** Continued From: Obscenely Clueless! - Part #1
The Supreme Court of the United States ruled that obscene speech is not protected by the First Amendment. Unfortunately - or fortunately, depending on how you look at it - the SCOTUS has never given a finite definition for obscenity.
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"If you're charged with obscenity, your defense is on you...Any prosecution is bad but obscenity prosecutions are horrendously bad." |
Instead, the Supremes blessed the individual States with the responsibility for defining, regulating and prosecuting crimes of obscenity. In other words, States, counties and cities get to make their own vice laws and a jury of your peers decides your guilt. That is, if you can afford to make it to trial.
In part one of this two-part piece, I tried to show you how vulnerable you are, as an adult webmaster, to obscenity prosecution. I did my best to explain to you that the laws are not on your side. You can pay all the taxes and comply with all the 2257 regulations you want. It won't matter if the police department in your town decides to bring you up on charges. I'm not saying you'll be prosecuted. I'm trying to get you to realize that conviction or no, an obscenity charge can ruin you.
As promised, in this second article, I'm going to share with you some real-time wisdom from a real-live adult Internet lawyer: Lawrence Walters of Weston, Garrou, Dewitt & Walters and Firstamendment.com. I told Larry, I wanted to give the little pimps a wakeup call as to how this whole obscenity-charging thing goes down. I said to him, I want them to realize that this ain't no game. This ain't no traffic ticket or DUI. I told Walters to set you perverts straight. He quoted to me a saying that's famous among cops:
"You might beat the rap but you can't beat the ride."
You know what that means? It means, if officers come to your house with a warrant for your arrest, you go. If they come with a warrant to search your offices or home, you let them. If they show up with a van and a warrant saying they can confiscate your computer equipment, they do it. If they take you downtown and charge you with a crime, you go before a judge. If that judge decides to take your case to trial, you go to trial. If a jury of your peers rules that your Golden Showers website is obscene, you get convicted. If you get convicted, expect a huge fine and prepare yourself for a very possible stay in jail.
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If you're charged with obscenity, don't think that angels from the ACLU are going to float down and champion you for free. If you're charged with obscenity, your defense is on you. You will have to find and pay the lawyers, the obscenity experts, the witnesses, the court reporters and investigators. You will be the one that must prove to a jury or judge that your pee pics aren't obscene. You are the one that will have to suffer though weeks or months of legal hell. It's all on you, baby.
Larry wants you to know that while you should be wary of local authorities, don't forget the Feds. Mr. Walters would like to remind you smutmongers that the US Department of Justice recently declared a new war on porn. They've got 25 million dollars at their disposal and they have a fresh team of special agents just itching for some action.
Larry also told me to tell you that if you're one of the unlucky ones, you better have a lot of money. He says that an obscenity trial can take over a law office. He advises you put some big green in the bank right now that is earmarked for legal defense. Larry Walters says one more thing: GET A LAWYER!
Any prosecution is bad but obscenity prosecutions are horrendously bad. Are you prepared to have your name in the papers? Are you prepared for your friends and family to be associated with a known pornographer? Are you primed for a long legal process, tremendous outlays of cash and the complete destruction of your reputation?
The sad truth is, you are at the mercy of your local and Federal authorities. The law will come after us. They always do eventually, especially if there's an election coming up. Your site might not be judged obscene but you'll still have to prove it in a court of law.
Like Larry Walters tells me:
"You might beat the rap but you can't beat the ride".