Home > News > Ray Guhn’s Lawyers File Motion to Define Community Standards • Bookmark   • Register
Search Options
Join XBIZ.net

NEWS STORY

Ray Guhn’s Lawyers File Motion to Define Community Standards

XBIZ POLL
Are you shooting for mobile / small screen applications?
Yes
No
We don't shoot content
 
Monday, Apr 9, 2007    Text size: 
PENSACOLA, Fla. — Lawyers for adult webmaster Clinton McCowen, aka Ray Guhn, filed a motion April 5, petitioning the court to determine the nature and geographic scope of the community whose standards will be applied in McCowen’s obscenity case.

McCowen’s lawyer, Lawrence G. Walters, is challenging the application of local community standards to the Internet, on constitutional grounds. Walters argues that the relevant community must be the national community, rather than any state or local community.

The defense’s lengthy motion claims that the Internet can only be evaluated by national standards, given its global scope and inability to discriminate what locations can access adult content.

McCowen’s June 23 arrest on charges of racketeering, engaging in prostitution, and the manufacture and sale of obscene material culminated a months-long investigation into the operations of McCowen’s company, Global Technologies Inc., doing business as Ray Guhn Productions. McCowen’s website that he shot content for, CumOnHerFace.com, is part of the Cash Titans affiliate program, which he owned.

“Applying conservative community standards to adult content that is available globally via the Internet creates an unworkable burden on Internet operators,” Walters told XBIZ. “Essentially, if you use a small community’s standards and apply them to the Internet, it would effectively allow a small segment of the country to decide for all citizens what material is OK. To mount a defense, we need to know what standards are being applied in this case.”

According to Walters, the U.S. Supreme Court has struggled with the concept of using community standards on the Internet and has still not issued a definitive ruling on the subject. Additionally, a majority of the sitting Supreme Court Justices has expressed concerns about the application of local community standards to online materials.

Only a small handful of state-level obscenity cases are being prosecuted across the nation in relation to websites, Walters said, which is why he believes the McCowen case is critical and has the potential to set new precedence.

In the famous Miller vs. California case, the court ruled that the most sensitive jurisdictions should not be allowed to suppress the nature of materials available in communities where they are accepted or tolerated.

“We strongly believe that there is no longer a small independent community standard; we all share common experiences as a nation,” Walters said. “That wasn’t true 30 years ago, but with cellphones, instant messaging, email, etcetera, the vast majority of America experiences the same things and has become homogenized, in effect.”

The next step in McCowen’s case is for the judge to hold a hearing on the motion, which Walters expects to happen before the end of the month.

The case is Florida vs. Clinton R. McCowen No. 2006-CF-003151-C.

   
Follow XBIZ on Twitter
Share this article:
del.icio.us technorati fark
More ways to get XBIZ News:  RSS Feeds  |  E-Newsletters  |  Desktop Widget  |  Mobile
Looking for porn star news and behind-the-scene videos? Check out XFANZ.com !

OPINIONS & VIEWS

The Diminishing Fruit of Labor

I hate coming up with titles for columns that reek of despondency and despair, and even more with describing them alliteratively, but in this case once the thing popped into my head and the idea of the... More »

Adult Content Trends

Recently, XBIZ World Magazine asked several industry players "What is the most significant trend in adult content today?" Here's what they had to say: The most significant trend in adult content... More »

Porn and Pedophilia: Cause and Effect?

Recently, Morality in Media President Robert Peters called into question the efficacy and integrity of the Association of Sites Advocating Child Protection (ASACP), a non-profit agency primarily funded... More »
XBIZ NEWSLETTERS
Stay informed of the latest industry developments. Get XBIZ newsletters delivered to your inbox. Subscribe today!
Enter email address:

* To manage existing subscriptions click here.







POPULAR PRODUCTS & SERVICES
Submit your press release to
multiple news outlets with 1 click.
Subscribe to RSS news feeds or
add free content to your website.
Access XBIZ news and articles
with your mobile device.
XBIZ Research
Access the latest issues of the industry's premier trade journals in digital format - view online or download for offline viewing!

UPCOMING EVENTS

AWM Open

Jul 06 - Jul 08
Cypres

ANME Founders Show

Jul 10 - Jul 12
Woodland Hills, California

Internext Summer '09

Aug 07 - Aug 09
Hollywood, Florida

2008 Gentlemen's Club Owners Expo

Aug 23 - Aug 26
Las Vegas, Nevada
Everyday thousands of business professionals browse XBIZ's industry directory for quality products and services. Not listed yet? Your company could be losing potential new business. Submit your company today!
Use XBIZ RSS feeds to stay informed of the latest industry developments or as a content syndication tool for your website!