Obscenity Statutes

Prior to beginning work on this discussion, read the Heins (2009) and Kinsley (2013) articles, and read Chapter 7 in the text.

Technological advancements associated with the Internet and global economics were paralleled by new avenues for marketing pornography along with a variety of obscene materials. No longer do people need to venture forth to visit adult bookstores or sex shops. Availability of the desired commodity is now as easy as accessing one’s computing device. However, as access to sordid material is made decidedly easier, efforts to combat the dissemination of such material also becomes more fervent as pedophiles and human traffickers have turned to the Internet to target children and young people.

For your initial post, you must carefully review the required articles and examine at least two ways legal authorities have attempted to combat online pornography and obscenity. Your initial post must address the following points:

• Identify a minimum of two specific crimes that were the targets of law enforcement crime-fighting efforts.
• Examine the methods employed by creators of online pornography and obscenity to produce materials in a variety of media for easier access to members of the general public.
• Examine the strategies utilized by law enforcement to combat pornography and obscenity.
• Analyze the legal issues that arise from attempts by authorities to utilize community standards in their efforts to fight pornography and obscenity.

Required Resources

Text

Holt, T. J., Bossler, A. M., & Seigfried-Spellar, K. C. (2018). Cybercrime and digital forensics: An introduction (2nd ed.).  Retrieved from https://www.vitalsource.com/

• Chapter 6: Economic Crimes and On-Line Fraud
• Chapter 7: Pornography, Prostitution, and Sex Crimes

Article

Heins, M. (2009). Not in my backyard (Links to an external site.). Index on Censorship, 38(1), 96-103. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03064220802712191

• The full-text version of this article is available through the EBSCOhost database in the University of Arizona Global Campus Library. This article provides legal and legislative background on various attempts by authorities to curb online obscenity. It will assist you in the development of this week’s discussion post.

Kinsley, J. M. (2013). Sexual privacy in the internet age: How substantive due process protects online obscenity (Links to an external site.). Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment and Technology Law, 16(1), 103- 131. Retrieved from http://www.jetlaw.org/

• The full-text version of this article is available through the EBSCOhost database in the University of Arizona Global Campus Library. This article provides an analysis of legal attempts throughout the years used to combat obscenity with a specific focus on issues related to the First and Fourteenth Amendments. It will assist you in the development of this week’s discussion post.

Multimedia

Holman, P. (2012, August 31). Top hacker shows us how it’s done: Pablos Holman at TEDx Midwests (Links to an external site.) [Video file]. Retrieved from http://tedxtalks.ted.com/video/Top-Hacker-Shows-Us-How-Its-Don;search%3Aholman

• This TEDx video is a discussion by Pablo Homan on techniques used by hackers and cyber criminals to conduct fraud and various other computer based crime. It will assist you in the development of this week’s discussion post. This video has closed captions.
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Recommended Resources

Website

MSCJ Professional Sources (Links to an external site.). (http://ashford-mscj.weebly.com)

• This resource site will provide assistance in researching additional sources for the assessments within this course.