By Jason Collum | Journal Staff Writer

Editor’s note: Because of the subject matter, this story contains material some readers may find offensive and unsuitable for children.

They promise to wipe out your debt, to get you the home loan you deserve, to solve the health problem from which you are suffering, or to help you meet other singles in your area. They are unsolicited E-mails, better known as “spam.”

While receiving these types of unsolicited E-mails might be (and often is) annoying, they aren’t the only kinds of spam people receive. More and more, pornography Web sites of all kinds are using spam to pitch their pictures, stories and videos, often to unsuspecting people, even children.

Those who receive such junk E-mail have a place they can turn to report it. Morality in Media’s Web site, Obscenity Crimes.org [www.obscenity crimes.org], gives people an opportunity to report porn spam to their local U.S. district attorney.

In addition to providing the reporting service, the Obscenity Crimes.org Web site boasts a wealth of resource information on pornography, including articles on why pornography is dangerous to families and ways it can be fought.

The goal of the Web site, nonetheless, remains helping citizens fight the onslaught of porn spam. While there are several software products available that block junk E-mail, none are failsafe. Such products do not block junk E-mail coming to popular free online E-mail services such as Hotmail and Excite. And, while those sites have their own spam blockers, they are heavily bombarded by junk E-mailers because of the sheer number of users the free E-mail companies have.

Junk E-mailers have become savvy in finding ways around spam blockers, too. Many use E-mail addresses only once in order to bypass spam blockers, because junk E-mail blocking is based partly upon recognizing known spam addresses and companies.

When obscene porn spam does make it to one’s E-mail, Obscenity Crimes allows that person to report the incident directly to the U.S. district attorney in their area. The Web site includes a form for reporting the Web site name and address promoted in the spam, and also allows users to report what appeared in the E-mail that made them believe it was obscene.

What is obscene?
Before users begin reporting every junk E-mail or site that features or suggests material of an adult nature, they must know that some forms of pornography, despite distastefulness, are protected by the First Amendment. Though its test is vague and allows a great deal of flexibility in the definition of obscenity, the Supreme Court issued a ruling in 1973 that is the benchmark.

In Miller v. California, the U.S. Supreme Court created the three-part obscenity test, saying material could be deemed obscene and unprotected by the First Amendment if:
1. The average person, applying contemporary community standards, would find that the material, when taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest; and
2. The material depicts or describes sexual conduct in a patently offensive manner, when applying contemporary community standards; and
3. A reasonable person would find that the material, when taken as a whole, lacks serious artistic, literary, political, and scientific value.

For example, an E-mail featuring a semi-nude person or a nude person with stars or some other graphic covering the genitals is likely not actionable as it could be considered protected free speech. Even E-mail containing a picture of two naked people seemingly engaged in intercourse but showing no genitalia might be protected. However, an E-mail containing unedited or unobscured pictures of people engaged in sexual intercourse, oral sex, sadomasochistic acts, or acts of bestiality likely have no protection. Images that focus primarily on the genitals in promotion of sexual material could be considered “lewd exhibition of the genitals,” a category of pornography that doesn’t have First Amendment protection.

In addition to obscenity laws, federal laws 18 USC 1462 and 1465 prohibit use of the Internet to distribute obscene material.

Filing a complaint
Those wishing to file a complaint but worried about giving their identity need not worry. The only information required by Obscenity Crimes.org is the city, county and state of residence so the complaint can be lodged with the proper authority. Filers can give their full identity on the form, though.

In addition to spaces regarding the address, name and/or content of the spam or Web site it promoted, the form includes selections for filers to note how they happened upon the obscenity or if children were exposed to it. Selections include: 1) I received porn spam that linked to the above Internet site; 2) My child was (or easily could have been) exposed to the porn spam; 3) I inadvertently accessed the above Internet site while searching for other content; or 4) My child inadvertently accessed the above site while searching for other content.

Filers also can have a copy of their complaint form downloaded in PDF (portable document file) format on their computer for their records, or have confirmation of the complaint E-mailed back to them.

Since June 2002, about 20,000 complaints have been lodged using the Web site.