🚀 go-pugleaf

On 19 May 2005 12:55:54 -0700, "Bibliophilia" writing in talk.bizarre
wrote:-

>kDot:
>> Unless I'm misunderstanding you, The "Adult
>>Entertainment"   industry seeks legality at
>>every  level;  from Credit Card   processing to
>>politics; starting with tax-deductible union fees.

>That is Bob's quote.  I assume the porn industry has profited from the
>legalization efforts; illegality might drive up the price but will
>shrink the market, because some people will be deterred by the idea of
>embarrassing arrest, etc. 

 In New South Wales (Australia) there are two fundamental groups a)
those that seek legalisation but despite knowing that what they sell
is just as illegal as group (b) sell it anyway (that's Howard
government approved (modified) "X" rating) and group b) who have never
sought legalisation and simply sell whatever the market demands
subject to the whims of whoever is in power at any particular time.

 Back in the early 1970's the Whitlam government (Australia) pushig
the boundaries and objection of even those within his party (which
arguably the more conservative of the two major political parties in
Australa) along with others such as Don Chipp removed many puritanical
ideas from the culture of Australia.   Around that time an "X" rating
was very similar to what I believe an "X" rating in the United States
to be.  It wasn't a rating devoted to porn and it wasn't a sexual
rating (from memory) but covered anything that couldn't be rated under
the other "film" ratings.  In the United States I might add there is
no compulsion at a Federal level by law to have a film classified.

 From around 1976, which was roughly the time the videotape came onto
the market there was no legal sanction against the sale or hire of
homel video material that isn't rated and hence almost everything was
legal.  I recall around that time a newspaper clipping (alleged to be
from Mafia source)s that stated that "we're not interested in this
market while it's legal".

 In 1984 all State governments outlawed the sale of video material for
use in the home (VHS, Betamax, DVD) unless it was rated.

 In every State of Australia it is a criminal offence to sell or
display anything that doesn't carry on OFLC rating and that ranges
from material intended for children (including cartoons that many
parents object to) to adult sexually oriented material.  It's not just
a criminal offence to sell porn but to sell _anything_ that hasn't
been rated by the OFLC.

  If a store or an individual sells anything from "Mary Poppins" to
"Discipline in Women's Penal Institution Part 1" (corporal punishment)
(which I saw on sale yesterday) then it is in breach of criminal law
and whomsoever sells such material and is prosecuted for it becomes at
law a criminal - whether the penalty is a few hundred dollars fine or
12 months imprisonment (these are the penalties under New South Wales
law).

 I think it's fair to say that from the early 1990's the law in New
South Wales has been completely disregarded and as the nice people at
the Eros Foundation like to point out nobody to date has ever gone to
prison for selling anything from "X" to "RC" (Refused Classifcation)
material ;- subject only to the rigid enforcement regarding anything
that smacks of true child abuse.

 In New South Wales we retain the right to view or read whatever we
wish -with the sole exception of true "child abuse" material, although
there are sections of the Crimes Act that have long since been
forgotten.  This is not a right that has been won, but a right that
has never been taken away (although there was a furore over the
current government's desire in 1996 to criminalise material uploaded
or downloaded to or from the Internet "transmitted").  This was the
thinking of the then State Attorney General who has recently been
convicted of crimes under the New South Wales justice system.

 There's also a small contingent (c) who have nothing to do with
groups (a) or (b) and who are simply sole proprietors doing their own
thing in their own way and without any indication of hinderance by the
legislative processes.

 (posted also to aus.censorship in the spirit of free speech)