Fans of softcore porn site Voyeurdorm.com can relax and continuing paying nearly $500 a year to watch college-aged women do whatever it is they do in the bathroom and bedroom, thanks to Monday’s Supreme Court ruling that allows the Internet company to keep webcasting “college girl secrets exposed” from a home in Tampa, Fla.
The site, owned by Entertainment Network, has placed cameras in every room of a residential Tampa home where five unrelated women live and charges viewers $39.95 a month for 24-hour access. The City of Tampa initially filed a lawsuit in 1999 to close the house under the city’s adult entertainment zoning laws.
According to court documents, Voyeur Dorm brought in revenues of more than $3.1 million between 1998 and 2000.
A local judge ruled in favor of the city and ordered the home closed, but a federal appeals court ruled the home was not subject to Tampa zoning laws because it does not physically host visitors. The Supreme Court let stand without comment the appeals court decision.
In the past, the court has upheld zoning laws designed to restrict adult movie theaters or bookstores in residential neighborhoods. The issue in Tampa, however, according to the court, was one of free speech since the women living in the house do not host customers.
Tampa officials argued that Internet technology was undermining the original intent of its zoning laws to keep adult entertainment businesses out of residential neighborhoods.
Attorneys for the Entertainment Network countered that the courts have already evaluated the concept of free speech and there was no reason to the justices to review the case, an argument the court accepted.