I received this in my subscription to "DOMestic" today and I felt it would be of interest.

subject line: X: the Bush/Gonzales War against Free Speech
posted on: Sun, 23 Oct 2005 16:35:53 -0000
posted by: "thrash999" (email address removed)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - National Coalition for Sexual Freedom

Contact: (removed)

Wave of Obscenity Prosecutions Leads to Closure and Self-
Censorship of SM Websites October 20, 2005 - Attorney General
Alberto Gonzales has announced that his office will specifically
target "bestiality, urination, defecation, as well as sadistic
and masochistic behavior" in pursuing new obscenity
prosecutions. The Department of Justice began recruiting in late
July for a new anti-obscenity squad to pursue obscenity
prosecutions, and the FBI announced in September that it was
forming an anti-obscenity task force to crack down on
pornography.

Any website that has content containing "bestiality, urination,
defecation, as well as sadistic and masochistic behavior" should
be forewarned that prosecution is possible. Additionally,
Federal sentencing guidelines state that any obscenity- related
punishment should be "enhanced for sadomasochistic material."

Forty people and businesses have been convicted of obscenity
since 2001, and 20 additional indictments are pending according
to Andrew Oosterbaan, chief of the Justice Department's child
exploitation and obscenity section. There were only four
obscenity prosecutions during the eight years of the Clinton
administration.

Though adult content is, in theory, protected by the First
Amendment, only a jury can determine if a work is obscene or not
under the subjective set of standards that vary from one
community to the next established in the 1973 Supreme Court
ruling, Miller v. California.

Text is not inherently more protected than images when it comes
to obscenity charges. The erotic fiction website Red Rose
Stories is facing obscenity charges after federal agents raided
the owner's home on October 3rd, taking computer equipment and
diskettes that contained all of their files and site
information.

The Department of Justice is clearly hoping that websites will
self-censor or remove their content entirely. Midori, a fetish
model and SM educator who teaches classes on bondage, has
removed her website, BeautyBound.com, citing fear of obscenity
prosecution. The owner of three SM websites, known as GrandPa
DeSade, removed his websites from the Internet. SuicideGirls.com
also announced they are self-censoring their materials over
concerns about a possible obscenity crackdown.

Recent prosecutions of obscenity on websites include: A former
police officer in Lakeland, Florida, was arrested on October 7th
on over 300 obscenity-related charges for the sexual content
posted on his website. The same day, webmaster Chris Wilson,
owner of amateur website NowThatsFuckedUp.com, was raided on
charges of obscenity by a local Sheriffs office.

"I think it's crucial for us to stand up for consensual
sadomasochism and other alternative sexual practices," says
Barbara Nitke, fetish photographer. "This is a battle worth
fighting, and I hope everyone who can will just censor out the
most provocative material from their websites, but keep them up.
I also appeal to the lawyers in our community to help us find
ways to keep people's websites up."

Barbara Nitke and the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom
(NCSF) have proactively challenged federal obscenity laws as
applied to the Internet, arguing that obscenity laws based on
"local community standards" are too vague and their existence
burdens protected speech, resulting in self-censorship due to
the fear of prosecution. A district court three-judge panel in
New York ruled that while Nitke and the NCSF members were at
risk, more proof was needed that obscenity laws cause otherwise
protected speech to be restrained through acts of self-
censorship.

The case is currently on appeal to the United States Supreme
Court. "The effect of silencing alternative lifestyle speech was
exactly why we brought the lawsuit," says attorney John
Wirenius, lead counsel for NCSF. "The self- censorship we are
seeing underscores the importance of supporting our ongoing
obscenity challenge."

To contribute to the appeal of the CDA lawsuit, go to: (removed)

The National Coalition for Sexual Freedom is a national
organization committed to creating a political, legal, and
social environment in the United States that advances equal
rights of consenting adults who practice forms of alternative
sexual expression. NCSF is primarily focused on the rights of
consenting adults in the SM- leather-fetish, swing, and
polyamory communities, who often face discrimination because of
their sexual expression.

(web site, email, name and address removed)

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Since I was unsure if it was ok to post names and address here, I've removed them.