Virtual Community Standards: Should Obscenity Law Recognize the Contemporary Community Standard of Cyberspace
![handle is hein.journals/sufflr30 and id is 135 raw text is: Virtual Community Standards: Should Obscenity Law
Recognize the Contemporary Community Standard of
Cyberspace?
Welcome to Cybersex City.
To Enter Beyond this Point You Must Agree to the Following:
- I do not find images of nude adults, adults engaged in sexual acts, or
other sexual material to be offensive or objectionable.
- I am at least 18 years of age and have the legal right to possess adult
material in my community.
- I understand the standards and laws of the community to which I am
transporting this material, and am solely responsible for my actions.
- All material I receive from this site is for my own personal use, and will
not be reused in any manner.
- If I use the services of Cybersex-City in violation of the above agree-
ment, I understand I may be in violation of local and federal laws, and my
account may be suspended.
- My interest in this material is personal, and not professional. I do not
work for law-enforcement[,] a media outlet, or another online club similar
to Cybersex-City.'
Now, we have people who exist in virtual communities. People who are
using this medium to participate with each other to get a sense of 'homes'
from the people they are talking to everyday. They may know more people
in other states--for example on the Well or America Online--than they do
on their block. Increasingly, the notion of community standards, while it
may continue to be applied in community prosecutions, nevertheless be-
comes philosophically bankrupt. This is because where these people's
mental space is, is not geographical at all. It is communities of inter-
est-virtual communities. 2
I. INTRODUCTION
Computer networks, such as the Internet,3 have begun a communication
1. Welcome To Cybersex City (visited Sept. 23, 1996) <http://www.hotchick.com/hotsex>.
2. Mike Godwin, The First Amendment in Cyberspace, 4 TEMP. POL. & Civ. RTS. L. REV. 1, 8
(1994).
3. The Internet is a vast, worldwide network of computers, allowing users to communicate and
share information. APRIL MARINE ET AL., ImERNEr GETriNG STARTED 1 (1993). For the purposes of
this Note, the terms Internet and Cyberspace encompass the entire realm of computer networks, includ-
ing Usenet, bulletin board systems, e-mail, and other services, such as the World Wide Web. See infra
notes 39-56 and accompanying text (providing overview of Cyberspace and distinguishing various
computer networks).](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/sufflr30&div=12&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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Virtual Community Standards: Should Obscenity Law Recognize the Contemporary Community Standard of Cyberspace
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