Here is a post which is somewhat relevant:
Newsgroups: alt.censorship,news.admin.policy,comp.org.eff.talk From: nagle@netcom.com (John Nagle) Subject: Appeals court declares child pornography law unconstitutional Message-ID: <1992Dec17.232618.19727@netcom.com> Summary: New decision by Ninth Circuit may affect BBS operators Keywords: law pornography Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest) Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 23:26:18 GMT
The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled, in US vs X-Citement Video Inc., (CA No. 89-50556), that the sections of the Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation Act of 1977 that deal with distribution, transportation, and receipt of sexually explicit materials are invalid on First Amendment grounds. The court let stand the prohibition on the production of child pornography. This ruling needs to be looked at more closely, but it may help to remove sysop worries about someone posting such material on their system without their knowledge, or about network nodes being liable for material passing through them. This is a step forward, because it was one of the very few real legal risks a US sysop had to face, and now it appears to be dead. Do the lawyers out there agree with this analysis? Producing child pornography remains illegal, which is reasonable. John Nagle Source: Wall Street Journal, 17DEC92, p. B10 (Western edition)