A BIBLE BELT CRACKDOWN ON CYBERPORN

Federal prosecutors are going after a California couple charged with transmitting obscenities through an Internet computer bulletin board -- because the explicit photos and text they sent offended people in Tennessee. The case began this week in Memphis, and many suspect it may reach the U.S. Supreme Court. Why? It's the first serious test of whether obscenity laws based on community standards still make sense when pornography flows through cyberspace. If convicted, Robert and Carleen Thomas, who run the Amateur Action Bulletin Board System from Milpitas, Calif., face 50 years in prison. BTW: It's no surprise the charges arose in Memphis, Net watchers note. Prosecutors there made headlines in the 1970s when they went after the cast and producers of the first real mainstream X-rated movie, "Deep Throat," which also was distributed across state lines.