Adult Material and Obscenity
Before discussing the laws in North Carolina, my home state, that deal with obscenity and public morality, we should first understand what obscenity means. Unfortunately, this is not a simple task, as obscenity is legally defined in a very vague manner ― perhaps intentionally so, as this vague definition allows hosting companies to define adult material for what adult hosting it is. It is vague in an effort to preserve archaic laws without obviously violating freedom of expression.
The federal government claims that it has the right to consider anything obscene as something that is not protected by freedom of speech; however, they fail to provide any consistent definition for it.
The legal definition of obscenity has been heavily contested and redefined over the years, following many supreme court cases. These definitions have followed “tests” for determining whether something is obscene. The most recent test called the Miller test based on Miller v. California (1973), is adopted in both Federal and North Carolina laws. This test states that something is obscene if all of the following are true:
- The material horribly and appallingly describes sexual conduct in a way that is specifically defined by state law.
- The common man/woman applying social and cultural standards based on local culture relating to the images, videos or written descriptions of sexual matters would find that the material taken in its entirety appeals to unreasonable sexual interests.
- The material lacks any literary, artistic, political, or scientific value. (it is trash)(Applicable to and media including adult website hosting, harddrive, or any media.
- The material as used is not protected or privileged under the Constitution of the United States (or the Constitution of the state in question).
Web Hosting Providers that Permit Adult Content Hosting and Porn Friendly
Web hosting providers or adult hosting provider do not prominently advertise that host porn. In some cases, you will have to ask a representative if they host the adult content you plan on having on your site or sites.
- HostGator
- hostinger.com
- hostwinds.com
- adulthosting.com
- tmdhosting.com
- web750.com
These are some website hosting companies and I will later include other hosting providers. Obviously hosting is within their described limits. Hosting companies make their own rules based on any criteria they like.
Hosting Speed vs Support vs Capabilities
A quick google search will reveal companies that offer adult content hosting material for websites. This includes images, videos, and written descriptions of sexual matters that appeal to variously unreasonable sexual interests. These materials also lack any literary, artistic, political, or scientific value and are not protected under the Constitution. As such, they would be considered obscene under the Miller test and would be illegal to possess or distribute in most states, including North Carolina. Please visit Wikipedia for more information. You will be able to search other sites on the web to gain clarity on this matter.
A shared hosting plan might be where you start as it would have less financial investment up front. Different hosting sites have different levels of technical capabilities and others have different levels of support. Clearly, all tend to have various offers that have different speeds. The more you pay per month the higher the speed and performance. The shared plans mean there are multiple sites that have the same ip address. A hosting company generally will overload an ip and you have absolutely no control over this situation. So if they are banned by Google, everyone on that website will face penalties from Google. So if you are doing this as a company and gain any percentage of income above 20%, this would not be a good thing.
Adult Content Site Providers for Adult Hosting
Googling “adult content site material providers” will yield a list of content providers for porn sites. So you can start hosting adult content without producing it yourself. This will make it difficult to become a premium porn site without having unique material. At some point, you will have to pay for adult material and sex scenes that are unique to your website. When hosting mature content, you should realize your web presence will be content that will attract many types including those that will want your site taken down if you are in a state that should not have it or for a variety of reasons primarily they may find your site offensive. Representation by images or video or even description in the text of sex is considered obscene and not protected by our first amendment.