Appeals Court Over Turns Sexually Explicit Photos Law

A federal appeals court has put an end to, on first amendment grounds a long standing requirement that forced people who produce sexually explicit images to keep detailed records of their operations. The law, known as 2257, was stated by both the Bush and Clinton governments as necessary to protection children due to its location in US code. But as even processing child pornography is a separate crime, one that is still on the books, with criminal penalties severe enough to induce fear in the adult entertainment industry many people questioned just what the real purpose of the law was.

It would be fair to say that a better explanation of the law as it stood, was that Congress was trying to put law abiding producers of porn and erotica, as well as erotic romance, out of business. Easy enough to do if you threaten to weigh them down with more regulations and mandatory prison time for non compliance.

The Justice Department tried to down play the impact of the record keeping involved, but the court noted that the regulations actually did apply even to private citizens of legal age and consenting to the photographs, who took them for their own personal use.

"This reach is extremely broad, and the most commonsense limitation, for which the statute and regulations provide some support, would be to limit the statute's reach to photographs taken for a commercial purpose, that is, photographs taken for the purpose of sale," the 6th Circuit said. But, the judges added, "the plain text and definitions of the terms used admit...no commercial limitation on who will be considered producers."
Basically it meant that an adult couple taking even a single photograph of an erotic nature of themselves with a digital camera in their own bedroom was required, by law to
(a) Inspect their own government issued photographic identification.
(b) Verify that they are over 18.
(c ) photocopy their own identifications.
(d) photocopy the erotic image.
(e) file the information in physical form.
(f) display the date and street address in their files.
(g) open the files to the Justice Department without advance notice.

Needless to say this had left many people scratching their heads wondering just what was going on. All that for a few legal, consensual naughty pictures that might never be shown to another living soul?

Fortunately the 6th Circuit court recognized the stupidity of the situation and concluded that. "The government has drawn a similarly over-inclusive line here by including all sexually explicit photographs, whether created for commercial purposes"

Today's case, which was originally filed by a swingers magazine, was filed in 1995 and this court hearing is likely to be the last word unless the US Supreme Court becomes involved.