I can find no reference what laws are being referenced here. Is hardcore porn already technically illegal, and just not enforced? Or is this just a matter of theocrat hopefuls getting the “porn bad! family good!” message out, and no laws are actually not being enforced?
I… don’t think so. I… I mean, my friends haven’t noticed any change from one administration to the next, so if Obama’s not enforcing laws, they’re either relatively insignificant laws, or no one enforces them.
Laws regarding pornography are a hopeless muddle. Technically obscenity is still a crime in many jurisdictions. That raises the question of whether material shipped from one jurisdiction to another is subject to the definition of obscenity of both or neither or either one. The courts have ruled different ways at different times and the Supreme Court has not taken a clear stance on that issue or many others.
The wikipedia entry on obscenity seems to have some good background on this issue. Basically it looks like the laws are pretty nebulous. So it is easy to imagine that much material that is readily available would be illegal under certain strict readings of the law.
I know the internet has thrown obscenity law into a black hole. It used to be that you could regulate smut pretty easily through the physical businesses that sell it, but now there is a pipe going into virtually every home directly from the producers, and nearly all of it without any age verification of any substance.
Probably talking about the Child Online Protection Act of 1998, which requires web sites to restrict children from having access to any “material that is harmful to minors”. The law was immediately challenged in court, was never enforced, and has been ruled unconstitutional.
Weren’t there some high-profile prosecutions for obscenity during the Bush administration? I vaguely remember stories about porn producers who made movies involving fisting, coprophilia, and other “extra hardcore” activities getting prosecuted and imprisoned several years ago…
I’ve heard of internet producers of BDSM getting harassed, fined or jailed; sometimes according to the laws of some county on the other side of the country.
Right, essentially they’re complaining that nobody’s starting federal obscenity cases against adult porn. Because, y’know, adult porn is such a dire threat…