The End of the Net Porn Wars
Despite big talk, federal efforts against adult obscenity online have withered
The February 2008 ABA Journal has this article. The article mentions Morality in Media, the National Law Center for Children and Families and it quotes ADF attorney Patrick A. Trueman. It concludes:
But porn war veterans like Trueman and Peters fear it may be too late to put the Internet genie back in the bottle. It’s been more than a decade since the federal government took on the issue, and in the intervening years, pornography has become big business. The federal government has ramped up efforts to take on child pornography, but adult obscenity is operating in uncharted legal waters.
“I will not advise clients on what is or is not obscene,” says DeWitt. “The first question is where? I can give you an opinion, but nobody still knows what is obscene in different places anymore.”
And the real reason Internet obscenity has not been tackled stems from the fact that law enforcement seems not to have the time, resources or inclination to pursue it.
“I’ve always maintained that there are enough laws on the books, but tell me a national obscenity case the DOJ has gone after right now,” asks Trueman. “Is there any reason [prosecutors would] go after them with COPA … on the books?”