Ohio man convicted for "obscene" stories in his private journal

[Steve Schear]

At 11:22 AM 7/5/2001 -0400, Declan McCullagh wrote:
>[A followup to a cpunx thread, and a link to the statute.]
>
>>Date: Thu, 05 Jul 2001 11:15:01 -0400
>>To: politech at politechbot.com
>>From: Declan McCullagh <declan at well.com>
>>Subject: Ohio man convicted for "obscene" stories in his private journal
>>Cc: tdoulin at dispatch.com
>>
>>This is an unusual case. The Ohio law -- a 1970s version of which 
>>Politech member Bruce Taylor successfully defended before a federal 
>>appeals court -- applies not only to dirty pictures, but also to written 
>>material:
>>
>>http://www.moralityinmedia.org/obsclawlinks.htm#oh
>>"No person, with knowledge of the character of the material or 
>>performance involved, shall do any of the following... Create, reproduce, 
>>or publish any obscene material that has a minor as one of its 
>>participants or portrayed observers... Buy, procure, possess, or control 
>>any obscene material, that has a minor as one of its participants..."
>>
>>Anyone who possesses such a visual or written description -- including a 
>>diary entry or an erotic story -- is guilty of a felony. That means 
>>Ohioans who have on their hard drive an "obscene" text file from 
>>alt.sex.stories are felons.
>>
>>Other coverage:
>>http://www.nydailynews.com/2001-07-05/News_and_Views/Beyond_the_City/a-117267.asp
>>http://enquirer.com/editions/2001/07/05/loc_tristate_a_m_report.html

"What's the difference between the Russian Constitution and the American 
Constitution?  They both guarantee freedom of speech, but the U.S. 
Constitution also guarantees freedom after the words are uttered."

Dmitry Perevozhkin, "Anecdotes about Putin"