Volume: 5 Issue: 4
(April 2003)

Keywords:
pornography laws regulating offensive material online “preacher talkin theres sermon gave
he said every mans conscience vile depraved
you cannot depend

Jurisdictions:
England UK London

Pornography: The laws regulating offensive material online

“Preacher was a talkin’ there’s a sermon he gave,
He said every man’s conscience is vile and depraved,
You cannot depend on it to be your guide
When it’s you who must keep it satisfied.”1

Bob Dylan’s ‘Preacher’ may have been right to wonder how we can depend on a man’s conscience to judge, yet the legal position in England is that we have a jury acting as arbiter of what is and is not obscene predominantly under the legislation of a 46-year old statute forced to deal with rapid technological advancement in the display and publication of material.

This article analyses how the law has been adapted to cope with the influx of material produced by new technologies.

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