LodgeNet Entertainment Corp., a company that supplies pay-per-view movies to America's hotels, is under fire for making most of its profits off hardcore pornography.
In August, family advocates will ask the Department of Justice to investigate and bring charges against the company.
Phil Burress, president and executive director of Ohio's Citizens for Community Values (CCV), said much of the content in question is prosecutable under the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Miller v. California.
"Why is LodgeNet permitted to deal in hard-core, sexually explicit, clearly prosecutable material?" Burress asked. "The U.S. Supreme Court set down guidelines for what is prosecutable."
Burress said more than 60 percent of the LodgeNet's profit is gained from pornography.
Daniel Weiss, senior analyst, media & sexuality for Focus on the Family Action, said not only did Miller v. California determine that states could ban hardcore pornography, federal law prohibits obscene material from being distributed across state lines.
"That is what happens with both Internet and satellite distribution, such as is used by LodgeNet," he said.
Obscene material, as determined by the high court, is defined as "patently offensive representations or descriptions" of sexual acts either "actual or simulated" as determined by community standards.
"It will take a jury trial to determine whether the material in question actually violates community standards," Weiss said, "but we believe the content is clear enough to warrant an investigation at the very least.
"Based on state and federal law, if the material distributed by LodgeNet was brought to trial, many communities across the country would clean up overnight."
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Visit Focus on Social Issues.
Citizens for Community Values keeps a list of hotels that do not offer pornography at CleanHotels.com.
