In what AVN calls "a decision that is bound to have enormous impact on the adult video industry", the ten obscenity counts against porn provocateurs Rob Black and Lizzie Borden of Extreme Associates (which constituted the first federal obscenity prosecution against a video manufacturer in over a decade) were dismissed by a federal judge in Pittsburgh today. Whether you're a fan of their brand of extreme hardcore fantasy or not, it's good to know that the concept of free speech in the US isn't quite dead yet. (We still wouldn't let down our guard, though.)
"Extreme Associates Case Dismissed; Obscenity Laws Ruled Unconstitutional" (AVN)
"Hollywood Porn Couple Cleared Of Charges In Pittsburgh" (thepittsburghchannel.com)
See also: "America's Most Wanted ..." (case history @ Extreme Associates, via Boing Boing)
Previously: US vs. Extreme Associates, Nitke vs. Ashcroft, Boobies on C-Span, Congressional Porn Hearings, News Flash: Porn Is Good!, "Perversion For Profit", Obscenity, Then and Now