ORLANDO, Fla. – More than 1 million adult-entertainment sites proliferate on the Internet, and rarely are those Web site operators jailed on obscenity charges in the United States.

So when a Lakeland, Fla., man was recently arrested for administering a Web site with pornography deemed obscene, by a judge, the national debate concerning obscenity laws flared.

Adult-entertainment advocates argue the traditional local-standards guideline cannot be used when determining what is obscene on the Internet because there is no local community when dealing with the World Wide Web.

But others contend court rulings have made it clear – community standards can and should be applied to the Internet when determining what’s obscene.

Pornography is not illegal and neither is possessing obscene materials. But it is illegal to communicate, distribute, sell or transport obscene materials, said Joy R. Butler, a Washington, D.C.-based lawyer whose clients include Web site operators and Internet publishers.

“The Supreme Court also says that obscenity is determined according to contemporary community standards, which means that each individual state and local community can decide what is obscene,” Butler said.

“The upside to this approach is that the people of Orlando, Florida, do not have to accept material found unobjectionable by the people of Las Vegas, Nevada,” she said. “The flaw is that in our increasingly global community where material on the Internet can be accessed anywhere, the most conservative community within the United States sets the de facto standard.”

It’s an issue that will likely continue to be challenged in court as the number of adult-entertainment and amateur-pornography sites increase on the Web.

Experts say such criminal cases are uncommon because law enforcement agencies have limited resources in tracking down such Web sites, determining who runs it and where that person lives.

In Polk County, Fla., where Christopher Wilson lives and was charged, there have only been two obscenity cases involving Web sites, according to the State Attorney’s Office.

In both the charges were dropped when the defendants agreed to stop running their sites.

Tom Hymes, communications director for the Free Speech Coalition, a trade organization for the adult-entertainment industry, said his group is concerned about Wilson’s arrest.

“We clearly have been violated,” Hymes said. “What this also does is show how much power a local sheriff, a local state attorney – how disruptive they can be – when there is no issue of community standards on the Internet.

“It’s a real problem,” Hymes said. “I don’t see where community standards come in.”

But anti-pornography advocates disagree.

“As recently as 2003 … the Supreme Court of the United States said it is not unconstitutional to apply community standards,” said Daniel Weiss, a senior analyst for media and sexuality for Focus on the Family Action.

“People would like to say that doesn’t apply to the Internet,” he said. But the Supreme Court has “found that’s not a substantial challenge. They’re not buying it.”

Wilson won’t comment , but attorney Larry Walters said his client is exercising his first-amendment rights by allowing people to post risque photographs of girlfriends and wives on his site.

Wilson gained national attention in recent weeks because a portion of his Web site depicts Iraq war photographs.

Because American soldiers were having trouble using their credit cards to pay and access the pornography portion of the site, Wilson allowed them free access if they submitted a photograph proving they are serving in the war.

Some of the war photographs on the site, which the Orlando Sentinel is not identifying because it contains an expletive, are not graphic. But many photographs depict bloodied, burned and dismembered bodies.

Court records show Polk County detectives investigated Wilson, a former Eagle Lake police officer, in March 2003 for two pornographic Web sites he ran. Charges were not filed in those cases.

Records also show that in November 2004, a detective began to investigate Wilson’s most recent Web venture, but it was not actively pursued until September. He has been charged with 300 obscenity-related misdemeanor counts and a felony count of wholesale promotion of obscene materials.

The criminal charges against Wilson stem from 20 videos and 80 photographs on the latest site. Those charges include 300 obscenity-related misdemeanor counts and a felony count of wholesale promotion of obscene materials.

Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd has said the charges filed against Wilson for the photographs and videos in question were only related to the sexual content.

Walters also said because users can post any pictures or videos at will, Wilson doesn’t know about everything on the site, which is still in operation and boasts more than 200,000 registered users.

“On this type of site, anyone can post anything,” he said. “We don’t know … what’s up there.”

“How can you hold an individual responsible … when he didn’t create the image … he didn’t do anything other than create the infrastructure.”