Tag Archives: Topic: Pornography

Parents Television Council: “The Parents Television Council today called on the chairmen of the U.S. Senate and House Judiciary Committees and the Department of Justice to immediately open an investigation regarding child pornography and exploitation on MTV’s ‘Skins.’”

Hollywood Reporter: “Taco Bell has pulled its ads off Skins after the Parents Television Council urged people to contact the company to protest.”

Dallas Morning News: “When the newest Rick’s Cabaret gentleman’s club opens south of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport tonight, the girls — as they say in the adult entertainment business — will be wearing nothing but their smiles. Local officials and businesses, though, will be wearing everything but theirs. Fort Worth and Tarrant County politicians, airport officials and nearby businesses aren’t pleased that a strip club is opening just outside the airport.”

USA Today: “Marriott International, one of the nation’s leading hotel groups, tells Hotel Check-In that it’s pulling access to adult movies from the new hotel rooms it will be opening the next several years.”

The Patriot-News: “Earlier this month, Derry Township officials found themselves considering a legal challenge when the owner of Shane’s City Limits sought to revive his business by having scantily-clad dancers shimmy for customers several nights a week . . . The Shane’s incident was unusual not only because of the novelty . . . but because cases involving adult establishments have quieted in the past decade.”

New York Times: “In recent days, executives at the cable channel became concerned that some scenes from the provocative new show ‘Skins’ may violate federal child pornography statutes . . . for ‘Skins,’ the producers purposefully cast actors ages 15 to 19, most of whom had never acted before . . . With ads that feature groups of barely clothed teenagers, ‘Skins’ is surely one of the most sexually charged programs that MTV has featured.”

Doe v. Boland, No. 09-4281 (6th Cir. Jan. 19, 2011)

“Dean Boland downloaded images of children from a stock photo website, digitally ‘morphed’ them into pornography, then used the images to help his clients resist child pornography charges in federal and state courts . . . the parents of the depicted children found out about the exhibits, prompting them to sue Boland under the civil remedy provisions of the federal child pornography statute.”

CNN Health / The Chart: “Researchers found that since women in the 18- to 23-year-old group feel they don’t need men for financial dependence, many of them feel they can play around with multiple partners without consequence, and that the early 20s isn’t the time to have a serious relationship. But eventually, they do come to want a real, lasting relationship. The problem is that there will still be women who will have sex readily without commitment, and since men know this, fewer of them are willing to go steady . . . ”

Daily Iowan: “University of Iowa third-year law student Elizabeth Ryan is trying to prevent the life-altering destruction sexting can have on the lives of teens and young adults. Ryan hopes her article . . . will bring attention to an issue she said has become more prevalent as technology continues to develop. Her article suggests that states may benefit from creating new laws against sexting instead of relying on old laws regarding obscenity or pornography, which often come with harsh punishments.”

University of Gothenburg: “A national Swedish evaluation study has highlighted the need for a chain of interventions to offer children who have experienced violence against their mother the right level of support to work through their experiences. There is also frequently a lack of structured risk assessments for identifying children who are at continued risk of exposure to violence, reveal researchers from the universities of Gothenburg, Karlstad, Uppsala and Örebro.”

Grier Weeks writing at The Daily Caller: “A 2006 law that requires the U.S. Justice Department to deploy a high-tech system for catching child pornographers has identified hundreds of thousands of criminal suspects — and collected extensive evidence pointing to the locations of their child victims. Yet, despite knowledge of this evidence, Attorney General Eric Holder has refused calls to take serious action. Now, a Republican-controlled Judiciary Committee, and a government oversight panel on the warpath, could finally force Holder to explain two years of inaction that left thousands of children in danger.”

The Standard: “Professional counselors are calling for immediate action to tackle increasing cases of addiction to internet pornography among Kenyan youth.”

Associated Press: “The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from a man who was convicted of child pornography charges based on the nude pictures he kept from his mid-1970s affair with his teenage sister-in-law.”

OneNewsNow: “With last week’s recognition of National Human Trafficking Awareness Day, one group is encouraging people to stay involved in the battle, especially in the area of child trafficking and pornography. Though human trafficking mainly involves women and children, males are also impacted. Lynette Lewis, founder and president of Stop Child Trafficking Now, tells OneNewsNow it is a significant problem.”

Associated Press: “The maker of BlackBerry promised Indonesia on Monday it will meet the country’s request to filter out pornographic content on its smartphones in the next four days, according to a government spokesman.”

In the “Miscellaneous” section of today’s ADF Alliance Alert, we have covered numerous child pornography prosecutions around the country. All or nearly all of the reports are from today or yesterday. This is just a small sample of available media reports that evidence an overwhelming epidemic affecting every area of the country and all ages. The sample doesn’t begin to address other kinds of pornography which are degrading cultures around the world. It would overwhelm us to attempt to provide comprehensive coverage of these things on a daily basis.

CNSNews: “‘This is a child pornography case that does not involve a child,’ Peel’s lawyers told the court in their brief. They are claiming violations of the First Amendment and of the Constitution’s bar against ex post facto convictions for violating laws that were not in place when an alleged crime occurred.”

United States v. Peel, No. 07-3933 (7th Cir. Feb. 12, 2010)

WLTZ: “A LaGrange man is behind bars after police found out he was distributing child pornography.”

ISPreview: “A new Europe-wide study (‘EUKidsOnline’) by the London School of Economics (LSE), which looked at the use of parental controls and internet filtering, has revealed that UK parents lead the rest of Europe with 54% blocking or filtering their children’s internet access. By contrast the EU average is just 28%, with Romania on the lowest at 9%.”

Gazette Extra: “Richard A. Granzow, 43, was sentenced in Rock County Court on five felony charges of possession of child pornography.”

Rapid City Journal: “Police have issued a felony arrest warrant for Jacob Lavern Whiting, 21, charging him with possession, manufacturing and distributing child pornography.”

KWTX: “Timothy Allen Gerholdt of Cedar Falls Iowa pleaded guilty Thursday in U.S. District Court in Waco to distribution of child pornography charges stemming from an online undercover sting in 2010.”

MMD Newswire: “A Corpus Christi man has been sentenced to 18 years in prison for possessing child pornography announced United States Attorney José Angel Moreno on Wednesday. The investigation was conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).”

Democrat and Chronicle: “Stephen M. Smith of Elm Street, Le Roy, was charged Tuesday with possessing a sexual performance by a child, promoting a sexual performance by a child, and use of a child in a sexual performance, all felonies, said Le Roy Police Detective John Condidorio.”

Pioneer Press: “The 40-year-old Texas man was charged in Minneapolis with producing pornographic images of four girls on 17 occasions over a three-year period.”

Press of Atlantic City: “Anthony Giacoppo, 35, was arrested in September after Hammonton police saw child pornography on his cell phone, Atlantic County Prosecutor Ted Housel said.”

digtriad.com: “Joseph Ptacin, 63, of Trinity, was sentenced to 48 months in prison with 20 years of supervised probation to follow.”

Sun Herald: “Officers with Ocean Springs and Jackson County seized downloads of child pornography, as well as a large amount of computer hardware and software, at an Ocean Springs residence where Francis Austin Hawkins, 23, was living after moving to the Coast from Texas.”

Tallahassee.com: “Tallahassee resident, Josember Wilfredo Portillo, 22, was arrested Thursday on child pornography charges, said Susan Newhouse, Tallahassee Police Department spokesperson.”

WAVE: “A federal grand jury in Louisville has indicted 27-year-old Jeremiah Oldham for distributing and possessing child pornography. The indictment comes after an investigation that started with Attorney General Jack Conway’s Cybercrimes Unit.”

Minneapolis Star-Tribune: “A former Twin Cities church youth director admitted on Thursday that he shed his electronic ankle bracelet and fled to California days before he was to begin serving 15 years in prison for distributing hundreds of pornographic images of boys and men on the Internet.”

Grand Forks Herald: “Kenneth Mahoney Jr., Topeka, Kan., pleaded guilty in October after he was stopped in Pembina, N.D., at the U.S.-Canada port of entry.”

Daily Local News: “Former West Chester teacher David Devine, made his initial appearance in federal court Thursday, entering a not guilty plea on charges he possessed hundreds of images of child pornography.”

Gant Daily: “Clearfield County District Attorney, William A. Shaw, Jr., announced Thursday that charges have been filed against a Clearfield man for possession of child pornography. Shaw identified the defendant as Jerry Kovach, Sr., age 69, of Walnut Street, Clearfield.”

The Spokesman-Review: “John Alan Harmon, 57, was ordered held without bail Thursday on federal allegations that he distributed child pornography last January and in October 2009. The sex offender left prison in 2005 after serving about three years for the same crime.”

NewsWest 9: “Ariel Brunson was sentenced in Midland on Wednesday.”

Kitsap Sun: “Kitsap County prosecutors on Thursday charged James M. Persinger of Bremerton with one count of first-degree possession of child pornography, according to documents filed in Kitsap County District Court.”

Daily Inter Lake: “Kelly Burris entered his plea during a federal court session in Missoula Monday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeremiah Lynch.”

News & Record: “Joseph James Ptacin Jr., 63, will be on 20 years of supervised release after the prison sentence, according to a news release from U.S. Attorney Ripley Rand.”

New York Times: “A man whose conviction on child pornography charges won him an unusual champion — the trial judge, Jack B. Weinstein — was sentenced on Thursday to five years in prison, the minimum sentence required by law. Even then, Judge Weinstein, of Federal District Court in Brooklyn, was compassionate toward the defendant, allowing him to remain free for two more months, and dismissive of the government’s efforts to get a longer sentence.”

7th Space: “Former Salem resident Kenneth Allen Ballard, age 26, was sentenced to 210 months in federal prison for knowingly distributing and receiving child pornography over the Internet, United States Attorney Leura G Canary announced today.”

San Francisco Chronicle (AP): “A 66-year-old San Jose man is in federal custody after being convicted on child pornography charges.”

Boston.com (AP): “A Jackman, Maine, kindergarten teacher facing child pornography charges was investigated in New Hampshire 13 years ago for taking photos of students undressing.”

Sea Coast Online: “Ronald Goergen, 47, was sentenced Thursday at U.S. District Court in Concord. He pleaded guilty to four counts of sexual exploitation of children last year.”

Delaware Online: “A technical sergeant at Dover Air Force Base was sentenced in federal court Thursday to six years in prison for distributing child pornography.”

WPIX (AP): “The former head of a faith-based military academy for children in New Jersey has pleaded guilty to a federal child pornography charge.”

NECN: “Authorities in northeastern Arizona say they’ve arrested a Nebraska man after finding a computer hard drive in his car that reportedly contained more than 124,000 child pornography images.”

AP: “A court official says a Somali judge sentenced a 72-year-old German man to four years in jail for making pornographic films and pictures in Somalia.”

Blog of LegalTimes: “The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has properly shielded from public review 2,000 whole-body scan images of air travelers, a federal judge in Washington said today in a public records suit.”

eWeek Europe: “BlackBerry maker Research in Motion (RIM) has two weeks to block porn websites from its smartphones in Indonesia or risk being shut down, the Indonesian government has said.”

LifeSiteNews: “Jennifer Case left the sex industry three years ago by the grace of God, she says, and her message to men is very clear: ‘There is a real person on the other side of the images you are seeing, and you are destroying her life and the lives of her children.’”

New York Post: “The US Second Circuit Court of Appeals has vacated the $1.21 million worth of fines that the FCC levied against ABC after alleging that the network violated broadcast indecency standards for daring to show actress Charlotte Ross’ naked behind during a 2003 episode of ‘NYPD Blue.’”

Associated Press: “Italian police on Friday warned of a new system by which thousands of Internet users around the world have received spam emails for business offers that actually click through to child abuse material.”

The Oregonian: “Oregon Attorney General John Kroger announced today that he will draft legislation that will make it illegal under state law to look at child pornography on the Internet . . . [the] announcement comes one day after the Oregon Supreme Court ruled that state law doesn’t make it a crime to look at child pornography while surfing the Internet if the viewer doesn’t purposefully download the images, print them out or pay for them.”

San Francisco Chronicle: “A female jail guard’s strip search of a male inmate was a ‘humiliating event’ that violated his rights, a divided federal appeals court in San Francisco ruled Wednesday.” | Byrd v. Maricopa County Sheriff’s Department, No. 07-16640 (9th Cir. Jan 5, 2011)

CBS Local: “A new Rick’s Cabaret is about to open near the South entrance to DFW International Airport . . . The new strip club is trying to get a liquor license from the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. Prominent Tarrant County leaders, including County Judge Glen Whitley, are protesting the permit.”

“On Wednesday, the appellate court found the ‘government presented no evidence that Mr. Dobbs actually saw the two images on his monitor, such that he would have had the ability to exercise control over them.’”

Orange County Register: “City Council on Tuesday established a temporary moratorium on adult businesses while it evaluates if and where these businesses could be located in the eastern part of the city, following a recent rezoning of about 800 acres of land – once under the flight path of the El Toro MCAS – from business-park to residential and commercial.”

The Boston Globe: “The Pentagon’s investigation of defense and intelligence employees who downloaded child pornography is being criticized in Congress after the Department of Defense acknowledged that its investigators failed to check thoroughly whether its employees were on a list of suspected porn viewers.”

Post-Dispatch: “City officials have denied an appeal to allow the Pure Pleasure Boutique to obtain licenses to operate, one of the store’s owners said Monday.”

Orange County Register: “The City Council on Tuesday will consider an interim ordinance establishing a moratorium on permits for adult businesses following the rezoning of land from business park to homes and commercial uses.”

KTKA ABC 49: “The owners of the Oasis were trying to be annexed by the city. Meriden has no zoning that would restrict operation of an Adult Entertainment Establishment. When the City declined to annex, they fell under County zoning rules, and had to apply for a permit.”

Courthouse News Service: “Three strip clubs challenge the constitutionality of a Fort Worth law that demands that sexually oriented businesses be painted in a single ‘achromatic’ color with a single ‘achromatic’ trim, ‘both colors consisting of a neutral earth tone color only.’”

AISH.com / The Jewish Ethicist: “These ads are considered acceptable in modern society because imagination is considered something harmless. Fantasizing about forbidden activities is generally considered benign as long as it is not translated into action. Jewish tradition does not agree with this approach. Judaism attributes great power to the imagination, and imagining a transgression is comparable in many ways to committing one.”

“A federal appeals court says the Federal Communications Commission cannot fine broadcasters for showing a woman’s nude buttocks on a 2003 episode of ‘NYPD Blue.’”

Miami Herald: “A pair of bills were pre-filed last month in the House and Senate, prohibiting minors ages 12-17 from electronically transmitting photographs depicting themselves or other teens ‘in a state of sexual activity or a state of sexually explicit nudity.’”

WLTX: “Officials in Washington state report the year-old rule against nearly-nude coffee servers is a success. After complaints about too-bare baristas, city and county officials in the Everett-area adopted regulations requiring a license to run an ‘adult-business’ coffee stand.”

Reuters: “China shut down more than 60,000 pornographic websites this year, netting almost 5,000 suspects in the process, a government spokesman said on Thursday, vowing no let-up in its campaign against material deemed obscene.”

Lebanon Daily News: “The Commonwealth Court has refused the city of Pittsburgh’s request to overturn a county judge’s approval of a strip club in the city’s West End neighborhood.”

From Research Conclusions to Real Change: Understanding the First Amendment’s (Non)Response to the Negative Effects of Media on Children by Looking to the Example of Violent Video Games
Renee Newman Knake, 63 SMU L. Rev. 1197 (2010)

“Woodhouse’s proposal offers an appealing perspective for those who support regulation of children’s access to harmful media. The real issue, however, is whether ecogenerism will evolve from academic theory to actual practice. This article tests her theory by revisiting the line of violent video game cases to evaluate whether her ecogenerist perspective can achieve any real change in the courts’ decisions. Particular attention is devoted to challenges presented by First Amendment free speech protections with a primary focus on the Ninth Circuit’s decision in Schwarzenegger to invalidate a California statute prohibiting the sale or rental of violent video games to minors, a case that the Supreme Court is poised to soon decide. While some speculate that the Supreme Court is unlikely to reverse the Ninth Circuit’s decision given the uniform position of other courts on this issue, this article reveals that an ecogenerist perspective demands a reversal by the Court precisely for that reason. Should the Court affirm the Ninth Circuit’s invalidation of the statute, the article concludes by proposing recommendations for future research and regulatory efforts from an ecogenerist perspective.”

Orin Kerr Orin Kerr writing at The Volokh Conspiracy: “One of the interesting arguments raised in the litigation over the individual mandate is whether courts should adopt a new activity/inactivity distinction in Commerce Clause doctrine . . . If the child pornography laws are an unconstitutional mandate, must the child pornography laws be struck down at least as applied to innocent possession? In other words, is it beyond the reach of Congress to require those who come into innocent possession of child pornography to take reasonable steps to destroy it or report the matter to law enforcement?”

Associated Press: “A man started shooting inside a strip club, killing two people and wounding two others, including a topless dancer, before patrons wrestled the gunman to the floor, police said Monday.”

Barely Legal: Vagueness and the Prohibition of Pornography as a Condition of Supervised Release
Michael Smith, 84 St. John’s L. Rev. 727 (2010)

“Part I of this Note will discuss the current sentencing scheme in the federal system. It will discuss the goals of sentencing under the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines (the ‘Sentencing Guidelines’ or ‘Guidelines’) and the discretion given to judges in imposing appropriate sentences, as well as some procedural safeguards. Additionally, Part I will discuss the process of supervised release, including how judges impose conditions and the process for revoking supervised release if a probationer violates a condition. Part II of this Note will discuss the circuit split over the imposition of a general ban on legal adult pornography. Finally, Part III of this Note will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of requiring district courts to give a sufficiently specific definition of pornography when setting conditions of supervised release. Also, Part III will provide a specific definition of pornography that satisfies the Supreme Court’s vagueness concerns in Grayned and will show how this definition properly balances the rights of the probationer–namely, the right to conditions that are not vague–with the goals of supervised release–ensuring public safety and furthering the probationer’s rehabilitation.”

Breitbart: “Phillip Greaves of Pueblo, Colo., will be booked into the Polk County jail Tuesday. Officials say his first court appearance is scheduled for Wednesday.”

Bendict XVI: “We are well aware of the particular gravity of this sin committed by priests and of our corresponding responsibility. But neither can we remain silent regarding the context of these times in which these events have come to light. There is a market in child pornography that seems in some way to be considered more and more normal by society. The psychological destruction of children, in which human persons are reduced to articles of merchandise, is a terrifying sign of the times . . . ”

“The UK Government is to combat the early sexualization of children by blocking internet pornography unless parents request it, it was revealed today.”