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The Florida Senate

2011 Florida Statutes

Title XXVII RAILROADS AND OTHER REGULATED UTILITIES
Chapter 365 USE OF TELEPHONES AND FACSIMILE MACHINES Entire Chapter
SECTION 161
Prohibition of certain obscene telephone communications; penalty.
F.S. 365.161
365.161 Prohibition of certain obscene telephone communications; penalty.—
(1) For purposes of this section, the term:
(a) “Obscene” means that status of a communication which:
1. The average person applying contemporary community standards would find, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interests;
2. Describes, in a patently offensive way, deviate sexual intercourse, sadomasochistic abuse, sexual battery, bestiality, sexual conduct, or sexual excitement; and
3. Taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.
(b) “Deviate sexual intercourse” means sexual conduct between persons consisting of contact between the penis and the anus, the mouth and the penis, or the mouth and the vulva.
(c) “Sadomasochistic abuse” means flagellation or torture by or upon a person, or the condition of being fettered, bound, or otherwise physically restrained, for the purpose of deriving sexual satisfaction from inflicting harm on another or receiving such harm oneself.
(d) “Sexual battery” means oral, anal, or vaginal penetration by, or union with, the sexual organ of another or the anal or vaginal penetration of another by any other object.
(e) “Sexual bestiality” means any sexual act between a person and an animal involving the sex organ of the one and the mouth, anus, or vagina of the other.
(f) “Sexual conduct” means actual or simulated sexual intercourse, deviate sexual intercourse, sexual bestiality, masturbation, or sadomasochistic abuse; or any act or conduct which constitutes sexual battery.
(g) “Sexual excitement” means the condition of the human male or female genitals when in a state of sexual stimulation or arousal.
(2)(a) A subscriber of a telephone service who makes any obscene or indecent communication by means of a telephone, in person or through an electronic recording device, in exchange for remuneration is guilty of a misdemeanor of the second degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083, regardless of whether he or she placed, initiated, or received the telephone call.
(b) A subscriber of telephone service who knowingly permits the use of a telephone or a telephone facility under his or her control to make any obscene or indecent communication prohibited under paragraph (a) is guilty of a misdemeanor of the second degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083, if the telephone or telephone facility is connected to a local exchange telephone.
(c) For purposes of this subsection, each day of a violation constitutes a separate offense.
(d) Any telephone company which transmits any public announcement service over the telephone network and bills for such service on its regular telephone bills to its subscribers shall have the right (but not the obligation) to approve any and all advertising, by whatever means, of such public announcement service. Failure of any public announcement service provider to obtain the approval of the telephone company for its advertising of any public announcement service transmitted over the telephone network shall be full and sufficient grounds for immediate disconnection by the telephone company of the public announcement service provider’s telephone service. No telephone company shall be liable for any damages, penalty, or forfeiture, whether civil or criminal, for disconnecting such public announcement service subscriber who violates this subsection.
(3) This section does not apply to a telephone communication that crosses state lines.
History.—s. 23, ch. 88-381; s. 551, ch. 95-148.