Post by admin on Aug 26, 2007 2:39:03 GMT -5
MAKING PORN
It has always been legal to shoot hardcore, and edit pornographic films in the UK. The restrictions are on selling and distributing it. Illegal acts, such as actual rape, strong S/M, or sex with children or animals would, however, make filming or photography of them illegal
WATCHING PORN ON TV
The new Broadcasting Act still prohibits sexually explicit TV shows and forbids the advertising of proscribed foreign sex satellite services. Even pay-to-view channels broadcast within the UK are not allowed to show explicit sex. The Independent Television Commission (ITC) was replaced by Ofcom in December 2003. The SFC recommended to Ofcom that it deregulate porn in 2004. Ofcom consulted the public on "ALL aspects of broadcasting regulation" and in 2005 maintained the ban on R18/hardcore material.
PORN ON YOUR COMPUTER
The Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1994 criminalises computer porn. You are unlikely to be prosecuted unless visiting kiddie porn sites. Since 1999 peope who have been found downloading indecent photographs of children on their computers are being charged under the Protection of Children Act 1978, following the Bowden precedent. Downloading an image and possession of an image were defined in the Fellows and Arnold case.
Pete Townshend was charged also with "incitement to distribute" because he apparently asked for the images on the website. So many persons have been found to have downloaded pictures from paedophile sites, included prominent persons, that the police have given up investigating every case. Many people investigated for this offence have committed suicide, the latest being an admiral in Gibraltar in January 2005.
All sexually explicit sites open with a warning and a statement to ensure that the viewer is 18 or over, to prevent unsuspecting adults and children from entering. However, you can enter a site via a link and never see the home page with its warning.
PORNO IN CINEMAS
Films can only be shown if they have been certificated by the British Board of Film Classification under the guidelines mentioned above. R18 films and videos, ie hard core porn can only be show in cinema clubs, not public cinemas. The audience must all be 18 or over. (The Cinemas Act 1985 censors films to be shown in cinema clubs). The first fully-licensed R18 cinema club opened in April 2003: the Sunset Cinema Club in Brewer Street, Soho.
18-rated films as opposed to R18 films, can be shown in cinemas but they do not usually contain hard core imagery unless it can be 'artistically justified' (Cinema Act 1985). Art Film Theatres with private membership can show any film they wish. These theatres include the National Film Theatre which organises the Lesbian and Gay Film Festival and the London Film Festival and the Institute of Contempory Arts in London. Even in these venues, however, local Councils can still try to stop screenings that they consider unsuitable (eg Crash at the LFT).
Small cinema clubs such as The Willow in Old Street have recently disappeared due to Hackney Council demanding large licence fees. An erotic film festival planned at The Lux Cinema was banned in 2000 by Hackney Council hours before opening, following a "shock-horror" expos� in the Hackney Gazette. Once the newspapers have shamed a sex event, or there has been one single complaint, the Council is likely revoke the necessary entertainment licences.
It has always been legal to shoot hardcore, and edit pornographic films in the UK. The restrictions are on selling and distributing it. Illegal acts, such as actual rape, strong S/M, or sex with children or animals would, however, make filming or photography of them illegal
WATCHING PORN ON TV
The new Broadcasting Act still prohibits sexually explicit TV shows and forbids the advertising of proscribed foreign sex satellite services. Even pay-to-view channels broadcast within the UK are not allowed to show explicit sex. The Independent Television Commission (ITC) was replaced by Ofcom in December 2003. The SFC recommended to Ofcom that it deregulate porn in 2004. Ofcom consulted the public on "ALL aspects of broadcasting regulation" and in 2005 maintained the ban on R18/hardcore material.
PORN ON YOUR COMPUTER
The Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1994 criminalises computer porn. You are unlikely to be prosecuted unless visiting kiddie porn sites. Since 1999 peope who have been found downloading indecent photographs of children on their computers are being charged under the Protection of Children Act 1978, following the Bowden precedent. Downloading an image and possession of an image were defined in the Fellows and Arnold case.
Pete Townshend was charged also with "incitement to distribute" because he apparently asked for the images on the website. So many persons have been found to have downloaded pictures from paedophile sites, included prominent persons, that the police have given up investigating every case. Many people investigated for this offence have committed suicide, the latest being an admiral in Gibraltar in January 2005.
All sexually explicit sites open with a warning and a statement to ensure that the viewer is 18 or over, to prevent unsuspecting adults and children from entering. However, you can enter a site via a link and never see the home page with its warning.
PORNO IN CINEMAS
Films can only be shown if they have been certificated by the British Board of Film Classification under the guidelines mentioned above. R18 films and videos, ie hard core porn can only be show in cinema clubs, not public cinemas. The audience must all be 18 or over. (The Cinemas Act 1985 censors films to be shown in cinema clubs). The first fully-licensed R18 cinema club opened in April 2003: the Sunset Cinema Club in Brewer Street, Soho.
18-rated films as opposed to R18 films, can be shown in cinemas but they do not usually contain hard core imagery unless it can be 'artistically justified' (Cinema Act 1985). Art Film Theatres with private membership can show any film they wish. These theatres include the National Film Theatre which organises the Lesbian and Gay Film Festival and the London Film Festival and the Institute of Contempory Arts in London. Even in these venues, however, local Councils can still try to stop screenings that they consider unsuitable (eg Crash at the LFT).
Small cinema clubs such as The Willow in Old Street have recently disappeared due to Hackney Council demanding large licence fees. An erotic film festival planned at The Lux Cinema was banned in 2000 by Hackney Council hours before opening, following a "shock-horror" expos� in the Hackney Gazette. Once the newspapers have shamed a sex event, or there has been one single complaint, the Council is likely revoke the necessary entertainment licences.