The Obscenity Prosecution Task Force (OPTF) was an organization created in 2005 by the

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a United States federal executive departments, federal executive department of the U.S. government that oversees the domestic enforcement of Law of the Unite ...

. The OPTF's job was to investigate and prosecute producers and distributors of hardcore pornography that meets the legal tests for

obscenity An obscenity is any utterance or act that strongly offends the prevalent morality of the time. It is derived from the Latin , , "boding ill; disgusting; indecent", of uncertain etymology. Generally, the term can be used to indicate strong moral ...

, as defined by the

Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all Federal tribunals in the United States, U.S. federal court cases, and over Stat ...

.Staff report (November 21, 2005). An All-Out Assault On Sexual Content. ''

BusinessWeek ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'' (and before that ''Business Week'' and ''The Business Week''), is an American monthly business magazine published 12 times a year. The magazine debuted in New York City in Septembe ...

''Abramson, Larry (September 27, 2005)
Federal Government Renews Effort to Curb Porn.
''

Morning Edition ''Morning Edition'' is an American radio news program produced and distributed by NPR. It airs weekday mornings (Monday through Friday) and runs for two hours, and many stations repeat one or both hours. The show feeds live from 5:00 to 9:00 a ...

'',

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

The group was led by U.S. Attorney Brent Ward. The task force was formed during the Presidency of George W. Bush to investigate hardcore pornography at the urging of social conservative groups.Glover, Scott (June 9, 2008)
Upcoming trial will see hours of hard-core fetish pornography.
''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

''Kay, Julie (August 30, 2005)
U.S. Attorney's Porn Fight Gets Bad Reviews.
'' Daily Business Review'' Notable cases were brought against Joseph R. Francis' Mantra Films, Inc. ('' Girls Gone Wild''), as well as producers Ira Isaacs, John Stagliano, and

Max Hardcore Paul F. Little (August 10, 1956 – March 27, 2023) was an American pornographic actor, producer, and director better known by his stage name Max Hardcore. He rose to prominence in 1992 with the film series ''The Anal Adventures of Max Hardcore' ...

.Gross, Grant (July 25, 2007)
U.S. Man Faces Online Porn Charges.
'' PC World'' Eric Holder,

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

's appointee for

United States Attorney General The United States attorney general is the head of the United States Department of Justice and serves as the chief law enforcement officer of the Federal government of the United States, federal government. The attorney general acts as the princi ...

, dissolved the task force in spring 2011, leaving obscenity prosecutions to the

United States Department of Justice Criminal Division The United States Department of Justice Criminal Division is a federal agency of the United States Department of Justice that develops, enforces, and supervises the application of all federal criminal laws in the United States. Criminal Divisi ...

's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section.

References

External links

Obscenity Prosecution Task Force
United States Department of Justice agencies Task forces Government agencies established in 2005 Government agencies disestablished in 2011 Obscenity law {{US-gov-stub