It?s not a good time to be a pornographer, or even just somebody who enjoys posting dirty self-portraits on the Interweb. First the Justice Department came out with of the 2257 rule. In the new version, anyone who posts on the Internet any images of ?an actual human being engaged in actual sexually explicit conduct? must maintain records of the performer(s). These records include actual name and any aliases, plus a driver?s license or other Picture ID. You must make them available during normal business hours (9-5) and post on your Web site a street address (not a P.O. Box) where someone can view these records. In other words, anyone who posts adult photos on the Web has to make the performers? personal info available to anyone, and has to maintain an address where they?re available during the day to talk to the feds or anyone else. The bad news is the main group challenging this hideous rule is the Free Speech Coalition, which seems mostly interested in gaining minor concessions that will help big adult companies ? such as more exemptions for porn made overseas. (See the FSC?s for more about these concessions, which don?t help indy porn makers or small-time exhibitionists.)

And then a federal appeals panel refused to find the Communications Decency Act unconstitutional ? even though the judges admitted it had led to self-censorship by photographer Barbara Nitke, and that Nitke had good cause to fear prosecution. The judges conceded that ?community standards? in the most conservative town in America could be used to squelch online expression in more permissive communities. But they said Nitke hadn?t given enough evidence about community standards to clinch the law?s unconstitutionality. The Nitke case may end up before a newly conservative Supreme Court.

As the New York Times article on the case notes, a California couple served federal prison time in 1996 after a Tennessee postal inspector downloaded some images from their bulletin board system and decided they were obscene.

I remember visiting Canada after that country passed the Dworkin-MacKinnon obscenity law. I was told several places that Roberta Gregory comix weren?t available because they were obscene. But you could buy XXX porn featuring California blondes with silicone breasts almost anywhere. That?s how these things work ? the 2257 crackdown and Nitke defeat won?t worry the big porno companies at all. They can afford attorneys and custodians of records and age-verification services. But if you ever post an image of yourself or someone else involved in ?actual sexual conduct? on the Internet, you could find yourself behind bars for a decent stretch.