I really hope there's a Viv-esque website out there for making fun of the ridiculous of the UK because things like this are hilarious and disturbing at the same time.
Thread topic from
this article on The Register. The general gist of it involves the 'Obscene Publications Act', which outlaws the publication of CP, BDSM, and other 'extreme fetish' works; and whether IRC and/or other internet-based chat can be considered 'publication'. How exactly private chats could ever even remotely be considered 'publication' simply by being on the Internet is beyond me, but then again, this is the UK. At any rate, a hearing is set for early July to determine that question.
I have no idea if the OPA in its current form has been or could be applied to furry fetish works (any Brits on the board want to chime in here?), but given some of the other cases it's been thrown around in, it doesn't seem like much of a stretch of the imagination.
Of course the other fun bit in that article addresses one district judge's interpretation of the OPA in ruling that "whether or not a text or message is construed as threatening will depend not on the intent of the sender – but on how that message is viewed by its recipient." Which pretty much makes Viv illegal in the UK as well. Good times, good times. Anyone have that emote of a crying bulldog in front of the English flag?
Furry netsex in the UK may be made illegal