The Decency Wars

In this critical look at current efforts to regulate indecency, the author begins by reviewing the history of cultural concerns regarding technology and decency since the invention of the camera. He then focuses on more recent campaigns conducted by such organization as the Christian Coalition and the Focus on the Family, making a number of interconnected arguments. Among these are his contention that many of these groups cynically use the decency wars as fundraisers and political mobilizers and that efforts to governmentally regulate decency are dangerous and, ultimately, untenable because of the ever-changing nature of technology. Annotation c2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Frederick S. Lane (Burlington, VT) is the author of Obscene Profits and The Naked Employee, among other books dealing with the media, society, and law. He has appeared on ABC’s Nightline, CBS’s 60 Minutes, NPR’s Marketplace, the BBC, and many other television and radio programs as an expert on legal and First Amendment issues.