Tag Archives: Topic: Pornography

Tampa Bay Online (AP): “The country had been in the midst of highly publicized anti-pornography sweeps, and there had been no announcement of any change in government policy. Yet eight weeks later, the porn sites are still accessible. Still unanswered are questions about whether it’s an official change in policy, a technical glitch or some sort of test by the usually disapproving Chinese Internet police.”

Associated Press: “A convicted sex offender can possess material depicting nudity upon his release from prison after the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld part of an appeal of his sentence.” | U.S. v. Simons, No. 09-2142 (8th Cir. July 21, 2010) | View opinion in Google Viewer

NCPA: “Despite strong opposition, the Australian government continues to support mandatory filtering of the Internet, seeking to establish a ‘Great Firewall of Australia.’ If filtering is implemented, all internet service providers (ISPs) would have to scan their Internet traffic in real time, blocking access to sites that appear on a government blacklist, says Chris Williams-Wynn, a recent honors graduate of the University of Melbourne.”

Defending Against a Charge of Obscenity in the Internet Age: How Google Searches Can Illuminate Miller’s “Contemporary Community Standards”
Shannon Creasy, 26 Ga. St. U. L. Rev. 1029 (2010)

“Whether Miller‘s contemporary community standards test should be completely abandoned has been the subject of much debate and falls outside the scope of this work. To date, most governmental attempts at Internet regulation have been aimed at protecting children from online pornography, which is another issue that falls outside the scope of this work. This Note will, however, explore the challenges the courts have encountered when applying the community standards test, the ways in which both parties have attempted to shed light on Miller’s requirements, and how courts can simplify this process by allowing Internet search engine data to be introduced as evidence of the community’s values. To that end, Part I traces the history of obscenity law in the United States up to the current Miller test. Part II examines the application of the Miller test, analyzing the challenges involved in defining the community and the difficulties defendants face when trying to prove the standard with various types of evidence. Finally, Part III argues in favor of more clearly identifying the relevant community and, under any definition of community, allowing Google searches (and other search engine data) to be admitted as evidence to establish the values of that community.”

Rapid City Journal: “Sturgis officials say they don’t know what kind of business might be moving to a location near Interstate 90 Exit 32 but that if it’s an adult-oriented business, it would likely violate state statutes regarding such businesses.”

Jakarta Globe: “The highly divisive 2008 Anti-Pornography Law will be back in the Constitutional Court today. But unlike the previous judicial reviews that sought to annul the controversial law, or at least parts of it, this time the applicant wants the court to strengthen it.”

“Acquitting Stagliano, John Stagliano Inc. and Evil Angel Productions Inc. before they began their defense, U.S. District Court Judge Richard J. Leon said evidence presented by the Justice Department’s Obscenity Prosecution Task Force in the four-day trial was ‘woefully insufficient’ to link defendants to the production and distribution of two DVD videos at the heart of the case.”

EducationNews.org: “The purpose of this paper is to encourage a change regarding the current direction and execution of the federal and state regulations regarding Internet filtering by: 1) loosening current Internet filtering; and 2) increasing the dialogue with and education of students regarding students’ developed digital behavior. The intended outcome of these two major proposals is to create an environment in which students could better engage the world via adherence to the NETS, thus better preparing them for aspects of adult life.”

One News Now: “A major pornography trial involving an adult film producer who has criticized the prosecution of obscenity cases is under way in Washington, DC. Pat Trueman, special counsel to the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) and former chief prosecutor of Department of Justice obscenity cases, tells OneNewsNow the case is a holdover from the Bush administration . . . ‘Any obscenity case is critical because it’s going to send a signal on whether or not these cases are winnable,’ Trueman notes. ‘So far in the whole history of the Department of Justice, virtually every case has been won.’ . . . “But believe me, if it isn’t, the pornography industry and some in government will cheer that the case is lost,” he adds. The ADF special counsel, who recently launched the website PornHarms.com . . . ”

Plaintiffs are three nightclubs where women give erotic dance performances wearing only g-strings and pasties. The clubs brought First Amendment, vagueness, and overbreadth challenges to Virginia’s alcohol licensing program, which allows the clubs to serve beer and wine but not mixed beverages.

Star Tribune: “A coalition of booksellers and Internet content providers has filed a federal lawsuit challenging a new Massachusetts law that outlaws the sending of sexually graphic instant messages to minors. The new law was designed to close a loophole that prompted a court to overturn the conviction of a man accused of sending explicit instant messages to a 13-year-old.” | ACLU press release | Complaint: American Booksellers Foundation for Free Speech v. Coakley (E.D. Mass.)

Jonah Goldberg and Nick Schulz write at EducationNews.org: “A .kids domain would be strictly reserved for material appropriate for minors 18 years and under. Across the country, schools are removing vending machines that contain sugary sodas on the grounds that kids should be kept clear of anything that might contribute to the obesity epidemic.” | The authors also have this article at National Review: Gated or X-Rated? : ”Right now, there are many ‘top-level domains’ — .com, .org, .biz, .gov, .edu., etc. We propose the creation of a .kids domain that would be strictly reserved for material appropriate for minors 18 years and under. Most sites would probably be able to mirror themselves on a .kids domain with little to no extra effort. Most corporations, schools, and other organizations have perfectly harmless material that kids and teens can view without causing their parents to stay up at night.”

National Law Journal (Law.com): “At the annual Adult Video News Awards in Las Vegas in January 2008, Stagliano produced an erotic dance that his lawyers say condemned criminalizing erotic images and warned of government monitoring of private use of the Internet. Now, Stagliano is just trying to stay out of prison. Stagliano and two of his companies were indicted in federal district court in Washington in April 2008 on seven counts of distributing obscene, sexually graphic videos that U.S. Justice Department prosecutors allege have no artistic or scientific value and cut against the community standard of what is acceptable. He faces up to 32 years behind bars if convicted . . . ”

Columbus Dispatch: “A Cleveland-based company that sells lingerie and adult novelties plans to expand into Columbus. Ambiance, which describes itself as ‘The Store for Lovers,’ anticipates opening three stores in central Ohio within the next year and a half, with the first opening before the end of the year. . . ”

“The Coalition for the War on Illegal Pornography today announced the launching of a new YouTube Channel in its efforts to educate the public on the harm from pornography. The site, http://www.youtube.com/user/PornHarms, provides a wide variety of educational videos on the harm from pornography to children, the extreme violence against women prominently depicted in popular porn today, the significant incidence of addiction to pornography, the links between sex trafficking and pornography and many other damaging effects of pornography.”

CNet News: “The measure, which arrived in the form of an 111-page amendment sponsored by House Appropriations Chairman David Obey, a Wisconsin Democrat, says on the second-to-last page: ‘None of the funds made available in this act may be used to maintain or establish a computer network unless such network blocks the viewing, downloading, and exchanging of pornography.’ . . .  Patrick Trueman, the former chief of the Justice Department’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section who now does legal work for the conservative Alliance Defense Fund, says the government can easily say that while working on a federal contract, there can be no porn surfing–or even card-playing–because taxpayers have a “right to get their money’s worth from contractors.”

Associated Press: “Asbury Park shot down a proposal Wednesday night to allow women to go topless on one of its beaches.”

WMFD: “Mansfield City Council Tuesday night approved legislation to amend its sexually-oriented business ordinance. Council hopes the legislation will settle a lawsuit filed the parent company of Adultmart, which claimed the original law was unconstitutional.”

The Georgia Bulletin (CNS): “The briefing, ‘Pornography Harms: What Congress Can Do to Enforce Existing Laws,’ was led by Patrick Trueman, a former chief of the U.S. Justice Department’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section … During his presentation, Trueman spoke about an argument used by some that fighting pornography limits the adult entertainment industry’s constitutional right of free speech.”

Times-Picayune: “Gov. Bobby Jindal has signed into law one of the more controversial bills from the recent legislative session, one allowing guns to be carried into houses of worship. … Burns’ bill would authorize persons who qualified to carry concealed weapons having passed the training and background checks to bring them to churches, mosques, synagogues or other houses of worship as part of a security force.” | HB 1272 (guns in church) | SB 381 (solicitation)

Pocono Record: “Thrills bar and restaurant in Jackson Township was back in court on Tuesday as township officials seek a permanent court order banning the bar from operating an ‘adult cabaret.’ Last month a judge granted the township’s request for a temporary order banning the adult cabaret part of the bar’s business. In court Tuesday, township officials tried to make the ban permanent while the bar sought to reverse the original injunction.”

Susan Duncan, A Legal Response is Necessary for Self Produced Child Pornography: A Legislator’s Checklist for Drafting the Bill (July 5, 2010). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1635067

“This Article explores self produced child pornography, known in the media as ‘sexting,’ and offers a balanced, multi-faceted approach including both a legal response and education. Currently, states are modifying their laws because applying existing child pornography statutes to self produced child pornography results in a punishment which does not fit the crime. The author analyzes and critiques these proposed statutes finding none adequately address the multiple facets of the self produced child pornography problem. The Article concludes by offering a checklist of important provisions legislators should consider and proposed language legislators can incorporate into their bills. Policymakers and scholars will gain an excellent summary of both the problem and the arguments advanced by scholars studying the issue, as well as a template for solving the problem after reading this Article.”

Baltimore Sun: “The Baltimore County Council unanimously enacted tougher zoning on businesses that stock adult entertainment products at its legislative session Tuesday. The new law will require those businesses to scale back total adult inventory from 20 to 15 percent or relocate to a less visible location.”

The New American: “Patrick Trueman, who at one time headed up the child exploitation and obscenity section of the U.S. Department of Justice, noted that the addition of the .xxx domain franchise will more deeply entrench the problem of Internet pornography, giving pornographers another option for marketing their evil wares. ‘The .com domain is a cash cow for pornographers and they are not leaving it,’ Trueman said. ‘ICANN has no enforcement powers to make them leave and thus clean up .com. Pornographers would simply expand to .xxx and maintain their current .com sites, perhaps doubling the number of porn sites and doubling their menace to society.’”

National Catholic Register: “Last week, when Missouri’s governor signed a bill sharply restricting the adult entertainment business, the state’s Catholic bishops, along with their religious and secular allies, applauded the culmination of a long battle against a corrosive local industry. … The new law prohibits the serving of alcohol, total nudity, and physical contact between employees and the customers they serve. The law goes into effect at the end of the summer.”

FindLaw / Technologist: “Press reports indicate that ICM has received 110,000 pre-reservations for sites seeking to implement the .xxx designation. Use of the .xxx designation would be voluntary, not mandatory, for adult Web sites, and each such domain name would cost about $60. … If a good number of adult Web sites adopt the .xxx suffix, it could potentially become one of the most common top-level domains, perhaps someday even rivaling .com.”

BusinessWeek: “‘.xxx would basically be an avenue for authorities to try and push all adult websites into a certain segment and then get rid of .com,’ Michael Klein, the president of Hustler, the brand behind websites like Barelylegal.com, said from his Los Angeles office. An unlikely alliance has formed in opposition to Lawley. Adult content providers see lost revenue from software blocks, increased stigmatization and possible censorship, while conservative groups such as the Family Research Council argue .xxx legitimizes porn.”

Associated Press: “New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly says the computer crimes unit has removed a child porn video from nearly 70,000 servers nationwide.”

York Daily Record: “The state House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a bill proposed by state Rep. Seth Grove, R-Dover Township, that changes sentencing for teens who send sexually explicit messages of themselves to other teens.” | Text of HB 2189 is available here.

U.S. Department of State: “Secretary Clinton (June 14, 2010): ‘The 10th annual Trafficking in Persons Report outlines the continuing challenges across the globe, including in the United States. The Report, for the first time, includes a ranking of the United States based on the same standards to which we hold other countries. The United States takes its first-ever ranking not as a reprieve but as a responsibility to strengthen global efforts against modern slavery, including those within America. This human rights abuse is universal, and no one should claim immunity from its reach or from the responsibility to confront it.’”

Christian Examiner: “‘The .com domain is a cash cow for pornographers and they are not leaving it,’ Trueman wrote in comments submitted to ICANN. ‘ICANN has no enforcement powers to make them leave and thus clean up .com. Pornographers would simply expand to .xxx and maintain their current .com sites, perhaps doubling the number of porn sites and doubling their menace to society.’”

Associated Press: “Quincy Councilor Daniel Raymondi has asked Mayor Thomas Koch to make public a list of people who have viewed pornography on library computers within the past year. The council unanimously approved a resolution on the idea last week.”

PR Newswire: “Under the ICANN guidelines, sites with adult content are not required to purchase a domain ending in .xxx or to abandon their existing .com addresses. Therefore, existing adult sites will be able to purchase .xxx versions of their domains and simply use the new address to point traffic to their existing .com site, effectively doubling their presence on the Internet.”

Christian NewsWire: “CWA objects to ICANN giving so-called ‘adult entertainment’ respectability in the Internet world. … Penny Young Nance, CEO of Concerned Women for America (CWA) said, ‘Since the new .xxx domain is voluntary, it will not isolate all pornography in one area, but it will cause parents and others to think that the Internet is safe for children. Worse, it continues to ease the seepage of pornography into the popular culture, making it an acceptable aspect of daily life. Any initiative that mainstreams pornography is harmful to children and society.’”

Lance Ulanoff writing at PCMag.com: “Some conservative leaders have been quoted arguing that a porn-only domain would only serve to validate the porn industry. In other words, this multi-billion dollar business with thousands of employees, print services, video production operations and its own trade show is not already ‘validated as an actual business’. This has to be the silliest argument I’ve ever heard. The constitution of an official TLD for adult material will have no more impact on the validation of the porn industry than a teenage boy picking up his first Playboy.”

Zenit: “Peter Kleponis, a Catholic psychotherapist who specializes in marriage and family therapy, . . . spoke with ZENIT about his extensive work with pornography users and their families, the success stories and how virtue plays a role in recovery. … Zenit: ‘What problems do you see in single men and how to you counsel them?’ Kleponis: ‘We tell single young men that by engaging in pornography they’re giving into profound selfishness, which is undermining their ability to relate in a healthy way to young women . . . Also, pornography use contributes to overreacting in anger as men lose a sense of refinement and true manly confidence in how to relate to a woman. The women they see in pornography don’t have feelings, needs and opinions. When the men leave their fantasy world and meet a real woman who does have emotions and opinions, they often don’t know how to deal with her, and withdraw due to insecurity or overreact in anger.’”

Kate Orne writing at The Huffington Post: “Roaming the streets while their mothers earn their meager income, the children are easy targets to abuse, drugs and crime. Cheap glue is available through the local shoe factory, an easy high for many of the kids. Looking into their glassy distant eyes I witness myself at age 12 doing the same back in Sweden.”

ChristianNewsWire: “Robert Peters, president of Morality in Media, had the following comments: … ‘In June 2004, the Supreme Court affirmed a lower federal court decision which had upheld a preliminary injunction blocking enforcement of the Child Online Protection Act, a law that would have required websites that commercially distribute pornography to take reasonable steps to keep kids away from the smut. In so doing, the Supreme Court agreed with the trial court’s finding that “blocking or filtering technology may be at least as successful as COPA would be in restricting minors’ access to harmful material online without imposing the burden on constitutionally protected speech that COPA imposes on adult users…” Specifically, the trial court found (in the words of the appellate court) that requiring adults to ‘identify themselves as a precondition to accessing disfavored speech’ would ‘likely…deter many adults from accessing that speech.”‘”

How Appealing links to this report and the ruling in Flava Works Incv. City of Miami, Fl, No. 07-22370-CV-MGC (11th Cir. June 25, 2010).

FlavaWorks, Inc., v. City of Miami, No. 09-11264 (11th Cir. June 25, 2010) | Excerpt: “The activities taking place at the 27th Street residence are part and parcel to Flava Work’s business operations. The fact that certain aspects of the business are performed at other locations does not alter this analysis. Business objectives are the sole reason individuals are paid to live and engage in sexual activities at the 27th Street residence. Flava Works would be unable to deliver content to its subscribers without these endeavors. The activities taking place at the 27th Street residence are a clear violation of the prohibition against operating a business in a residential zone.”

Associated Press: “The city council is considering a request from Reggie Flimlin, an Asbury Park woman who owns a yoga studio, to allow women to decide for themselves whether they want to wear bikini tops on the beach. She says it’s already happening on less populated beaches in the city’s north end.”

KNDO: “The Yakima County Commissioners have imposed a 6-month moratorium on adult businesses on un-incorporated areas in the county.”

FOX News: “Wikipedia has become home base for a loose worldwide network of pedophiles who are campaigning to spin the popular online encyclopedia in their favor and are trying to lure more people into their world, an investigation by FoxNews.com confirms.” | Related: Shakeup at Wikipedia in wake of porn purge |
Wikipedia Distributing Child Porn, Co-Founder Tells FBI

“. . . more respectable businesses will be forced to purchase the dot-XXX equivalent of their primary domain simply to ensure it isn’t purchase by a purveyor of porn.”

“ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, gave its conditional blessing today at a conference in Brussels. Final approval is expected in October; the new domains will appear early next year.”

Orange County Register: “A proposed strip club has won in a state appellate court – getting closer to gaining a required city permit to operate here. In a decision issued Wednesday, the Fourth Appellate Division agreed with owner Musa Madain’s claim that the city had not fairly examined his permit application. … Branches Christian Church had planned to locate in a nearby business complex at 8381 Katella Ave. However, said Lead Pastor Jose Torres, the church did not actually file for its permit until sometime in April 2009 – after Madain’s application had been filed.” | Madain v. City of Stanton, G042218 (CA4/3 June 23, 2010)

AP: “The agency that controls Internet addresses said Friday it will consider adding the .xxx suffix for pornography to the list that people and companies can pick for their online identities.”

The Christian Institute: “Oxford City Council is using new powers to crackdown on ‘exploitative’ lap-dancing clubs, in a move welcomed by a local church. St Ebbe’s Church is campaigning against a lap-dancing venue close to its premesis and praised the council for its ‘determination to rectify the situation’.”

Download Squad: “OpenDNS is a great service for a number of reasons, and today there’s one more. If you’re a concerned parent, they’re now making it super-easy to block porn from all the computers in your home. The new offering is called FamilyShield, and it’s just as easy to get working as the original OpenDNS service.”

WALB: “Gail’s Lingerie and Video opened on West Broad Avenue 13-years ago, but it was in danger of being shut down under a proposed new adult business ordinance. … Tuesday night, city commissioners approved an updated version that includes Broad. The owner got support from her church in her effort to protect her business.”

Sun Herald: “City attorney Jeff Bruni said the Legal Department reviewed studies from around the country to draft the ordinance. It restricts the location of sexually oriented businesses, including those that operate as bookstores, cabarets, theaters, escort agencies, nude model studios or motels.”

Cincinnati Enquirer: “The crackdown on sexually oriented businesses in Clermont County could continue, spurred by concerns raised by the Citizens for Community Values. … Representatives of two adult-oriented businesses have faced criminal or civil court cases in the three months since CCV members met at a local church with County Commissioner Bob Proud, Assistant Prosecutor Daniel “Woody” Breyer and Union Township Administrator Ken Geis.”

Erie Times-News: “Township supervisors this morning approved distance requirements for adult entertainment stablishments in the township’s commercially-zoned districts, adding those figures to a developing ‘public indecency’ ordinance that will come up for formal adoption in mid-July.”

National Catholic Register: “When Apple CEO Steve Jobs proclaimed that Apple products like the iPhone and iPad would provide ‘freedom from porn,’ the man regarded as the most savvy tech visionary of the last 30 years was suddenly derided as a ‘puritan’ and a ‘censor.’ … [Microsoft's] guidelines specifically state what won’t be allowed: ‘Images that are sexually suggestive or provocative, content that generally falls under the category of pornography, or content that a reasonable person would consider to be adult or borderline adult content.’”

The Times-Tribune: “The Wyoming County commissioners agreed Tuesday to a $140,000 settlement with the American Civil Liberties Union over legal fees the organization incurred in a sexting case, county solicitor James Davis confirmed.” | Related: PA: Ex-student sues district for seizing her nude pics | PA: Federal judge enjoins Wyoming County D.A. from disciplining or prosecuting “sexting” teenagers for child pornography | 3rd Circuit: Prosecutor’s offer of leniency to teens for sexting is unconstitutional retaliation [CDR abstract]

Slave Master: How Pornography Drugs & Changes Your Brain
Donald L. Hilton, Jr., Salvo Magazine, Salvo 13 (Summer 2010)

“This article will seek to answer two questions: (1) Biologically, is the brain affected by pornography and other sexual addictions? (2) If so, and if such addictions are widespread, can they have a societal effect as well?”

Wall Street Journal: “Last month, the Republican-controlled legislature passed one of the nation’s toughest state laws aimed at strip clubs and other adult-entertainment venues. It would ban nude dancing and the serving of alcohol in adult cabarets, force strip clubs to close at midnight and forbid seminude dancers to touch patrons. Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat who counts job creation among his top priorities, must decide whether to sign or veto the bill. … Club owners and dancers say that the venues rarely attract crime, and that the new rules would be so strict that hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars in state revenue could be lost at a time when Missouri’s economy is struggling to recover from the recession.” | SB 586 |Related: Missouri General Assembly passes strip club regulation bill | For data regarding the negative “secondary effects,” including crime, caused by sexually oriented businesses, see the Studies: Sexually Oriented Businesses category at the Community Defense Counsel website.

Boston Globe: “British prosecutors said Monday that a man convicted of murdering a toddler in 1993, when he himself was just 10 years old, has been charged with child pornography offenses.”

First Amendment Center (AP): “A New Hampshire sex offender on probation is asking the state’s highest court to allow him to go to church with a chaperone. The case of Jonathan Perfetto marks the first time the New Hampshire Supreme Court has been asked to rule whether a probation condition that effectively bars church attendance violates constitutional rights to religious freedom.”

Charlotte Observer: “The Charlotte Observer reported Friday that Alcohol Beverage Control officials said the topless dancers are charged with violating a state law that prohibits them from performing nude. The arrests are part of a six-month undercover investigation into eight adult-entertainment clubs in Charlotte. Most of the clubs involved are operated by M.A.L. entertainment, a company owned by Charlotte businessman David “Slim” Baucom . . . ”

NY Daily News: “Public school kids soon should think twice before pulling out their cell phones: The city Education Department is set to ban ‘sexting’ – even on students’ own time. Under proposed new rules, kids face suspensions of up to 90 days for texting each other suggestive pictures or notes, even outside school hours.”

Suburban Journals: “The Collinsville City Council last week banned advertising from mobile platforms in the city. The ordinance is largely intended to limit so-called ‘stripper-mobiles,’ or trucks with glassed-in portions where half-clothed dancers perform.”

Cincinnati Enquirer: “Thirteen dancers and three managers at the Déjà Vu strip club in Clermont County face charges ranging from prostitution to illegally operating a sexually oriented business as a result of a police raid Thursday.”

Business Wire: “At its annual meeting this week, the American Medical Association (AMA) voted to support a public health effort by AIDS advocates including the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) that would require actors to use condoms during the production of adult films. During the meeting, which was held in Chicago, the AMA’s House of Delegates voted ‘to support legislation to require porn actors to use condoms on-screen.’”

NCPA Policy Digest: “Under the new rides, any individual seeking to start a personal website, such as a blog or photo-sharing page, must apply in person at their local Internet service provider’s offices. Website operators would have to show identification and allow the service provider to take their photo.”

Philadelphia Inquirer: “[A] recent graduate in northeastern Pennsylvania has filed a federal law suit claiming her former high school principal seized her cell phone and turned it over to prosecutors when he found ‘explicit’ photographs of her on it. . . . The former student – who was never charged with any crime – claims she was subject to unreasonable search and seizure, invasion of privacy, and that her First Amendment right to free expression was violated. by the American Civil Liberties Union. The suit was filed Thursday on behalf of the former student, identified as N.N., by the American Civil Liberties Union.” | For more on the initial case, see these two ADF Alliance Alert case tags: http://www.alliancealert.org/tag/zz-miller-v-skumanick/ | http://www.alliancealert.org/tag/zz-miller-v-mitchell/

TIME: “Plans for a mandatory Internet filter have been a long-term subject of controversy since they were first announced by Stephen Conroy, the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, in May 2008 as part of an $106 million ‘cybersafety plan.’ The plan’s stated purpose is to protect children when they go online by preventing them from stumbling on illegal material like child pornography . . . ”

“‘Our efforts today are not partisan because the protection of children, violence against women, addiction and sexual trafficking are not partisan issues. Nor are we here today to quarrel with Attorney General Holder,’ said Patrick A. Trueman, former chief of the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, U.S. Department of Justice.”

(Warning graphic images, descriptions, and language)

Stephanie Mencimer writing at Mother Jones: “On Tuesday, a group of anti-porn activists and scholars arrived on Capitol Hill to brief members of Congress and their staffs and to call for beefed-up federal enforcement of obscenity laws. . . . Christian-right groups have been complaining about porn forever, of course, and Trueman, a lawyer with the anti-gay Alliance Defense Fund, falls within that camp. But technology has made the right’s argument far more compelling, as the Internet has brought pornography to a far bigger and more vulnerable audience than ever before. . . . [A]ccording to Trueman, much of the explicit material found on the Internet these days isn’t protected speech but obscenity, which is prosecutable.”

FRC Blog reports and links to the video.

The News-Herald: “The ACLU of Ohio is urging legislators to keep sexting teens out of criminal courts. Ohio House Bill 473 seeks to create a new criminal misdemeanor violation for sexting — when teenagers send or receive nude or partially nude images of other minors electronically . . . ”

Click here to learn more about tomorrow’s event at the Capitol Visitor’s Center.

AP: “The high court on Monday refused to hear an appeal from the city of New Albany, Ind. City officials have been trying to shut down New Albany DVD since 2004.”

City of New Albany, Ind. v. New Albany DVD, 09-1027

BBC: “Police in Sri Lanka say they have started a campaign to remove what they describe as indecent advertising on film billboards and posters in Colombo . . . The sources said it was hoped that the internet would be more tightly controlled, too, after the recent banning of pornographic sites on mobile phones.”

AolNews.: “Chinese authorities have brought a charge of ‘group licentiousness’ against a 17-year-old girl accused of participating in sex parties with multiple male students, according to a report in the English-language China Daily . . . Sexuality experts say the dusted-off offense is a leap backward for China’s modernization drive, reflecting Beijing’s effort to maintain social order amid the dizzying social changes brought by a sexual revolution and the Internet explosion in China.”