Amazon case

I am a strong believer in freedom of speech and the marketplace of ideas. Although, sometimes I disagree with the opinions of others, I believe it is their right to voice those opinions. In so many areas of this world people do not have this right. They cannot freely speak their mind without fear. In some cases though, when speech could cause harm and violence to others, than I believe people forfeit their freedom. The long-debated question about freedom of speech is what exactly falls under the scope of its protection?

In the initial decision to keep selling the book, Amazon invoked this freedom of speech protection. For me the problem with their argument is they did not take into account the rules for when free speech is not protected. When speech is deemed obscene it is not protected under the first amendment. The guidelines for determining whether or not speech is obscene were outlined by the Supreme Court in Miller v. California. They are as follows:

1.The "average person, applying contemporary community standards" would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest."

2.The work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by the applicable state law.

3.The work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value

For me the book in question in the Amazon case would be deemed obscene because it fits all of the aforementioned standards outlined by the court. Did no one at Amazon bring this up when making their initial decision? It seems to me that they did not.

Now, trying to control the information that appears on the Internet would be impossible. There is no way to take down all the obscene language and images, but if the material is found, and in this particular case being sold, a company cannot just look the other way. This is why I believe that Amazon did the right thing in the end to take it down. Unfortunately, the endless of nature of the Internet, makes this effort seem inconsequential in the large scheme of things.