Conduct Unbecoming
UNITED STATES NAVY DISPUTE
Navy Censorship
Days before the release of Conduct Unbecoming, the Navy attempted to bar the use of a 1972 recruiting poster featuring the first African American used in a recruiting campaign. Servicemember Ed Graves had been discharged from the Navy a few years later for being gay. Refusing to allow the "Don't Tell" provision of the new policy relating to gays and lesbians in the armed forces to extend to civilians as well, ApolloMedia refused to pull the image.
Following a high profile press conference where ApolloMedia announced its intent to defy, the Navy obliged and withdrew their initial threats.
ApolloMedia, represented by Michael Traynor at Cooley Godward effectively established the de facto acknowledgement that First Amendment protections must be extended to CD-ROM publishers and in so doing has shaped the legal foundations for defining the content of interactive digital media.
