From: [C reuters] at [clari.net] (Reuters)
Newsgroups: clari.usa.top,clari.tw.computers.misc,clari.usa.gov,clari.tw,clari.usa
Subject: High Court Denies Computer Pornography Appeal
Organization: Copyright 1996 by Reuters
Date: Mon, 7 Oct 1996 13:24:27 PDT
Expires: Mon, 14 Oct 1996 11:30:40 PDT
                                         
         WASHINGTON (Reuter) - The Supreme Court Monday denied an  
appeal by a California couple involving the first conviction 
under federal law for transmitting obscene materials by 
computer. 
         Robert and Carleen Thomas of Milpitas, California were  
convicted in 1994 in Memphis for sending illegal, sexually 
explicit files from their Amateur Action Computer Bulletin Board 
System they operated from their home for several years. 
         The system included e-mail, chat lines, public messages and  
about 14,000 files that members could access, transfer and 
download to their own computers and printers. 
         After purchasing sexually explicit magazines, Robert Thomas  
used an electronic scanner device to convert the pictures into 
files. He also sold sexually explicit videotapes to members. 
         A U.S. Postal Inspector began an investigation in 1993 after  
receiving a complaint from an individual in Tennessee. The 
agent, using an assumed name and paying $55 to join, downloaded 
a number of pornographic files, ordered six videotapes and had 
several chat-mode conversations with Thomas. 
         Thomas received a 37-month prison term while his wife got 30  
months. The government also seized their computer system. 
         The couple's attorneys asked the Supreme Court to hear the  
case. ``This prosecution represents the first attempt of the 
federal government to apply content-based regulation to the 
emerging computer-based technologies,'' they said. 
         They argued that the federal obscenity law, as previously  
written, did not apply to the files, which were transmitted by 
computers and thus were not tangible objects subject to the law. 
         They acknowledged that Congress in passing a sweeping  
telecommunications measure this year amended the law to 
specifically include computer transmissions of obscene material. 
         The Supreme Court turned down the appeal without comment.  
         In another pornography case, the justices refused to review  
the conviction of the host and producer of a late-night, cable 
television program in Austin, Texas, called ``Infosex.'' 
         The call-in program, which aired in 1992 and 1993, discussed  
human sexuality and emphasized ways to prevent the spread of 
sexually transmitted diseases, especially the virus that causes 
AIDS. 
         Host Gareth Rees, who is gay, and producer Terrel Johnson  
were convicted for promoting obscenity by showing a sexually 
explicit film, ``Midnight Snack,'' that portrayed gay men in 
safe-sex acts. They each were placed on one year of probation. 
         Attorneys for the two men argued in the Supreme Court appeal  
that the First Amendment free-speech guarantee did not permit an 
obscenity prosecution based solely on a brief excerpt from a 
two-hour educational show. 
         They also said the First Amendment protected sexually  
explicit material that had serious educational value. But the 
justices rejected the appeal without comment.