Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) introduced a legislation this week that could upend the internet porn industry, according to Insider.
On Wednesday, Lee proposed a bill called the Interstate Obscenity Definition Act (IODA), which would redefine what materials are considered to be obscene.
“Obscenity is not protected speech under the First Amendment and is prohibited from interstate or foreign transmission under U.S. law. But obscenity is difficult to define (let alone prosecute) under the current Supreme Court test for obscenity,” the bill says.
Under the Miller test, a 1973 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, content is considered to be obscene and therefore not legally protected if it:
- Appeals to “prurient interests”
- Depict “sexual conduct in a patently offensive way”
- Lack “serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.”
Currently, producing and distributing sexual content is legal in the U.S. But, Lee’s bill seeks to modify the second prong of the Miller Test to: “depicts, describes, or represents actual or simulated sexual acts with the objective intent to arouse, titillate, or gratify the sexual desires of a person.”
In a statement, Lee said his bill would “strengthen the existing general prohibition on obscenity” found in the U.S. Communications Act of 1934, by removing the “intent” requirement of the ban on transmitting obscene materials for purposes of abuse, threats, or harassment.
The new guidelines would apply to pictures, images, videos, graphic image files, film and other visual depictions.
Lee “introduced a bill that would remove porn’s First Amendment protections and effectively prohibit distribution of adult material in the US. FSC is monitoring the bill, and will continue to do so in the new Congress,” the Free Speech Coalition, a trade association for workers in the adult industry, and its members said in a tweet.
Mike Stabile the director of public affairs for the group told VICE news that, “this bill, among our members, has gotten a huge amount of attention. Our members understand this for what it is: It’s a threat to their business, to their livelihood. It’s a threat to their community.”
