Dial-a-porn Charges Laid (Press, 27 April 1985)
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Summary: Dial-a-porn Charges Laid (Press, 27 April 1985)
A New York corporation and four individuals have been indicted in a landmark case, marking the first federal prosecution of a pornographic telephone service in the United States. The 23-count indictment was announced on 26 April 1985 and charges Carlin Communications Inc. along with Carl Ruderman, Ira Kirschenbaum, Kevin Goodman, and Samantha Fox, all based in New York City. The indictment centres around the interstate transportation of obscene material and arose after children in Utah were found to have dialled the service, which reportedly provided them with explicit sexual content. United States Attorney Brent Ward highlighted the significance of the case, noting that convictions could have far-reaching implications for the burgeoning phone sex industry that has proliferated nationwide over the previous two years. According to the indictment, in 1983 children aged between 10 and 16 in Utah received pre-recorded telephone messages that contained graphic descriptions of sexual acts, including lesbianism, sodomy, incest, and more disturbing content such as excretory acts and bestiality. Ward expressed deep concern over the potential impact of these messages on young impressionable minds, suggesting that such content might condition them to associate sexual arousal with violence, pain, and the degradation of women. He pointed out that while all the alleged victims in this case were children, the charges could also have applied to adult users of the service. The children involved, all from the Salt Lake Valley, were prepared to testify at trial, with fewer than 23 children having made calls due to some making multiple calls. The methods by which the authorities obtained verbatim transcripts of the messages were not disclosed, and it was clarified that the children had not been encouraged or instructed by officials to make those calls. The legal context of the indictment references legislation signed by President Ronald Reagan on 8 December 1983, which made it illegal for any commercial phone service featuring obscene content to be accessible to minors. However, since the alleged offences occurred prior to this law being enacted, the prosecution is proceeding under an older statute previously used for phone harassment cases.
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