Question on new rules

[Lyric]

Hey everyone,

Thanks for letting me know your thoughts and stating them so clearly. I understand how disappointing these changes are for people but my reasons for these changes are as follows, and begins with the laws that concern me the most. It begins by listing all of the obscenity laws (some of which are not applicable to us):

Citizen's Guide to U.S. Federal Law on Obscenity
18 U.S.C. § 1460- Possession with intent to sell, and sale, of obscene matter on Federal property
18 U.S.C. § 1461- Mailing obscene or crime-inciting matter
18 U.S.C. § 1462- Importation or transportation of obscene matters
18 U.S.C. § 1463- Mailing indecent matter on wrappers or envelopes
18 U.S.C. § 1464- Broadcasting obscene language
18 U.S.C. § 1465- Transportation of obscene matters for sale or distribution
18 U.S.C. § 1466- Engaging in the business of selling or transferring obscene matter
18 U.S.C. § 1466A- Obscene visual representations of the sexual abuse of children
18 U.S.C. § 1467- Criminal forfeiture
18 U.S.C. § 1468- Distributing obscene material by cable or subscription television
18 U.S.C. § 1469- Presumptions
18 U.S.C. § 1470- Transfer of obscene material to minors
18 U.S.C. § 2252B Misleading domain names on the Internet
18 U.S.C. § 2252C Misleading words or digital images on the Internet

The U.S. Supreme Court established the test that judges and juries use to determine whether matter is obscene in three major cases: Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15, 24-25 (1973); Smith v. United States, 431 U.S. 291, 300-02, 309 (1977); and Pope v. Illinois, 481 U.S. 497, 500-01 (1987). The three-pronged Miller test is as follows:

-Whether the average person, applying contemporary adult community standards, finds that the matter, taken as a whole, appeals to prurient interests (i.e., an erotic, lascivious, abnormal, unhealthy, degrading, shameful, or morbid interest in nudity, sex, or excretion);

- Whether the average person, applying contemporary adult community standards, finds that the matter depicts or describes sexual conduct in a patently offensive way (i.e., ultimate sexual acts, normal or perverted, actual or simulated, masturbation, excretory functions, lewd exhibition of the genitals, or sado-masochistic sexual abuse); and

- Whether a reasonable person finds that the matter, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.

Any material that satisfies this three-pronged test may be found obscene.

Federal law prohibits the possession with intent to sell or distribute obscenity, to send, ship, or receive obscenity, to import obscenity, and to transport obscenity across state boarders for purposes of distribution. Although the law does not criminalize the private possession of obscene matter, the act of receiving such matter could violate the statutes prohibiting the use of the U.S. Mails, common carriers, or interactive computer services for the purpose of transportation (See 18 U.S.C. § 1460; 18 U.S.C. § 1461; 18 U.S.C. § 1462; 18 U.S.C. § 1463). Convicted offenders face fines and imprisonment. It is also illegal to aid or abet in the commission of these crimes, and individuals who commit such acts are also punishable under federal obscenity laws.

In addition, federal law prohibits both the production of obscene matter with intent to sell or distribute, and engaging in a business of selling or transferring obscene matter using or affecting means or facility of interstate or foreign commerce, including the use of interactive computer services. (See 18 U.S.C. § 1465; 18 U.S.C. § 1466). For example, it is illegal to sell and distribute obscene material on the Internet. Convicted offenders face fines and up to 5 years in prison.

Moreover, Sections 1464 and 1468 of Title 18, United States Code, specifically prohibit the broadcast or distribution of obscene matter by radio communication or by cable or subscription television respectively. Convicted offenders under these statutes face fines and up to 2 years in prison.

Obscenity Involving Minors

Federal statues specifically prohibit obscenity involving minors, and convicted offenders generally face harsher statutory penalties than if the offense involved only adults.

Section 1470 of Title 18, United States Code, prohibits any individual from knowingly transferring or attempting to transfer obscene matter using the U.S. mail or any means or facility of interstate or foreign commerce to a minor under 16 years of age. Convicted offenders face fines and imprisonment for up to 10 years.

Section 1466A of Title 18, United State Code, makes it illegal for any person to knowingly produce, distribute, receive, or possess with intent to transfer or distribute visual representations, such as drawings, cartoons, or paintings that appear to depict minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct and are deemed obscene. This statute offers an alternative 2-pronged test for obscenity with a lower threshold than the Miller test. The matter involving minors can be deemed obscene if it (i) depicts an image that is, or appears to be a minor engaged in graphic bestiality, sadistic or masochistic abuse, or sexual intercourse and (ii) if the image lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value. A first time offender convicted under this statute faces fines and at least 5 years to a maximum of 20 years in prison.

There are also laws to protect children from obscene or harmful material on the Internet. For one, federal law prohibits the use of misleading domain names, words, or digital images on the Internet with intent to deceive a minor into viewing harmful or obscene material (See 18 U.S.C. §§ 2252B, 2252C). It is illegal for an individual to knowingly use interactive computer services to display obscenity in a manner that makes it available to a minor less than 18 years of age (See 47 U.S.C. § 223(d) –Communications Decency Act of 1996, as amended by the PROTECT Act of 2003). It is also illegal to knowingly make a commercial communication via the Internet that includes obscenity and is available to any minor less than 17 years of age (See 47 U.S.C. § 231 –Child Online Protection Act of 1998).

The standard of what is harmful to minors may differ from the standard applied to adults. Harmful materials for minors include any communication consisting of nudity, sex or excretion that (i) appeals to the prurient interest of minors, (ii) is patently offensive to prevailing standards in the adult community with respect to what is suitable material for minors, (iii) and lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors.

In addition to facing imprisonment and fines, convicted offenders of federal obscenity laws involving minors may also be required to register as sex offenders. Furthermore, in some circumstances, obscenity violations involving minors may also be subject to prosecution under federal child pornography laws, which yield serve statutory penalties (For more information, see Citizen´s Guide to U.S. Federal Child Pornography Laws). Source: http://www.justice.gov/criminal/ceos/cit...enity.html


18 USC § 1462 - Importation or transportation of obscene matters

Whoever brings into the United States, or any place subject to the jurisdiction thereof, or knowingly uses any express company or other common carrier or interactive computer service (as defined in section 230(e)(2) [1] of the Communications Act of 1934), for carriage in interstate or foreign commerce—

(a) any obscene, lewd, lascivious, or filthy book, pamphlet, picture, motion-picture film, paper, letter, writing, print, or other matter of indecent character; or

(b) any obscene, lewd, lascivious, or filthy phonograph recording, electrical transcription, or other article or thing capable of producing sound; or

© any drug, medicine, article, or thing designed, adapted, or intended for producing abortion, or for any indecent or immoral use; or any written or printed card, letter, circular, book, pamphlet, advertisement, or notice of any kind giving information, directly or indirectly, where, how, or of whom, or by what means any of such mentioned articles, matters, or things may be obtained or made; or

Whoever knowingly takes or receives, from such express company or other common carrier or interactive computer service (as defined in section 230(e)(2) [1] of the Communications Act of 1934) any matter or thing the carriage or importation of which is herein made unlawful—
Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both, for the first such offense and shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both, for each such offense thereafter.

Source: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1462

By law, the United States government has the power over matters of obscenity. I am not a lawyer either so I can only guess as to whether or not we are truly in danger here, but it seems clear to me that the government could find some of the content here obscene. An example of someone being tried in court and found guilty for obscene textual content over the internet can be found in full here. The case tried and prosecuted a man for sending links to fictional pornographic stories involving children over the internet. The stories he wrote were entirely fictional and yet still considered "harmful to society as a whole". And while the content we have here is mild in comparison, it's still very jarring to see someone tried for fiction.

While we have maintained rules for how young subjects in art/stories/etc could be, I now feel hesitant and uncomfortable in allowing any content involving minors at all. Other websites host a variety of sketchy pornographic content across the web like Mark mentioned. Another website that does this is called "ASSTR" which continues to host Frank McCoy's (the guy prosecuted in the above link) stories without any problem. I believe that the new rules will protect the community at large and that's the whole point here.

The other thing here is that the website is going to be featured on Discovery in which a couple of our members had a chance to be involved with. With Mpreg Central in the public spotlight I want to make sure that we are in accordance with the laws and that our image is presented in a good light.

Here are the current decisions we've made so far:

INCEST is not allowed. Incest is described as sexual intercourse between two closely-related people. The reasoning for this rule is tied to the obscenity laws (incest can be considered obscene) as well as the desire to have standards for Mpreg Central going forward. While we do not judge anyone who likes incestual content, they simply will have to go elsewhere to find it.

BESTIALITY is not allowed. Bestiality is described as sexual intercourse between a person and an animal. Anthro/Neko/human hybrid/werewolf/etc stuff IS ALLOWED. The reasoning for this rule is also tied in with the obscenity laws (bestiality can be considered obscene). The reasoning for allowing Anthro/etc content is because of the humanization of these peoples -- they're more human than animal.

We're still talking about whether or not we we allow pregnant MINORS in stories as long as there are no sexual tones or descriptions. We will let you know our decision on this soon.

LINKING to off-site sources of INCEST/BESTIALITY/PREGNANT MINORS is allowed as long as it links to the *user profile* and not to the story directly. If linking to said user profile, it is okay to state the name of the story/art/etc involving mpreg so that users can find the relevant content. IE. Hey guys, JohnDoe has a cool mpreg incest story over at [link to off-site profile page] called "Title", go check it out!

Gravid Lutra:

I'd like to see clarification of the bestiality rule, and in an ideal world I don't see why the incest rule is necessary, nor do I see why the 'anti-pedophilia' rule cuts out depiction of sexuality that's actually perfectly legal in most U.S. states and developed countries. If it's an anti-paedophilia rule, do what the rest of the internet does and put the cutoff point at puberty.

As a suggestion, are there any sites - like nifty, perhaps, although I don't think their specific policies would work for us - where people could post mpreg fiction that doesn't qualify according to the site's rules? It wouldn't kill me if no more fiction at all was ever posted to the fiction board, let alone if all fiction started there from now on was in accordance with the modified rules, but I'd very much like to see a few currently worked on pieces of fiction completed, even if I'd have to go offsite to do so.

Thanks for reading, and despite any differences we may have, or how sternly I might word them, I love and respect the work the mods have done and honestly do understand why you'd try to properly present the mpreg fanbase / community in a less porntacular light. It's a good idea, even if the devil's in the details.

Anyone who has stories up that are no longer allowed here are free to finish those stories off-site like at Deviantart, FictionPress, or anywhere else, and those authors are more than welcome to post links to them on the forums. I think this is a good compromise and also stays true to our idea of being "Mpreg Central". Even though we don't allow some content to be directly posted here we can at least link to it.

The devil is definitely in the details here and is as tedious as ever. I appreciate you and everyone else's thoughts on the matter and thanks for keeping everything so civil :) Keep the comments, questions, and concerns coming! I'd be glad to answer anything that I might have missed.