Wireless Carriers Set Strict Decency Standards for Content

Posted: May 1, 2006

WASHINGTON - As music and video programming becomes widely available for cell phones, major U.S. wireless carriers are quietly setting strict decency standards for their content partners in an effort to stave off criticism from customers and regulators, according to the Adult Freedom Foundation (AFF) Monitor. Many of the rules go far beyond those set by federal regulators for television and radio, according to a story by Amol Sharma.

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Vegas Strip Club Owners Challenge State Tax

Posted: April 21, 2006

LAS VEGAS - The owners of eight strip clubs have asked a federal judge to throw out Nevada’s live entertainment tax, claiming it’s a violation of their First Amendment rights.

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Nevada Adult Clubs Cite 1st Amendment Over 10% Tax

Posted: April 20, 2006

LAS VEGAS — More than a half-dozen Nevada adult entertainment venues are suing the state, claiming its Live Entertainment Tax is an unconstitutional tax on an expressive activity protected by the 1st Amendment.

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ICM Registry Submits Revised Proposed .XXX Registry Agreement to ICANN; New Comment Period Commences

Posted: April 19, 2006

Marina del Rey, Ca - A revised proposed .XXX Registry Agreement was submitted to ICANN by ICM Registry yesterday, for consideration by the Board of Directors in a meeting May 10.

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Extreme Associates Petitions The U.S. Supreme Court
Posted: April 17, 2006

CINCINNATI - After months of preparation, the Petition for Writ of Certiorari of Extreme Associates, Rob Black and Lizzy Borden has been completed and is on its way to the clerk of the United States Supreme Court – the defendants' last stop before either being absolved of all charges by the land's highest court, or before their being forced to stand trial in U.S. District Court on several counts of trafficking obscenity.

11th Circuit Overturns Pandering Portion of PROTECT Act

Posted: April 10, 2006

ATLANTA - In a ruling supportive of the First Amendment which was announced Thursday, the Eleventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that 18 U.S.C. §2252A(a)(3)(B) of the PROTECT Act, which criminalizes the non-commercial pandering of images of "virtual child porn" and of non-obscene actual children, is unconstitutional.

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Senators Baucus and Pryor Author Bill to Create Mandatory Adult TLD

Posted: March 16, 2006

WASHINGTON, DC – Senators Max Baucus (D-MT) and Mark Pryor (D-AR) introduced new legislation today that would serve to require websites that contain “material that is harmful to minors” to operate from a new Top-Level Domain.

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The Senate Takes a Look at Pamphleteers

Posted: March 13, 2006

WASHINGTON - A recent story reported that in the eyes of one conservative group, a lesser-known Senate lobbying proposal would have forced Revolutionary patriots to reveal their leafleting routes to King George.

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FSC Blasts New Bill Toughening Record Keeping Law
Posted: March 9, 2006

CANOGA PARK, Calif. - The industry trade group, Free Speech Coalition, is blasting the House of Representatives’ passage on Wednesday of a bill that would toughen record keeping requirements for the adult industry.

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Wedelstedt: ‘Justice’ In Dallas
Posted: March 7, 2006

DALLAS - The drive from the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport is not without its humorous moments. One passes under the President George Bush Turnpike that runs through Irving, Texas (isn't it common form for a president to be dead before naming structures after them?)

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Wedelstedt Sentenced to Federal Prison Camp

Posted: March 3, 2006

DALLAS - Goalie Entertainment owner Edward Wedelstedt on Thursday was sentenced to 13 months in Englewood Federal Prison Camp in Littleton, Colorado as part of his guilty plea to one count of obscenity.

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Property Rights Trump Zoning In Colorado

Posted: February 28, 2006

DENVER - Veteran adult business defenders Art Schwartz and Michael Gross have just won a couple of major victories over Colorado zoning ordinances statewide, where local authorities have attempted to close an adult cabaret and a bookstore based on set-back violations but have been overruled by the state appeals court.

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FSC Responds To Motion to Dismiss 2257 Lawsuit

Posted: February 23, 2006

CHATSWORTH, Calif. - Attorneys for the Free Speech Coalition (FSC) have filed the plaintiffs' response to a motion by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) for summary judgment in Free Speech Coalition v. Gonzales, FSC's lawsuit to strike down 18 U.S.C. §2257, the recordkeeping and labeling law and the regulations attendant to it.

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Google Stung by Judge’s Ruling on Explicit Photos
Posted: February 22, 2006

LOS ANGELES - According to a U.S. judge, Internet giant Google Inc. infringed copyright rules by posting explicit, thumbnail-size photos from other websites on its search results pages, according to a published report.

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Analysis: The Alito Problem
Posted: February 2, 2006

WASHINGTON - The confirmation of Third Circuit Appeals Judge Samuel Alito to the U.S. Supreme Court cements a plurality of hard-line conservatives on the nation's highest court, and arguably gives control of all three branches of the United States government over to religious conservatives.

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Posted: January 25, 2006

NORTH HOLLYWOOD, Calif. - After watching the proceedings in front of the Senate Committee, culminating with Paul Cambria's statement and the ensuing Q&A, I expected the litany of second-guessing and armchair lawyering from the gallery, i.e. the different gossip sites and the assorted web-hacks who fuel them.

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Posted: January 21, 2006

On a lazy Thursday afternoon I found myself watching C-SPAN with a mixture of frustration and disappointment as respected adult industry attorney Paul Cambria got up before a United States Senate committee and made a number of extremely unfortunate mistakes in response to questions from a panel of four senators – two Democrats, and two Republicans. Mr. Cambria, dressed in his Sunday best and trying very hard to project humble humanity, spoke on behalf of the adult entertainment industry on the issue of children’s access to “internet pornography” – but, in a matter of bitter irony, it is precisely the internet side of the adult business that Mr. Cambria knows the least about.

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Industry Representative At Senate Hearing

Posted: January 21, 2006

WASHINGTON, DC - Misinformation and threats of legislative action against the adult Internet characterized a recent hearing of the Senate Commerce Committee here, titled “Protecting Children on the Internet.” The adult entertainment industry had a spokesperson present for the first time in such a meeting, First Amendment attorney Paul Cambria, who testified on behalf of the Adult Freedom Foundation and tried valiantly to carry an olive branch to Congress, expressing a willingness to work with the Committee in an effort to find ways to protect children and the First Amendment rights of adults at the same time.

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Next Stop For Extreme Associates: The Supreme Court

Posted: January 17, 2006

PITTSBURGH, Pa. - In an order dated Jan. 9, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit formally denied attorney H. Louis Sirkin's petition for an "en banc" reconsideration of the reinstatement of charges against Extreme Associates, Rob Black and Lizzie Borden.

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2257 Ruling Draws Mixed Reactions from Attorneys

Posted: January 3, 2006

CHATSWORTH, Calif. - The majority of the industry breathed a sign of relief when AVN.com published its analysis of the ruling by Judge Walker D. Miller on the preliminary injunction sought by Free Speech Coalition (FSC) in its lawsuit against the 2257 law and regulations.

In fact, the news from Denver in Free Speech Coalition v. Gonzales seemed so positive that many overlooked the fact that the industry still faces plenty of problems from the law that were not addressed in Judge Miller's opinion.

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Judge Rules in Favor of Industry On 2257 Case

Posted: December 29, 2005

CHATSWORTH, Calif. - In an opinion issued Wednesday, U.S. District Court judge Walker D. Miller ruled in favor of the Free Speech Coalition on two key sections of its lawsuit against 18 U.S.C. §2257, the federal Recordkeeping and Labeling Act, and the regulations issued by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales that apply to that law. The case is Free Speech Coalition v. Gonzales.

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Government Files Motion To Dismiss In 2257 Case

Posted: December 28, 2005

DENVER - The first sentence of the U.S. Department of Justice's Motion to Dismiss and/or Motion for Summary Judgment in the case of Free Speech Coalition (FSC) v. Gonzales reads, "Plaintiffs’ 32-count challenge to 18 U.S.C. §2257 and its implementing regulations establishes only that the number of claims in a complaint does not reflect their merit." Not the most auspicious or substantive beginning to a motion which the government undoubtedly hopes will kill the adult industry as we know it – and what follows tracks both the government's anger with the industry and its lack of firm ground upon which to challenge FSC's arguments.

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Tennessee Case Targets Law Affecting Adult Businesses

Posted: December 14, 2005

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The Tennessee Supreme Court is currently considering enjoining a law that gives more rights to adult cabarets than it does to adult bookstores, and Michigan-based First Amendment attorney Bradley Shafer is hopeful that the court will make the right decision.

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Appeals Court Reinstates Charges Against Extreme Associates:

Case Is Back On The Trial List

Posted: December 8, 2005

PITTSBURGH - In a unanimous opinion released today, a three-judge panel of the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the ruling of District Court judge Gary Lancaster and reinstated all charges against Extreme Associates, Rob Black and Lizzy Borden.

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Zoning Out: Steering Clear of Municipal Anti-Adult Codes

Posted: December 5, 2005

CHATSWORTH, Calif. - The good news about adult zoning is, even with local governments across the country being lobbied to get rid of adult businesses, and legislators threatened with reprisals at the polls if they don’t, there hasn’t been an increase in the frequency of adult retailer and nightclub zoning cases over the last decade or so. The bad news is...
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Indiana Court Rules Proof Of Harm Required To Halt Video Sales

Posted; december 2, 2005

INDIANAPOLIS - A 1977 Indiana statute which makes it a crime for anyone to sell or display for sale sexually explicit materials within 500 feet of a church or school has been barred from being enforced against Video-Home-One, Inc., an Indianapolis video store doing business as V-H-One, whose stock of adult titles comprised less than 10 percent of its floor space.

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Religious Right Readies War on Mobile Porn

Posted: November 14, 2004

WASHINGTON - On the same day the international trade association for the wireless telecommunications industry unveiled the Wireless Content Guidelines under which its U.S. members will deal with adult mobile content, elements of the anti-porn camp were meeting with the feds across town to discuss how to keep the erotic menace off the wireless airwaves.

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Goalie's Wedelstedt Pleads Guilty to Obscenity Charge

Posted: November 5, 2005

DALLAS - Goalie Entertainment owner Edward Wedelstedt pleaded guilty Friday in Dallas to a federal obscenity charge, agreeing to forfeit three adult bookstores in Texas to authorities as part of his plea agreement.

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Goalie's Wedelstedt Avoids Charges, Settles with Government
Posted: October 25, 2005

DENVER - In a statement released today, Eddie Wedelstedt, owner of Goalie Entertainment, announced he has entered into a global settlement with the U.S. government.

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Extreme Case Is About Privacy, Not Obscenity: Attorney

Posted: October 20, 2005

PITTSBURGH, Pa. - It was standing-room-only in Courtroom 3A of the federal courthouse here – ironically, the same courtroom in which Judge Gary Lancaster had originally heard the arguments to dismiss the obscenity charges against Extreme Associates – and of the approximately 50 spectators, only six could be identified as supporting defendants Rob Black and Lizzy Borden.

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Arguments Commence in U.S. vs. Extreme Associates Appeal

Posted: October 19, 2005

PITTSBURGH, Pa. - Extreme Associates began the next phase of its obscenity battle with the U.S. government today as attorneys for both sides argued the dismissal of the indictments against the adult company before a three-judge panel of the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

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Two Raids, One Local, One Federal, Put a Chill in the Air and a Webmaster in Jail

Posted: October 11, 2005

Cyberspace – The owners of two websites were raided last week in unconnected obscenity investigations that have nonetheless combined to create a level of increased concern within the industry, and a definite chilling effect. One of the raids resulted in an arrest and charges filed, the other in seized equipment and files but no charges filed as yet.

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Max Hardcore Raided by Feds in Obscenity Probe

Posted: October 5, 2005

Los Angeles, Ca. - Federal law enforcement officers acting on behalf of The Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) of the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) conducted a raid today on Max Hardcore’s studio, Max World Entertainment, in an obscenity probe targeting five specific adult-oriented titles, all of which were seized.

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Two Historic (and Favorable) Decisions From Oregon’s High Court

Posted September 30, 2005

NYSSA, OR - A city code regulating exotic dancing, that includes a four-foot distance limitation between nude dancers and customers, has been declared unconstitutional under the Oregon Constitution. In Nyssa v. Dufloth, the Oregon Supreme Court overruled by a margin of 6-1 the Circuit Court and Court of Appeals decisions that had ruled that nude dancing is not protected expression under the Oregon Constitution.

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Lion's Den Charges Dismissed

September 28, 2005

ABILENE, Kan. - In a stunning victory for adults' sexual rights, a Kansas District Court judge on Sept. 7 dismissed a 10-count indictment charging violations of the state Obscene Devices Act against the Lion's Den adult store here.

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Michelle Freridge Speaks on National Public Radio

September 27, 2005

A report by correspondent Larry Abramson about stepped up prosecution of obscenity crimes by the Justice Department was aired on National Public Radio this morning on the Morning Edition, and included comments by Free Speech Coalition Executive Director Michelle L. Freridge and First Amendment attorney Louis H. Sirkin, among others. The report can be heard here.

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New Federal Law Proposes To End Adult Video Production

September 14, 2005
WASHINGTON - Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.), one of the most religio-conservative politicians in Congress today, has introduced House Resolution (H.R.) 3726, which would amend several federal laws, including the Recordkeeping and Labeling Act (18 U.S.C. §2257). The move marks the Religious Right's most blatant attempt yet to destroy the adult video industry, this time by granting the Justice Department increased powers to target adult producers within a state, without having to wait for them to ship their product across state lines.
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Number One with a Bullet: DoJ 'Mandated' to Prosecute Obscenity

August 31, 2005

MIAMI - The U.S. Department of Justice, at least according to its chief representative in Miami, believes obscenity is a bigger threat to the American way of life than drugs, terrorism, corruption, or organized crime. That’s the impression U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta has been leaving in his wake lately, anyway, and it’s creating something of a backlash in the legal and law enforcement communities.

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Missouri Anti-Adult Bill Struck Down

August 26, 2005
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - Missouri adult stores and cabarets were overjoyed when Judge Richard G. Callahan, at 5:30 this evening, struck down the adult-business restrictions contained in House Bill (HB) 972, which began life as an anti-drug bill, “Intoxication-Related Traffic Offenses,” due to the fact that under Missouri law, the legislative intent of a bill must agree with the bill’s title – and nothing about regulating adult video stores and night clubs has anything to do with drunk or drugged driving.
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