DISTRICT JUDGE HALTS ENFORCEMENT OF ARIZONA'S HARMFUL TO MINORS INTERNET

Source: Arts Wire CURRENT, a project of Arts Wire, a program of the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) -- http://www.nyfa.org

TUCSON, AZ -- In a decision which may impact other state attempts to regulate Internet content, Arizona U.S. District Judge Alfredo C. Marquez has issued a permanent injunction against an Arizona bill, Mark H. Goldberg, Latham & Watkins, New York City, who argued the case, has confirmed. The bill criminalized the intentional transmission over the Internet of materials considered to be harmful to minors.

In ACLU V. NAPOLITANO, District Judge Alfredo C. Marquez found the statute to be overbroad and unconstitutionally vague and held it unconstitutional under both the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution and its First Amendment, according to FEN NEWSWIRE. The statute was found violative of the Commerce Clause because Arizona has no legitimate interest in protecting persons outside of Arizona from speech which Arizona deems to be harmful to minors.

The lawsuit was brought by a group of plaintiffs including the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression; the Association of American Publishers; Association of American Publishers; Freedom To Read Foundation; Magazine Publishers of America; ART ON THE NET; WEB DEL SOL; LITLINE; and Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe, Arizona.

Gayle Shanks, owner of the Independent bookstore Changing Hands said she was relieved by the ruling, according to BOOKWEB. Shanks noted that if the bill hadn't been struck down Changing Hands could have potentially been prosecuted for some of the books they list online. Violation of the statute was a class 4 felony.

LAW COULD HAVE CHILLING EFFECTS ON ONLINE LITERARY COMMUNITY, WEB DEL SOL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF MICHAEL NEFF TESTIFIES

The Arizona Harmful to Minors Internet transmission statute was applicable to books, pictures, magazines, drawings, photographs, films, slides, exhibitions, performances, recordings, and motion pictures. It required fully opaque coverings on depictions of human breasts and genitals. Although the bill excepted Internet content which taken as a whole has "serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors," experts were concerned that the definition was not precise enough to encompass diverse forms of art and literature for adult audiences.

"Put a bunch of professors in a room and get them to define 'literary value' and you've got chaos. It can't be defined," emphasized Michael Neff, Editor-in-Chief of Web del Sol, who testified in Tucson for the plaintiffs. Neff told Arts Wire that he was worried that an Arizona District Attorney or other law enforcement official would not be able to judge literary value.

"I had to sit on the stand and review exhibits of sexual speech and nude photographs at WDS that met Arizona's test of 'prurient interest' and therefore were potential items for getting me or anyone else arrested and extradited to Arizona to stand trial," he stated.

Web del Sol -- which exists only online -- promotes, publishes, and hosts over 25 literary arts publications, many of which are also distributed nationally in print form. They include SOUTHWEST REVIEW, NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW, PRAIRIE SCHOONER, FIVE POINTS, THE LITERARY REVIEW, BLACK WARRIOR REVIEW, QUARTERLY WEST, PAINTED BRIDE QUARTERLY, and ZYZZYVA. Web del Sol also publishes columns and reviews, as well as original fiction and poetry.

Michael Neff also emphasized the chilling effects such a law could have on online literary forums, and he noted that "After the Arizona law became law, prior to being suspended by the judge pending decision, we were nervous at WDS cause we had gone on notice as plaintiffs in the case and in the Michigan case. We actually risked retaliation. Fortunately, the judge put it on hold. Prior to that, I asked our bulletin board posters in our online poetry lab to refrain from posting obscenity or anything that might alarm/harm."

"THE INTERNET HAS ALLOWED ME TO REACH A BROADER RANGE OF PEOPLE, AND IN RETURN HAS ALLOWED ME MORE RESPECTABILITY AMONGST MY PEERS AND COLLEAGUES," -- Melanie Goodman Dante

The Internet now hosts a myriad of literary sources and resources -- such as the LITERARY MAGAZINE KIOSK hosted by The Council of Literary Magazines and Presses and Small Press Distribution which places literary magazines directly in the hands of readers. Created by nonprofit literary organizations for the benefit of literary magazines and their readers, this online newsstand, features over literary magazines from across the country, "enabling a diverse range of poets, fiction writers, and essayists to reach the widest available audience," they note.

In the field of artists books, Printed Matter, a pioneer in the promotion of publications made by artists in a book-like format, now has over 20,000 titles from over 5,000 artists worldwide online. Among the works Printed Matter carries is Kathy Acker's ADULT LIFE OF TOULOUSE LAUTREC. (New York, New York: TVRT Press and Printed Matter) "In a series of short narratives which share themes of sexuality and power, Acker takes on desire, resistance, abuse, pornography, and happy endings," Printed Matter notes.

Among many other titles carried by Printed Matter are Carolee Schneemann's MORE THAN MEAT JOY; Chrystal Egal's PRINCESSE AVEC PENIS; and BARBARA GOLDEN'S GREATEST HITS: VOL I. (described by Printed Matter as "An amazing compilation of sex, food and music from a woman who uses as little discretion on the stage as she does in the kitchen with the butter")

Additionally many visual art sites -- such as WEB 3D ART, an exhibition of web works selected and organized by Karel Dudesek and Kathy Rae Huffman, feature art which might have been prosecuted under the Arizona law. Web 3D Art includes Ricardo Barreto, Fabio Prata, and Fabiana Krepel's BODY where a sculptured nude male body functions as an interface.

"The Internet has allowed me to reach a broader range of people, and in return has allowed me more respectability amongst my peers and colleagues," says writer Melanie Goodman Dante whose work examines pop culture, including perspectives on sex, drugs.

Emphasizing the importance of art and literary sources of Internet information, Goodman Dante -- who reports that America Online (AOL) closed her account because she sent out over 50 invitations to a literary event, (while spam from the pornography industry continued to flood her AOl mailbox despite her protests to AOL) -- pointed out that without Internet sources of information "we are forced to simply believe what is in the daily newspaper, or TIME, People, Reader's Digest, etc. When you go to Google or Lexis Nexis or a foreign newspapers archives, you can begin to research the full truth about our world, and make decisions for yourself on what is actual and what is not, and how you want to live with that knowledge. If our access to open information is closed, we have to believe what is forced fed to us, and the sponsors of that are corporations that believe in their own profit -- not in the truth, necessarily."

She added: "I think the SPAM culprits should be in court, and not creative organizations such as Web del Sol."

Sources/resources:

"Arizona Court Win May Affect Fate of Similar Bill in Ohio"
BOOKWEB -- http://news.bookweb.org/260.html
February 27, 2002

"Internet Harmful to Minors Statute Held Unconstitutional"
FREE EXPRESSION NETWORK (FEN) - http://www.freeexpression.org/newswire/02262_2002.htm
February 26, 2002

2001 ARIZONA HOUSE BILL 2289
http://www.azleg.state.az.us/legtext/45leg/1r/bills/hb2289h.pdf

CHANGING HANDS BOOKSTORE -- http://www.changinghands.com
Located in Tempe, AZ, Changing Hands is a gathering place for the community and for students at Arizona State University. Part of the proceeds from sales go to support programs on local public radio stations as well as to other charities and services such as local schools and teachers. "No part of the price you pay goes to: Remote corporate headquarters where decisions are based solely on maximizing profits Absentee owners who don't work in the store or live in the community," they state on their website.

ART.NET -- http://www.art.net/

WEB DEL SOL -- http://www.webdelsol.com

THE LITERARY MAGAZINE KIOSK -- http://www.litmagkiosk.com

PRINTED MATTER -- http://www.printedmatter.org
Printed Matter will consider any artists' publication produced in an edition of 100 copies, or more, for inventory. Visit the site for submission details

THE WEB3D ON-LINE ART SHOW -- http//www.web3dart.org

MELANIE GOODMAN DANTE -- http://capnasty.org/taf/issue11/
http://www.capnasty.org/taf/issue10/index.html

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