A Good Day for Porn

Wired News reports that an agreement between federal prosecutors and the adult industry's Free Speech Coalition will (for the moment) stall enforcement of burdensome new "2257 rules" that would've imposed extensive recordkeeping requirements on sites providing explicit content. The rules are billed as necessary to fight child porn, but the FSC says they'll have a much broader chilling effect:

The Justice Department's new interpretation raises a slew of issues. Adult performers fear their real names, addresses and ages will end up in the hands of countless webmasters who must now keep these records. "We deal with stalkers now," said Bill Rust, webmaster of Arikaames.com, a soft-core site featuring his wife. "We've had people who join the site and try to track her down, send cakes and candies to her parents' house."

Rust said he stopped providing the site's content to hundreds of affiliates because he wasn't willing to give out his wife's personal information to comply with the new rules.

There's another potential problem with the regulations. According to Odenberger, the law would require websites to store every explicit image they ever post. The government, he said, doesn't realize "there are such things as 19-year-old (live web) cam girls sitting in a trailer with $200 in their bank accounts, going online solely to support their child. To require them to buy terabytes worth of storage puts down an impossible barrier between them and internet access."

Comments

[R C Dean]

To require them to buy terabytes worth of storage puts down an impossible barrier between them and internet access.

Which is of course entirely the point.

[smacky]

According to Odenberger, the law would require websites to store every explicit image they ever post.

This just seems like a ploy for government workers to get their porn archived for them for free, at the expense of others money and disk space. (After all, the government does have access to everyone's computer now, right?) Hey, if I have to buy extra disk space to store my personal porn, no exceptions should be made for government workers, either.

[PapayaSF]

"We deal with stalkers now," said Bill Rust, webmaster of Arikaames.com, a soft-core site featuring his wife.

Wow, so if you put up a website of naked pictures of your wife, strange guys will want to meet her? Who'd a thunk it?

[smacky]

sorry,

last post corrections:

I. others' money and disk space

II. my abundance of personal porn

[smacky]

sorry for yet another correction:

that's a hypothetical abundance of personal porn.

[Blind Lemon Spanky]

I never understood the attraction of paying for Web based porn when there's literally a metric assload of pictures and video on USENET. Which brings up a point: could the law be used to go after anyone hosting a newsgroup server that has pornograpic pictures cached on it?

[E-Rock]

Spanky, all that porn on USENET is stolen. Plus USENET is hard to use (compared to point and click browsers). I've given up trying to explain newsgroups, even if you set it all up for them it's still "too hard."

[dead_elvis]

To require them to buy terabytes worth of storage puts down an impossible barrier between them and internet access.

Which is of course entirely the point.

Although that might be an unstated goal, I think it will likely play out that the big commercial pornographers will still make out ok, they keep records anyway and have tons of money and storage. It's the do-it-yourselfers that will have problems. So instead of fighting porn, it simply has the effect of favoring big business over the little guy. Porn will still be just as prevelant.

[mediageek]

One wonders if this has any relation to what's-her-name, the porn star who showed up at a Republican fundraising convention.

[dead_elvis]

You know, someday, I'd like to be able to enclose multiple paragraphs inside a single italics tag. I can dream, can't I?

[kmw]

I thought the 2257 rules were just that you had to provide the info on request, not that you actually had to post the model info online.

I also hear tell it's hard to get juries to convict on these types of charges.

There's an international marketplace we're dealing with here. Most of the good stuff is foreign anyway. There won't be any injury to the consumer, just people trying to make a living.

[Blind Lemon Spanky]

Spanky, all that porn on USENET is stolen. Plus USENET is hard to use (compared to point and click browsers). I've given up trying to explain newsgroups, even if you set it all up for them it's still "too hard."

I totally realize its all (or at least the vast majority of it is) stolen, but if you're your average web porn consumer are you going to care? Probably not. You are probably correct about ease of use. Frankly, I've never found the USENET all that difficult to navigate, but then again, I remember when someone said "the internet" it was synonymous with USENET.

[thoreau]

it simply has the effect of favoring big business over the little guy

I'm shocked--shocked!--that our elected officials would favor big business over little business.

But there's an easier way to shut down do-it-yourself voyeur sites: A big porn company can get the government to take an amateur pornographer's house under eminent domain.

Maybe somebody will make a porn movie where a housewife is alone and horny and upset that her husband is away. Then somebody knocks on the door, and it's an attractive cop serving a notice to vacate. And the next thing you know...

[Stevo Darkly]

But for now it's good news for the porn industry, right?

Hmm... must think of a way to celebrate...

[thoreau]

Speaking of porn, anybody see Steven Colbert's interview with new GOP donor Mary Carey last night?

I'll never look at a pizza the same way again, let me tell you!

[dead_elvis]

Then somebody knocks on the door, and it's an attractive cop serving a notice to vacate. And the next thing you know...

...a property owner is getting screwed in the ass!

Oh... or did you mean... then they have sex?

[kmw]

The question the US Justice Dept. needs to ask itself is, do you feel lucky. Well do ya, punk?

Supply side domestic restrictions on a virtually infinite global market will only have the effect of moving ALL production offshore, removing all ability to regulate. Unless we start invading every other country on earth. Try finding recruits for THAT war.

The do-gooders may desperately want to do something about this "for the children," but the situation is well beyond their control now.

[Number 6]

Thoreau-Your ED porn proposal makes perfect sense, especially since homeowners are already getting fucked.*

*apologies for the cheap, obvious joke.

[WSDave]

Storing all your porn doesn't have to be space-intensive if you use PDF or some other compression scheme. Not that I approve of 2257, I'm just sayin'...

[thoreau]

Beautiful, dead elvis! Beautiful!

Now that ED can be used for practically anything, it will be my standard fix for any problem.

"Sure, Kerry would be worse. But instead of campaigning against him, why not just use ED to shut down his campaign headquarters?"

[Dynamist]

dead: Getting screwed in the ass isn't the problem. It's when I get screwed in the ass without my consent that harshes my buzz.

[Troy]

I can't say that the possibility of getting Taylor Rain or Aurora Snow's address isn't appealing, but I rather just have easy access to my porn [before my house is razed for that Hooter's Restraunt].
Seriously though, KMW make a good point. If the feds dick with porno to much, they will say, "fuck it," (no pun intended) and go to some island nation to would be only too happy to bring in all the income.

[kmw]

Julian,

Where'd your Alberto Gonzales and statues thread go?

[Helpful Overseer]

That thread contained offensive language. Please delete the forbidden term and repost.

[Anonymo the Anonymous]

I can't wait for the 527 ads next fall featuring Bush cozying up to Big Oil, Big Tobacco and now Big Porno... "God Bless America" crossfades into bow-chika-wow-wow.

[Alberto G]

H&R webmaster: Please deliver proof of age and consent for the man dry-humping the carpet to the Justice Department, or I'll be forced to send a goon squad over there and show you what torture is all about.

[Captian Awesome]

Don't you people understand, if the pornographers have to keep records. Then when they're accused of wrong doing, it will be much easier to look innocent until proven guilty.

[Captian Awesome]

Oops, that didn't come out wuite how I wanted (too busy trying to use html for the second time). I meant burden of proof isn't on the pornographer, fuck the po-lice!

[kwais]

"Try finding recruits for THAT war."

Umm... Instead of going into hajji land where the chicks are covered head to toe you get to go to a pornhouse.

Yeah, it is wrong, where do I sign up?

[Rick Barton]

Hey, speaking of porn, does anyone else remember the drop dead gorgous Annett Haven from the 70's who was looked as cute as she looked sexy? I remember an interviw with her...

Interviewer: "Annette, do you consider yourself Heterosexual, Homosexual, Lesbian, Bi, Straight, or Gay?"

Annette Haven: "Yes"

[kwais]

Rick,
70's porn is yucky, all the chicks have too hair down there. If there was 70's porn where the chicks were shaven that would be some cool porn.

[Eddy]

Does this mean virtual records will need to be kept for virtual porn? I can see the pitchline now, "Pixar releases Toys Tawdry. A story where Woody saves the day when Buzz's batteries run out of juice."

[mediageek]

Q) How do you know it's the 21st century?

A) Even the porno spambots have sexual hangups.

[kwais]

That dude is irritating. Senator McCain, can't the government do something about people like that? There has got so be something the government can do so that my anarchist reading pleasure is not inundated with freaks that talk about their unnatractive fetishes.

(any ruling must hold exempt Jennifer, Serafina, and Smacky, and allow them to type whatever they wish. It being impossible for them to type anything unnatractive).

[kwais]

Hey, um,
I think that the weirdo porn spammer dude would have done much better to post his crap on the "Nazi torture doctors" thread above this one.

That would have been much more fitting.

[kwais]

My last two posts were in response to an annoying spammer who posted some story of his with links to a pornsite.

[grylliade]

You know, someday, I'd like to be able to enclose multiple paragraphs inside a single italics tag. I can dream, can't I?

I think that it has to do with XHTML, which conforms with XML. But I'm not sure. Something to do with requiring closing tags, I'm sure.

70's porn is yucky, all the chicks have too hair down there.

See, and that's what I thought was good about 70's porn.

[Creature Preacher]

Pornography is sin of the flesh. It turns God-fearing men into rapists, and women into sluts. All who indulge in the pornography should be stripped of their clothing and flayed with oiled whips cleanly upon their backs and buttocks. Again. and Again.

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