2257 Seeing National News Coverage
It's taken awhile to get any kind of real national news coverage, so I was surprised to see this article on Southern Voice
Updated adult website regs ‘a huge headache’
New federal rules driving some producers out of business
By JOSHUA LYNSEN
Friday, August 25, 2006
New federal regulations are changing the way gay men post nude photos of themselves online and may be curtailing the supply of adult entertainment available on the web.
The rules, intended to curb child pornography, dictate that sites and stores offering any pornographic material must thoroughly document the ages and identities of all people featured in the explicit imagery.
Industry proponents have lambasted the requirements of federal law 18 U.S.C. § 2257 as excessive and pointless.
“Nobody who creates child pornography is going to be caught through 2257 record keeping and filing,” said Michelle Freridge, outgoing executive director of the Free Speech Coalition, an adult industry trade group.
“The only purpose [the law serves] is to create a burden upon these businesses,” she said. “It’s a really huge headache.”
The 2257 rules, enacted in 1995, were recently revised and expanded by the Adam Walsh Child Protection & Safety Act. Signed into law by President Bush on July 27, the act places more stringent requirements on stores and websites that offer pornographic material. Violators could be imprisoned for up to five years.
Paul Morris, owner of gay porn producer Treasure Island Media, said the federal code overburdens the industry’s many small businesses.
“The laws are labyrinthine, difficult, changeable and extremely punitive,” he said. “For smaller companies that aren’t able to afford advice regarding compliance, this can make for a dangerous situation.”
Freridge said the Free Speech Coalition is challenging the new regulations in court, but meanwhile is instructing providers and customers to be careful.
“There’s hundreds of questions … that have to be resolved in court, because the rules and regulations and laws have been very poorly written,” she said. “It’s actually a lawyer’s wet dream.”
Among the few legal issues that have been resolved is how profile hosting sites like Gay.com and BigMuscle.com will function under the new regulations.
Freridge said because these sites host rather than produce or sell the displayed photos, they generally are considered immune to the 2257 rules.
That conclusion was reiterated Aug. 16 when BigMuscle.com informed members, who are almost all gay men, that the site “will not have to collect government photo IDs or Statement of Information forms from anyone” posting nude photos.
But the site noted that “to keep out of any gray legal area,” users must remove any pictures showing sexual acts, semen or masturbation.
PlanetOut, which owns Gay.com, said only that the company continues “to interpret the complexities of 2257 and its effects on our brands.” Meanwhile, many pictures labeled as “adult photo” remain available.
But profile creators should be careful. Freridge said some sites have user agreements that identify profile creators as producers. By accepting such agreements, users assume all liability for any pornographic postings.
Freridge said users should closely review the agreements of any profile sites they use.
“They need to read the small print,” she said.
Freridge said it’s unlikely — but possible — that federal officials would hold an individual user liable for posting pornographic self-portraits.
“If you’re just posting an image of yourself naked on a web site, it is unlikely 2257 would be applied to you,” she said, “but it is unclear.”
Also unclear is how many adult entertainment providers can weather the 2257 rules.
Freridge said “hundreds of production companies” have closed within the last year. She said the new requirements proved too “burdensome and expensive” for many companies.
To combat the trend, Morris said Treasure Island Media is now offering free legal advice to small companies that are frustrated or frightened by the 2257rules.
“Personally, I don’t want to see a single company go under because of all this,” he said. “I want to be sure that anyone who needs advice but can’t afford it will get the help they need.”
Kudos to Treasure Island Media!
Well hats off to Treasure Island Media for articulating the consequences of 2257 to the media. I received their press release on 2257 a few weeks ago, which I presume is what catalyzed this article in the Southern Voice.
This is in contrast to almost all other public commentary about 2257, which myopically consists of businesses only seeing it in terms of themseves. Talking about this effects everyone's speech.... not just their own company's cash register... is how to combat it.
Steve
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