Bay Blogger Thursday Special Edition
Okay, we all know what the internet is best at -- porn, porn, rants and porn. Sure, blogging is nice, but it doesn't really pay all that well. There was certainly a point after the dot-bomb where the only people hiring HTML and Photoshop wizards were porn sites, and yes, we totally took their little nudie-photo color correction tests and sent them our resumes. Hell, we might have even considered acting in a few films -- it was that bad.
Everybody's favorite Attorney General (and possible future Supreme Court appointee) Alberto Gonzalez saw his changes to Section 2257 of the "Child Protection and Obscenity Enforcement Act" take effect at 12:00am today. Annalee Newitz framed it as a largely privacy and free speech issue online in her latest column. She also pointed out that the EFF has filed an amicus brief in a case where the Free Speech Coalition, an adult industry rights group, seeks an injuction top stop the new regulations.
We think the new regulation will chill free speech by forcing people to choose between privacy and sexual expression. It also converts the definition of "producer" of adult materials into a category so broad as to be meaningless -- it would cover blogs like Fleshbot, and certainly anyone who reviews erotic material. It would also potentially even cover sites posting things like the Abu Ghraib photographs.
Fleshbot has been on the story for months now, so go check out their coverage. After the jump, we got in touch with a some local businesses to see what they had to say on the issue.
Photo of lewd sex act featuring Derek Jeter and Gary Sheffield from Reuters -- happy Pride week, boys! The DOJ can come browse our baseball card collection for their personal information.
Peter Ackworth of Cybernet Entertainment worries about the privacy implications for performers:
This law is a huge injustice on the adult industry, but more importantly on the models who work in it. This law pisses on the rights of any model involved in adult entertainment.It should be possible to model for an adult website anonymously. Sure, you might have to give an ID and some private details to prove that you are over 18 (much like entering a bar), but you should be assured that your personal details will remain confidential with the photographer and that they are only needed to show to federal inspectors.
The DOJ doesn't agree. They believe that once you model for a pornographic website, your private details should be available to anyone (even your stalker). Here's how.
A 'secondary producer' is a company or individual who distributes sexually explicit material which has been bought from a 'primary producer'. A 'primary producer' is a company or individual who actually employs the model and photographer to producer the photograph.
Prior to the new 2257 law (proposed in Aug 2004 and pushed into law June 2005), only primary producers needed to carry sensitive personal information about models (real name, date of birth & copies of identification documents).
Since the new 2257 law was imposed, the "identification document' has to be a US issued ID (which typically carries a personal US address) and here's the real problem: SECONDARY PRODUCERS HAVE TO FILE THE SAME RECORDS AS THE PRIMARY PRODUCER!
Suppose I adore "Porn Actress XXX". I want her address, so I open a website and I contact a primary producer who has shot "Porn Actress XXX" to buy pictures of her. Necessarily, the pictures will arrive with copies of "Porn Actress XXX"'s ID's (or the material would not comply with the new 2257 law). I note the personal address of the model, stalk her and rape her.
This is the reality of this law. At best, it will lead to models working with fake IDs.
Inevitably, this law will either compromise the personal details of every model that has ever shot in this industry or it will kill the secondary market for any erotic material ever shot. The DOJ is counting on the latter. If offends me that they are so indifferent about the former.
Saul Austin of Treasure Island Media (who are no strangers to controversy) is skeptical of all the hysteria:
The whole industry is getting their scramble on. As soon as the new 2257 shit came out, every studio ran to their lawyers to help decipher what the new regs meant. There were rumors and conspiracy theories flying everywhere. Everyone was paranoid. In the end, though, the new regs don't really change much. They're more like an added pain in the ass. A new filing cabinet to hold the extra paperwork. A new employee to make sure we're constantly up-to-date. We here at Treasure Island Media went through every scene in every movie to make certain that we had the right info for every model, which took a while, but since we've been careful in the past, we're totally in the clear.
The Republicans say they did it to protect children (they didn't), the industry feels like it's an attempt to shut porn down (it isn't that, either). I think it's two things:
1. The current administration is throwing a bone to the Christians who live in constant fear that someone, somewhere, might be rubbing one out. It's just a bone, though. Politics. The industry is still being industrious, and the God-botherers can puff out their chests and feel like they got a few extra Jesus-points. There aren't federal agents breaking into studios with their guns drawn, yelling, 'FBI! DROP THAT COCK!"
2. It's a chance for industry laywers to weasel more money out of confused pornographers. Check out how many sites have already sprung up trying to cash in on the 15 minutes of hysteria. It's ridiculous. One of them put out a press release about the launch of their website the same morning the regulations came out.
Check out the chatter in the blogosphere about '2257' via Technorati.