Quote:
Originally posted by Undertoad
The US's approach to porn in general has been one of "community standards". I think this is kind of a historical approach because pre-cable, pre-internet, what was considered acceptable in New York City was quite different from what was considered acceptable in the more Victorian areas of the country. Nowadays it seems to have "evened out" but that may just be my perception.
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The whole "community standards" thing is with us and has resulted in rulings people on both sides of the issue would regard as skewed. In one case, a BBS was successfully prosecuted by Tennessee authorities because people in TN were able to download the naughty pictures, and the pics violated the community standards of TN. (I forget where the BBS was located, but as I recall nobody attempted to argue that the adult material in question was illegal there, only in TN.)
On the other hand, a video store in Utah was prosecuted on obscenity charges. The owner's lawyer argued the case successfully on community standards grounds. What he did was subpoena pay-per-view sales numbers from various hotels in the area. He then argued, based on the number of adult PPV movies that were purchased in Utah hotels, and the content of those movies, that his client's stock of video was not in fact inconsistent with the community standards.
If you're interested in the history of censorship law in the US, "Girls Lean Back Everywhere" by Edward de Grazia is a good read (though he deals mostly with books as opposed to pictures or movies IIRC).