Film labs policed obscenity by seizing and reporting footage to police

Evidence

In early 1967, a New York film lab confiscated footage Noren brought in for processing, which among other things showed the filmmaker having sex with his then girlfriend Margaret Lamarre, and turned it over to the police. (Noren won his case in court, although soon after, Change of Heart drew obscenity charges in California.) — J. Hoberman, Everything Is Now, 1409

Categorization

• QUESTION: What legal standing did a lab have to confiscate a client’s footage? This suggests a third-party enforcement layer in the obscenity regime worth researching.
• XREF: Connects to the chapter’s broader turf-war story of obscenity law as the constant external threat shaping what artists could make.