizens what material is OK. To mount a defense, we need to know what standards are being applied in this case."
According to Walters, the U.S. Supreme Court has struggled with the concept of using community standards on the Internet and has still not issued a definitive ruling on the subject.
In the famous Miller vs. California case, the court ruled that the most sensitive jurisdictions should not be allowed to suppress the nature of materials available in communities where they are accepted or tolerated, establishing the "community standards" concept that currently serves as the litmus test for obscenity.
The next step in McCowen's case is for the judge to hold a hearing on the motion, which Walters expects to happen before the end of the month.
The case is Florida vs. Clinton R. McCowen No. 2006-CF-003151-C.
http://xbiz.com/news_piece.php?id=22227
Sacramento Upholds Library Porn Policy
SACRAMENTO, CA - The Sacramento Public Library Authority Board (SPLA) voted 5-4 recently to continue allowing customers to access online pornography, the Sacramento Bee reports.
In response to community concerns, the SPLA Board has decided to offer greater privacy, such as recessed screens, rather than completely blocking access to adult content on library computers.
"If we make pornographic material available, we are inviting pedophiles into our libraries," said Sacramento County Supervisor Susan Peters, a SPLA board member who was opposed to allow customers to access online porn.
Another SPLA board member, County Supervisor Roger Dickinson, said, "There is no definition of pornography" and creating one opens the door to legal challenges.
Sacramento County libraries currently employ filters to block adult content, disabling the software for adult patrons upon request. The library system's Internet policy says that it "upholds and affirms the right of each individual to have access to constitutionally protected materials" and leaves it to "parents and legal guardians" to monitor their children's use of library computers.
In the last 13 months, Sacramento County libraries have only received four complaints about images on computer screens deemed offensive by other patrons.
http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/142825.html
John T. Bone Arrested in Thailand
PATTAYA, Thailand - Adult video director John T. Bone, whose real name is John Bowen, and two of his business associates were arrested earlier this month for producing pornography, which is strictly illegal in Thailand.
Pattaya authorities stated that the three men would be charged with various crimes related to making and selling pornography and brought to trial. Bowen and his partners could face deportation, fines and possible jail time if convicted. Producing pornography in Thailand carries a criminal penalty of up to three years in prison.
According to the Pattaya News, an English-language Thai newspaper, police obtained a warrant for Bone's arrest on April 5 as part of an investigation into locally-based adult websites.
During the raid on the apartment Bowen used as a studio, police seized cameras, lights, costumes, sex toys, computers, business records and hundreds of sexually-explicit DVDs and photos. Bowen admitted under questioning that he rented the apartment five months ago to produce hardcore content featuring Thai women and transsexuals.
Also arrested in the raid were Bowen's close friend Kyle Mark Micgram (a.k.a. Vin Cross) and his talent recruiter Paul Sangsuwan (a.k.a. transsexual porn director Chuk Wow.) Micgram's credits include Hustler's Asian Fever, while Sangsuwan recently directed Ladyboys in Latex and other titles for Platinum Blue Productions.
Bowen has directed over 300 adult videos for Zane Entertainment, Metro, New Sensations, VCA and other U.S. adult studios. He gained his biggest media notoriety in the '90s for his high-profile World's Biggest Gang Bang videos starring Annabel Chong and Jasmin St. Clair.
http://avn.com/index.php?Primary_Navigation=Articles&Action=View_Article&Content_ID=287104
Christian Right Pressures DOJ to Prosecute Internet Porn
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Christian right activists are pushing the U.S. Justice Department to step up its prosecution of pornography in response to the recent failure of the .XXX domain proposal.
Right wing news source OneNewsNow.com reports that Alliance Defense Fund attorney Pat Trueman is calling for the DOJ to broaden the scope of its anti-porn prosecutions to include all "illegal" internet porn.
"Congress never intended that only the most extreme, hard-core pornography be prosecuted," said Trueman, a former chief of the DOJ's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section. "There's a wide range of material that's out there, and the hardest of the hard stuff doesn't appeal to anyone except maybe one percent of those seeking pornography."
Trueman claims that the Justice Department is not living up to its potential in targeting pornographers, arguing that federal prosecutors have the power to "remove 99 percent of the material from the Internet."
http://www.onenewsnow.com/2007/04/justice_dept_encouraged_to_pro.php
Email Xpress@freespeechcoalition.com for more information.
Because of 2257 litigation, it's critical that we have your company's information complete in our database. Are you SURE your company's information is complete? Email UpdateInfo@FreeSpeechCoalition.com to update your company's information now.
NOTE: The data we're tracking, related to 2257, has changed. Please update NOW.
APR 16-18 - International Lingerie Show, Las Vegas
APR 21-22 - ACE of California - Ace Hight Poker Party, Los Angeles, CA
APR 23 - California Lobby Day, Sacramento, CA
MAY 11-13 - Sex and So Much More Show, Phoenix
JUNE 22-24 - Erotica L.A., Los Angeles Convention Center
AUGUST 27-30 - Annual Gentlemen's Club Owners Expo, Las Vegas, NV
AUGUST 27-30 - STOREROTICA Convention and Tradeshow, Las Vegas, NV
SEPT 21-23 - ADULTCON, Los Angeles Convention Center
America was founded by puritans and, like it or not, the anti-pleasure dogma of those buckled-shoed killjoys still pervades our collective unconscious like an IMAX shot of Dennis Franz's naked, hairy, cop ass.
- Dennis Miller, actor
It is still quite lawful for a Catholic woman to avoid pregnancy by resorting to mathematics, though she is still forbidden to resort to physics or chemistry.
-- H.L. Mencken
SF 12 bombs Taco Dave
