More than 1 million adult-entertainment sites proliferate on the Internet, and rarely are those Web-site operators jailed on obscenity charges in the United States.

So when a Lakeland man was recently arrested for administering a Web site with pornography deemed obscene by a judge, the national debate concerning obscenity laws flared in Central Florida.

Adult-entertainment advocates argue the traditional local-standards guideline cannot be used when determining what is obscene on the Internet because there is no local community when dealing with the World Wide Web.

Pornography is not illegal and neither is possessing obscene materials. But it is illegal to communicate, distribute, sell or transport obscene materials, said Joy R. Butler, a Washington, D.C.-based lawyer whose clients include Web-site operators and Internet publishers.

"The Supreme Court also says that obscenity is determined according to contemporary community standards, which means that each individual state and local community can decide what is obscene," Butler said.

"The upside to this approach is that the people of Orlando, Florida, do not have to accept material found unobjectionable by the people of Las Vegas, Nevada," she said. "The flaw is that in our increasingly global community where material on the Internet can be accessed anywhere, the most conservative community within the United States sets the de facto standard."

It's an issue that will likely continue to be challenged in court as the number of adult-entertainment and amateur-pornography sites increase on the Web.

Experts say such criminal cases are uncommon because law-enforcement agencies have limited resources in tracking down such Web sites, determining who runs it and where that person lives.

In Polk County, where Christopher Wilson lives and was charged, there have only been two obscenity cases involving Web sites, according to the State Attorney's Office.

Tom Hymes, communications director for the Free Speech Coalition, a trade organization for the adult-entertainment industry, said his group is concerned about Wilson's arrest.

"We clearly have been violated," Hymes said. "What this also does is show how much power a local sheriff, a local state attorney . . . how disruptive they can be . . . when there is no issue of community standards on the Internet.

"As recently as 2003 . . . the Supreme Court of the United States said it is not unconstitutional to apply community standards," said Daniel Weiss, a senior analyst for media and sexuality for Focus on the Family Action.

"People would like to say that doesn't apply to the Internet," he said. But the Supreme Court has "found that's not a substantial challenge. They're not buying it."

Wilson won't comment , but lawyer Larry Walters said his client is exercising his First Amendment rights by allowing people to post risque photographs of girlfriends and wives on his site.

Because American soldiers were having trouble using their credit cards to pay and access the pornography portion of the site, Wilson allowed them free access if they submitted a photograph proving they are serving in the war.

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