With the prevalence of p*rn sites and advertisements on the Internet that seem to just pop up out of nowhere, people are wondering if they are inadvertently breaking the law every time they open one of these sites.
In general, the answer is ‘yes’ since local community laws regard the possession of material that is offensive as illegal almost anywhere in the USA, except in certain communities such as Tahoe or Las Vegas, Nevada and New York City. But if you live elsewhere, you may have a problem say, if local authorities confiscate your computer and find p*rn in your files. Technically, you can be charged with a violation of decency laws, especially in a conservative community. However, there are rarely any prosecutions in these cases.
In cases where you are viewing p*rn online or getting it through your cable or satellite TV, your lawyer can argue that you were not in possession of the offensive material. The exception is if minor children are involved viewing p*rnography with you, in which chase, you can be prosecuted and, frankly, you should be.
One way to safeguard against legal entanglements is to avoid downloading p*rn on a shared computer...