U.S. declares War on Porn

Baltimore Sun ^ | April 5, 2004 | Laura Sullivan

[Quick1]

WASHINGTON -- Lam Nguyen's job is to sit for hours in a chilly, quiet room devoid of any color but gray and look at pornography. This job, which Nguyen does earnestly from 9 to 5, surrounded by a half-dozen other "computer forensic specialists" like him, has become the focal point of the Justice Department's operation to rid the world of porn.

In this field office in Washington, 32 prosecutors, investigators and a handful of FBI agents are spending millions of dollars to bring anti-obscenity cases to courthouses across the country for the first time in 10 years. Nothing is off limits, they warn, even soft-core cable programs such as HBO's long-running Real Sex or the adult movies widely offered in rooms of major hotel chains.

Department officials say they will send "ripples" through an industry that has proliferated on the Internet and grown into an estimated $10 billion-a-year colossus profiting Fortune 500 corporations such as Comcast, which offers hard-core movies on a pay-per-view channel.

[Quick1]

Wait, was that an argument for the legalization of prostitution I just heard? :)

I should have guessed this thread would be quite popular...

[Dan from Michigan]

We got Iraq, Afghanastan, border problems, and a bloated defecit, but Porn(outside of Child Porn) is a major priority? C'mon.

[mylife]

I agree. I just see so many folks who just accept internet porn in their mail boxes as part of internet life.

It just shouldnt be so in your face.

A person should have to actively seek it to find it not actively block it

[Jaysun]

I should hope that they aren't TOO serious about this. It would put my neighbor's wife in a real quandary. How would she continue her business that caters to bizarre people who like to see pictures of unattractive women that walk about in public wearing nothing but a viking helmet? How would I continue my photography business that focuses on taking nude photographs of unattractive women in public wearing nothing but viking helmets?

This is just too much.

[antiRepublicrat]

Just read the full article:

said pornography "invades our homes persistently though the mail, phone, VCR, cable TV and the Internet,

Gotta love propaganda. Porn only "invades" via some spam, and that is a very specific problem. Porn by all other methods is chosen by the consumer to come into the home.

[antiRepublicrat]

Wait, was that an argument for the legalization of prostitution I just heard?

That's a different subject, but I'm for that, too. I've just seen too many countries where it's regulated, and abuse and disease are much rarer there, plus it's taxed.

[Starve The Beast]

I notice that this article quotes Larry Flynt (who opposes Bush to the point of making up stupid rumors about him) several times, as well as some other pornographers.

About half way through the piece, it just turns the blowtorch full blast on John Ashcroft, with a bunch of innuendo but no actual facts. The article really seems to object to Ashcrofts' Christianity, for some reason.

My judgment: This article is a fake, just another loony hit piece on Bush by America's unbiased media. Read the article closely; notice how it doesn't really say anything.

[hasegawasama]

Indeed. yes. yes.

[isom35]

hmmm...a war against porn. So would traci lords be a defector from the enemy side? If we capture some porn actresses and put them in a POW camp, can I be a guard?

[Quick1]

Get in line, buddy. :)

[agitator]

This is nothing but a typical government shakedown, no different than any of the other shakedown operations they run. Here's how it works. Govt targets some producer of pr0n and then through threats amounting to extortion (I'm shocked!) gets the producer to agree to stop producing pr0n under their current business and to forfeit (pay tribute) to Uncle Sham to the tune of a couple of hundred thousand dollars (which to the pr0n business is just an expensive cost of doing business.) They take that $200k and use it to fund their next extortion of their next target. The idea here isn't to stop it, it's to create a self-funding shakedown operation that makes nice headlines for the "folks."

[Quick1]

I thought it was a possiblity until I checked Google News.

Article from the Miami Herald

Mercury News

Charlotte Observer

[Starve The Beast]

Mmmmm, you're right, this is worse than I thought.

I notice that what they seem to be targeting is 'obscenity', as opposed to pornography, but that's not much comfort. A DOJ that spends time and money going after something that subjective scares me a lot more than pictures of people having sex with animals, or whatever.

Thanks for the info.

[oyez]

Sounds like trial lawyers about to make some money.

[ellery]

We're at WAR with Islamofacists, some of whom live among us. Priorities, people.

[Tamzee]

Today, if you get exposed to child pornography, you can bet that there is some Government employee posting it. This is how they justify their jobs.

The most ludicrous statement I've ever seen posted at FR.

[RightWingAtheist]

I find it interesting that of all the industries and businesses in the country, the sex industry is the only one the liberals want completely unregulated.

[weegee]

The "standards" that HBO follows today are far removed from what was considered "acceptable" 20 years ago. Real Sex will show full frontal shots of she-males making out nowdays.

Where do you draw the line?

Not saying that an adult who wants to watch such freakshows on cable should be denied his program choice but should it be tolerated on Warner Brothers' signature pay-movie channel or should it be on an "adults only" channel?

[ArmstedFragg]

The nature of Associated Press is that each member files stories for the use of other members. From the looks of it, one of Knight-Ridder's reporters picked up the AP filing from Baltimore, rewrote it, then put it on the wire to Knight-Ridder's clients. (Or, in the alternative, the Baltimore reporter rewrote the KR story)

At any rate, the stories you linked to are all the same Knight-Ridder story bylined to the same reporter.

So... repetition of the story doesn't bolster its credibility if it all comes from the same source.

[weegee]

Scratch the surface of the porn industry and you'll find organized crime operating.

Traci Lords was underage when she made all but her final film (which she owned).

The Girls Gone Wild producer has escaped child porn charges since a judge ruled that those tapes are not pornography (although he still employed a minor who was too young to legally sign a release). He was also facing charges of being a drug dealer but I don't know where that stands today.

Larry Flynt contracted a murder hit against Bob Guccione.

If you were put in charge of guarding prisoners in the War on Porn, you'd likely be looking after some wiseguys. Maybe some 4-eyed geeks too (the kind who created SPAM, autodialers, spyware, and popup-hell code).