| Redlemon |
10-11-2005 01:01 PM |
The FBI versus Porn
We already had the thread FBI forces SuicideGirls to remove "indecent" pics. There was much discussion over how real this was.
Well, here's Phase 2: Max Hardcore Offices Raided by FBI; Servers, Tapes Seized
Quote:
Wednesday, October 5, 2005
ALTA DENA, Calif. – The offices of Max Hardcore’s Max World Entertainment were raided Wednesday under the authority of the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section of the Justice Department.
The FBI seized five video titles, Hardcore’s attorney Jeffrey Douglas told XBiz, including “Pure Max #16,” (European version), “Max Hardcore Fists of Fury #3,” “Max Hardcore Extreme Schoolgirls #6,” (European version), “Max Hardcore Golden Guzzlers #5” and “Max Hardcore Golden Guzzlers #6.”
Additionally, the FBI seized all servers belonging to Hardcore with the purpose of copying and returning them, Douglas said. It is not yet known what other office items have been taken as the investigation is ongoing.
By Thursday afternoon, Hardcore's servers had been returned and the website was active.
Hardcore was not present at the time of the raid, and according to Douglas, is presently attending a trade show in Barcelona, Spain.
Douglas said this is the first federal obscenity investigation involving Hardcore and is in any way related to 2257 record-keeping enforcement.
“Once again the government is wasting tax dollars and otherwise invaluable law enforcement resources to try to force a minority view of morality on all of America,” Hardcore said in a statement. “Five of my movies have been targeted by the federal ‘prude’ patrol. There is no indication of any crime to be alleged except obscenity. If indicted, I will fight to protect my liberty as well as the liberty of consenting adults to watch other adults engage in lawful, consensual, pleasurable sexual action. Shame on the Department of Justice. I am proud of my movies and of those who sell them.”
In 2001, Hardcore was prosecuted by the city of Los Angeles for obscenity, which was not resolved until 2004 with a company plea to a public nuisance.
Born Paul Little in 1956, Hardcore’s films have long been considered some of the most controversial in the industry.
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And Phase 3: Red Rose Stories Closed by FBI
Quote:
Friday, October 7, 2005
PITTSBURGH — Online erotic stories host Red Rose Stories announced on its site Friday that the FBI had forced it to shut down.
According to a posting on the site’s main page, Red Rose Stories is facing obscenity charges for posting stories that allegedly involved bestiality, water sports, scat, bondage and domination, S&M, slavery, threesomes, orgies and sex with children.
According to Rosie, who runs the site, such topics have opened the door to her prosecution.
“Trust me on this. I found out the hard way. I never thought I'd be in trouble for the written word," Rosie told XBiz via email. “I had no pictures of a sexual nature on my site, adult or otherwise. [It seems] the only legal sex stories are those that involve a man and a woman consenting to missionary position sex in a dark room.”
Rosie said officials came to her house when she was not home and seized a number of items.
The men in black took all of my computer equipment and many of my diskettes, and have access to all my files and site information,” she wrote. “I am sorry to inform all interested parties that Red Rose Stories is a dead site.”
Rosie said that chat services on the site, as well as some parts to its forum, would remain open, and suggested subscribers contact the Pittsburgh FBI office if they “want to ask the feds for a refund.”
As of this writing, calls by XBiz to the office were not returned.
News of the site’s closure comes just days after the offices of Max Hardcore’s Max World Entertainment were raided under the authority of the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section of the Justice Department, and little more than a week after the FBI launched an anti-obscenity squad at the behest of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to increase obscenity prosecutions throughout the country.
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And Phase 4: NowThatsFuckedUp Creator Arrested
Quote:
Monday, October 10, 2005
LAKELAND, Fla. — Chris Wilson, the owner and operator of amateur wife and girlfriend site NowThatsFuckedUp.com, was arrested at his Florida home Friday on charges of felony wholesale distribution of obscene material.
According to sheriff’s officials in Polk County, Wilson is being charged with 300 misdemeanor counts and one felony count of wholesale distribution of obscene material, all of which reportedly relate to the pornographic material on Wilson’s site, not the controversial war images that have garnered so much attention in recent weeks.
Wilson’s site received global attention after allegations arose that U.S. soldiers were using it to trade photographs of dead Afghan and Iraqi civilians for free memberships to the site and access to pornographic content.
“Obscenity only applies to sex, not violence,” First Amendment attorney Lawrence Walters, who is representing Wilson, told XBiz. “You can chop people up but you can’t love them.”
Just last week, the army ruled that its soldiers could not be held accountable for the images, many of which showed burned or otherwise mutilated bodies posed next to people dressed in what looked like army uniforms. Islamic groups, who said the photographs dehumanized the Islamic world, blasted the Army’s decision.
Walters said he doesn’t yet know what specific images Wilson is being charged for.
“They’ve apparently got some kind of images they pulled from the site, but they haven’t shared those with us yet. My guess is they’ve selected whatever they can find that they think violates community standards in the county,” Walters said.
Walters said the most important aspect of the case right now is that his client did not post any of the pictures on his site. The attorney compared Wilson’s arrest with the government arresting the telephone company over what people might say over the phone.
“Is Sprint held responsible for what people say over the phone lines?” he asked.
Whether or not there is any political motivation for the arrest is a central concern, according to Walters, who worries that the Army images signaled his client out for political reasons.
“We want to know where this complaint is coming from and why Wilson was chosen among the thousands of webmasters out there,” Walters said. “Given the fact that he had pictures of war dead on his site we have significant concerns that there is some political motivation here.”
Currently Wilson is being charged with the 300 separate accounts individually, which Walters said requires 300 separate bonds and makes it logistically very difficult to get him out of jail.
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All off of the same news site, but that was just the easiest place to gather the news. The war on porn is on again. This isn't a voluntary removal of content, like the Suicide Girls was. This is raids and physical removal of servers. |
