Exam 9: Obscenity and Indecency

A video store that rents or sells sexually-explicit DVDs only to willing adults:

Prior restraints are:

Nudity is synonymous with obscenity.

The FCC has yet to assess an indecency fine at the new level authorized by Congress in 2006.

Discuss the rationale for the FCC's F-word ruling and the problems this ruling created for broadcasters.

A person who "panders" may be convicted for commercial exploitation of sexual material even though the materials are not obscene.

A website with information about preventing breast cancer, including photographs showing how a breast self-examination should be conducted, is subject to the FCC's indecency rules.

Lower courts have interpreted the U.S. Supreme Court case Lawrence v. Texas decision as barring prosecutions for the distribution of obscene materials.

The 1957 case in which the U.S. Supreme Court first held that obscenity was unprotected expression:

The U.S. Supreme Court's Pacifica Foundation case is precedent for local laws prohibiting the sale or rental to adults of indecent DVDs.

The producers and distributors of materials depicting "actual sexually explicit conduct" are required to maintain records of their models' ages and identities.

There is a longstanding tradition of restricting children's access to depictions of violence.

The city council of Virtue, concerned with the proliferation of sexual material on cable, prohibits the cablecasting of "indecent" programming at any time. The ordinance defines indecency as the "patently offensive depiction or description of sexual or excretory activities and organs." Further, the ordinance specifies that the city council, in response to citizen complaints, will assess whether particular programs are indecent. Is this ordinance constitutional? In your answer, discuss the ordinance's complete ban on cable indecency, the definition of indecency, and whether it is permissible for a city council to determine whether cable programs are unprotected speech.

The case in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Congress could ban obscene sexual messages provided by commercial telephone services, but could not ban indecent telephone services:

In Reno v. ACLU, the U.S. Supreme Court found Congress' definition of Internet indecency was unconstitutionally vague.

Enforcement of broadcast indecency is a highly politicized process.

The V-Chip requirement has reduced the FCC's interest in enforcing indecency rules for television.

Enforcement of broadcast indecency:

The governmental interest in protecting minors justifies laws which prohibit the sale of sexually-oriented magazines to minors, even when those magazines may be legally sold to adults.

California's ban on the sale or rental of violent video games to minors was found constitutional in Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association.