Porn peddlers should be prosecuted, say members of a federal smut commission. The most recent variation of U.S. obscenity law grew out of the 1973 Miller v. But obscenity laws date back much further, to prosecutions in England in the early 1700s, and were derived from religious prohibitions against blasphemy.
Critics say obscenity laws violate free speech rights guaranteed by the First Amendment.
Private-sector members of the commission said that obscenity prosecutions were the wrong approach. One recurring theme was overseas websites, and the knotty problem of how U.S. police can arrest sex-site operators in, say, Amsterdam. The report is due by the end of October. This is a question of whether we are going to lead or follow on this one. Flores said the porn industry is extremely sensitive to prosecution, so even a few prosecutions could have a big impact.