Bondage Forums

Hope you feel better getting a dig in at the mods though. That's classic.
--
NO SMOKING. NO SPITTING.
THE MGT.

IF they are the ones prompting censorship, how in the world do the THOUSANDS of adult sites (all of which, so far as I know, are funded by credit card payments) operate unimpeded?
--
While we can't change the direction of the wind, we can adjust our sails.

Support Our Troops - Vote Bush Out

Sid

For Immediate Release - Please Repost
National Coalition for Sexual Freedom

Contact: Susan Wright, Spokesperson
917.848.6544
_susanw@n..._ (mailto:susanw@n...)
_www.ncsfreedom.org_ (http://www.ncsfreedom.org/)

October 29, 2004, New York City - Testimony concluded on October
28, 2004,
in
Barbara Nitke and National Coalition for Sexual Freedom v John
Ashcroft, in
the
Federal District Court for the Southern District of NY, case # 01
CIV 11476
(RMB).
This lawsuit is challenging an unconstitutional law called the
Communications
Decency Act (CDA) which criminalizes free speech on the Internet.
Plaintiffs
are
represented by noted First Amendment attorney, John Wirenius.

The tone was civil and polite throughout the two days in court as
images of
SM and
explicit sexual photographs were examined by the three judge panel.
Supporters
filled the courtroom to listen to expert testimony ranging from
Arthur
Danto, the
Emeritus Johnsonian Professor of Philosophy at Columbia University,
to the
concerns
of Dov Hechtman, a webmaster for the SM membership group The
Eulenspiegel
Society.

Barbara Nitke, fine art photographer whose work is an exploration
of sexual
relationships, testified that she feared prosecution in areas of
the country
where
there is little understanding of alternative sexual _expression.
Noted
columnists,
photographer David Steinberg and sex educator Tristan Taormino,
both
provided
sexually frank images to the court which they have not included on
their
websites
because of the vagueness of obscenity laws.

The reliability of geolocation software was challenged by testimony
from Ben
Laurie
of The Apache Software Foundation. Seth Finkelstein, a computer
technical
expert,
testified about the conflicts between geolocation software and the
protection of
privacy. Geolocation software allows website hosts to block
visitors from
certain
states or areas of states. This is a critical component of the case
because
obscenity is determined by "local community standards." Testimony
was
sharply
divided over the accuracy of geolocation software, varying over a
range of
60-95%
effective.

The difficulty of determining local community standards was
attested by
Jeffrey
Douglas, Chair of the Board of the Free Speech Coalition, who has
compiled a
study
of obscenity prosecutions called "Know Censorship." Susan Wright,
Spokesperson for
NCSF, testified as to the significant variance in local community
standards
faced
by individuals, groups, events and businesses in the SM-leather-
fetish,
swing and
polyamory communities.

The government supplied only two witnesses. Thomas Miltonberger
with Quova
testified that the geolocation software currently available would
cost a
website
owner several thousand dollars a month. Chris McCulluh with
Sinetimore
Internet
Security Service Provider suggested that Barbara Nitke request the
full name
and
address of every user who wants to access her website, and then
confirm
their
geolocation by mailing them a confirmation letter, a process that
would take
several weeks.

Written final arguments are due December 17th. This case is
expected to
reach the
Supreme Court on appeal.

Attorney General John Ashcroft is currently prosecuting people and
businesses for
violating obscenity laws. The first target under obscenity law
amended by
the CDA
was Extreme Associates which produces SM-themed pornography.
Ashcroft
continues to
meet with religious political extremist groups and has promised to
outlaw
all "obscene" material. Under the Clinton administration, obscenity
laws
were not
enforced, but the Bush administration has made obscenity
prosecutions a
priority.

NCSF is challenging the CDA law because personal websites and chat
groups
that
include discussions and images of SM, swinging or polyamory are at
risk of
prosecution. Since alternative sexual _expression is outside the
mainstream,
it is
an easy target. Membership groups that have educational and social
websites
are
also at risk, in the same way SM events were targeted by religious
political
extremist groups in the Midwest in 2002-03.

If you would like to donate to the CDA lawsuit expenses, go to:
_http://www.ncsfreedom.org/donations.htm_
(http://www.ncsfreedom.org/donations.htm) Every dollar goes
directly to ensuring
free speech on the Internet!

###

A project of NCSF

The National Coalition for Sexual Freedom is a national
organization
committed to
creating a political, legal, and social environment in the United
States
that
advances equal rights of consenting adults who practice forms of
alternative
sexual
_expression. NCSF is primarily focused on the rights of consenting
adults in
the SM-
leather-fetish, swing, and polyamory communities, who often face
discrimination
because of their sexual _expression.

National Coalition for Sexual Freedom
822 Guilford Avenue, Box 127
Baltimore, MD 21202-3707
410-539-4824
_media@n..._ (mailto:media@n...)
_www.ncsfreedom.org_ (http://www.ncsfreedom.org/)

Posted As A Service by:
The Leather SINS Social Club
A NCSF Coalition Partner
_http://www.leathersins.com_ (http://www.leathersins.com/)

A_G
--
Alpha_Geek

I am a Grand Master Geek. I rtfm'ed many service manuals from an ancient but unnamed computer manufacturer in Fort Worth, TX.

Kinda like Paypal.

Any use?


--

I would start to put the code in the head that prevents google from travling AND caching this site.
I just did a search on "Pedophile sentenced to jail" and up comes this very post and thread on the very first google result page.

To me it's even worse that any user can click on the url and be taken DIRECTLY into the thread not having to go thru any gatekeeper page that will warn about the nature of content that might be found here.

And even if you delete the post or thread Google will REMEMBER it. You just click on the cache url under the search then you'll see a cached version.

--
Seeing is believing, but feeling is the truth

I agree. It should not be possible to access any part of the forums or member's profiles as a guest, without first signing up for a user name and password.

Google eventually forgets, if the page goes away. But the Wayback Machine doesn't. Any publically accessible pages capable of being accessed by referral are stored there, basically forever.
--
GrizzlyBear

"Come to the edge," he said.
They said, "We are afraid." "Come to the edge," he said. They came. He pushed them. And they flew. ~Guillaume Apollinaire "Deserve's got nothin' to do with it." ~Clint Eastwood, "The Unforgiven" "There's two kinds of people in this world. Those with loaded guns, and those who dig. You dig." ~Clint Eastwood, "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly"