Current through 2023-2024 Legislative Session Chapter 709
Section 46-5-22 - Using telephone communications for obscene comments, requests, or suggestions; injunction; recorded commercial message(a) It shall be unlawful for any person, by means of a telephone communication for commercial purposes, to make directly or by means of an electronic recording device, any comment, request, suggestion, or proposal which is obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, or indecent. Any person who makes any such comment, request, suggestion, or proposal may be subject to prosecution under this Code section regardless of whether such person placed or initiated the telephone call.(b) It shall be unlawful for any person to permit knowingly any telephone or telephone facility connected to a local exchange telephone under such person's control to be used for any purpose prohibited by this Code section.(c) Any person who violates any provision of this Code section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. For purposes of this subsection, each day of a violation shall constitute a separate offense.(d) A court may grant a preliminary injunction under this Code section after due notice to the party to be enjoined and upon a sufficient showing of the likelihood of ultimate success in a prosecution under this Code section and showing that such injunction would be in the public interest. Such injunction shall be dissolved by the court if a full trial on the merits is not scheduled within such period as may be specified by the court not to exceed 30 days.(e) In the event that a person applies to a local exchange telephone company for use of the local exchange telephone company's facilities for the purpose of transmitting a recorded commercial message, the local exchange telephone company shall have the authority to review the message and deny the applicant's request for facilities if the message appears to violate the provisions of this Code section.