Judges keep Net obscenity law intact

A special three-judge federal panel has kept intact a federal law making it a crime to send obscenity over the internet.

Although obscenity is already illegal, what counts as obscenity can vary from community to community. Thus, the 1996 Communications Decency Act was challenged on grounds it was excessively broad such that it could ban materials that were obscene in some communities but not others, violating First Amendment protections.

But a judge from the Second Circuit Court of Appeals and two district judges ruled that the plaintiffs had provided insufficient evidence to prove the law was unconstitutional.

Barbara Nitke, a photographer who specialises in pictures of sadomasochistic sexual behaviour, plans to appeal against Monday's ruling.

The United States Supreme Court has struck down a provision of the 1996 law that made it a crime to put adult-oriented material online where children can find it. The high court ruled that the law was too vague and trampled on adults' rights.