LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY hummingwolf)

Tucked deep inside a massive bill designed to track sex offenders and prevent children from being victimized by sex crimes...

The provision added to the Children's Safety Act of 2005 would require any film, TV show or digital image that contains a sex scene to come under the same government filing requirements that adult films must meet.

Currently, any filmed sexual activity requires an affidavit that lists the names and ages of the actors who engage in the act. The film is required to have a video label that claims compliance with the law and lists where the custodian of the records can be found. The record-keeping requirement is known as Section 2257, for its citation in federal law. Violators could spend five years in jail.

Under the provision inserted into the Children's Safety Act, the definition of sexual activity is expanded to include simulated sex acts like those that appear in many movies and TV shows.

As has been pointed out, child pornography is already illegal, and California already has stringent laws protecting children (including child actors) from harm. What the modifications to this bill seem likely to do is to enable the federal government to crack down on any sexual scene dating back to 1995--including those between clothed actors on prime-time TV--if filmmakers haven't kept records which conform to today's law.

In other words, while there is nothing in the article which specifically mentions the Religious Right, you can bet they'll be goading officials to take full advantage of this provision if the thing gets passed. Similar provisions have been ruled unconstitutional in the past; here's hoping people come to their senses this time around as well.