united-kingdom internet
The legality of fictional stories involving sex with minors
<p>I have a quick question as I am curious about the legality of websites such as literotica as an example. </p>

<p>These websites are aimed at the kink community. I have heard Literotica
contains countless stories involving kink and some of these are of a sexual nature. </p>

<p>The problem is some of these stories I have heard involve minors so would this site be legal or illegal in UK? </p>

<p>All these stories are completely 100% fictional. Not sure if this makes a difference. 
Just interested to hear about these sites. </p>

<p>As a disclaimer I have not visited this site or read any stories regarding minors. I am just interested in the law. </p>

<h2>In the U.S.</h2>
<p>Those stories <em>could</em> constitute &quot;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_free_speech_exceptions#Obscenity" rel="nofollow noreferrer">obscenity</a>,&quot; in which case they could violate all sorts of federal and state laws.</p>
<p>I was surprised to discover on <a href="http://www.justice.gov/criminal-ceos/citizens-guide-us-federal-law-obscenity" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this DoJ page</a>:</p>
<ul>
<li>18 U.S.C. § 1465 and § 1466: It is illegal to sell and distribute obscene material on the Internet.  Convicted offenders face fines and up to 5 years in prison.</li>
<li>It is illegal for an individual to knowingly use interactive computer services to display obscenity in a manner that makes it available to a minor less than 18 years of age (See 47 U.S.C. § 223(d) –Communications Decency Act of 1996, as amended by the PROTECT Act of 2003). It is also illegal to knowingly make a commercial communication via the Internet that includes obscenity and is available to any minor less than 17 years of age (See 47 U.S.C. § 231 –Child Online Protection Act of 1998).</li>
</ul>
<p>Under some state laws <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/14/us/child-pornography-writer-gets-10-year-prison-term.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">merely authoring or possessing obscene material is a felony</a>.</p>
<p>However, if the material is <em>not obscene</em> then it is actually protected by the first amendment.  In fact many public schools (at least when I was growing up) <em>required</em> us to read &quot;literature&quot; (e.g., <em>The Color Purple</em>) that included descriptions of child rape and sexual abuse.  Descriptions of purportedly <em>actual</em> sexual abuse of minors are also common in the testimony and published biographies of abuse victims.</p>
<h2>In the U.K.</h2>
<p>Such obscene stories are also illegal in the U.K.  The relevant law is the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obscene_Publications_Act_1959" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Obscene Publications Act 1959</a>.  The Crown Prosecution Service provides <a href="http://www.cps.gov.uk/legal/l_to_o/obscene_publications/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">information on the specific application of that and related laws</a>.</p>
