July 12, 2007 Update

Sue Denim writes for AVN:

The date for the records finally has been anchored to the date of production (or date the actual photography was accomplished). ...[T]he new regulations mandate the entire compliance statement must appear on every page within a website. He also worried aloud it may chase out of the industry small, independent website operators who run their businesses from their homes and maintain their records in their home offices. None of those people are going to want everyone on the Web to be able to find them with no more effort than scrolling to the bottom of a Web page.

FBI Visits Diabolic Video to Check 2257 Records

Paul Fishbein writes 7/24/06 on AVN.com:

CHATSWORTH, Calif. - FBI agents are currently visiting the offices of Diabolic Video here checking their records in accordance with the 2257 statute, according to Diabolic owner Greg Allan.

“The agent said there are 10 companies on their list and we were the first, but Diabolic, not Anabolic,” Allan told AVN.com exclusively.

This is the first time an adult company was visited to verify compliance with the record keeping requirements of 18USC~2257.

Using Foreign Talent

1/16/06

In June of 2005, because of the Justice Department's new interpretation of the 2257 anti-child-porn regulations, the major porn producers stopped using foreign talent who didn't have a greencard (legal permission to reside and work in the US). Many prominent First Amendment attorneys said this was not necessary but the major producers erred on the side of safety.

Over the next few months, LA Direct Models got legal American IDs for their foreign models (I assume LAD got them CA Driver's Licenses), allowing them to work for most producers.

Most producers will not use foreign talent without American ID. The most careful producers, such as Penthouse, will not use foreign talent who don't have greencards. But dozens of girls who won't be used by Penthouse will be used by Hustler and other producers.

I was scanning the chatboard of one content producer. A fan wrote in: "I'm so glad you finally shot Barbara Summers. She reminds me of Stacy Valentine. I didn't want to put a request in for her because she's European and I thought it was impossible for you to legally shoot her. How did you manage to do it? Is she American now?"

The producer replied: "She got her American IDs through the help of her agency."

I assume this means a CA Driver's License. To get one as a tourist, all you have to do is show the DMV your driver's license from your home country, and fill out a form that vouches you are getting a Social Security number. This temporary license is good for three months and is a sufficient form of American ID for many content producers. Whether it is legally obtained is the question. If you falsify stuff on your application to get the CA Driver's License, then it is obviously fraudulent and producers who use girls with fake ID are legally responsible.

To the best of my knowledge, only LA Direct Models will arrange this type of American ID for their foreign talent.

In the long run this may not be a big deal because this part of the 2257 regulations may not stand up to legal scrutiny.

Another reason foreign talent is signing with LA Direct is that LA Direct allows producers to pay the agency for the talent's work and then the agency pays the model, and I believe this gives significant tax advantages to the model (she doesn't have to suffer the 25% withholding tax, etc). I'm not sure how foreign talent can be legally paid in America if they do not have a Social Security number.

I wonder if the feds will go after content producers who were accepting foreign IDs one month, and then CA Driver's Licenses the next month from the same talent. Surely many of these foreign talent have fake Social Security numbers as well. So maybe the IRS will take an interest. Maybe the content producers will be on the hook. Maybe they'll have to explain to a jury, "Yes, I knew she previously only had Czech ID but the next month she had American ID and I thought it was all legitimate." I wonder if the jury will buy that?

Some foreign porn stars who've never driven and never held a driver's license have obtained CA Driver's Licenses over the past six months.

LA Direct Models is the only talent agency that works extensively with foreign models who don't have greencards. World Modeling and other conservative agencies tell foreign talent not to come over to the States because they can't get them work.

One porn girl is getting an investor visa to work here legally but you need a lot of money in the bank to prove that you are coming here to start a business.

Understanding 2257 Regulations

2257: The Battle Is Joined

By: Mark Kernes

DENVER - With the filing on Thursday of the Free Speech Coalition's (FSC) massive lawsuit challenging the new regulations drawn from – and indeed, the very existence of – the recordkeeping and labeling law, 18 U.S.C. §2257, the adult industry prepares for a legal battle that may determine whether it can survive against the onslaughts of the Bush administration's anti-adult agenda. Certainly, it will determine the industry's profitability for decades to come.

2257 Means Many Adult Paysites Will Be Smaller, Less Free Porn Too

John Copeland (BestAdultContent.com) writes on JBM:

I imagine adult site members are going to be doing a lot of head scratching come the 24th when they discover member's areas have gotten a bit smaller. It will be interesting to see if it affects cancellation rates and chargebacks. I guess they can all go join foreign owned sites now.

2257 Takes Down HawgsCash

It is with very deep regret that we are forced to close HawgsCash effective June 22nd, 2005. Due to new 2257 regulations and other determining factors we can no longer operate HawgsCash in its current state and to be compliant would not be possible in the month time frame the government has given us.

Steph writes on ADT:

In the Department of Justice's latest effort to protect the children, they have declared every person who posts an image on the internet a "producer." That means every one of you who participates in a message forum or writes a blog or has a personal website. We are all producers. And if we choose to post an image that could be construed as containing a sex act (including masturbation or possibly even an erect penis) we must be able to prove that the people in the picture were adults at the time it was taken.

Producers, the one who actually produced the sexually explicit image, have been required to maintain model records proving age since 1988. This month the Dept. of Justice decided that anyone who posts that image on the internet should also maintain these records. While it is unclear how this protects the children, it is very clear how difficult this law makes it to run an adult internet business. The Dept. of Justice has found an easy way to prosecute anyone distributing pornography via the internet and to curtail the adult internet business in the U.S.

The changes to the 2257 record keeping laws are vague enough to require legal advice and cumbersome enough to put small companies out of business. Not only must every producer maintain these model records in a specific filing fashion, but they must publish their business address and have these records available anytime for inspection during business hours. This precludes home businesses from continuing to function unless they want their home address posted on the web. This precludes part-time businesses from operating unless they report the exact hours they will be working to the government, and those hours total 20 per week.

At Adult DVD Talk we have therefore made the decision to remove every sexually explicit image from our site. We do not have the resources to maintain the records for 50,000 movies nor do we wish to open our home to the Dept of Justice for inspections. We have joined the Free Speech Coalition who is preparing a legal challenge. If you would like to donate to the cause you can do so through their website at freespeechcoalition.com.

Discussions on the 2257 rules:

discussion with link to the rules

changes at Adult DVD Talk

thread from last year when the rule changes were proposed

Genesis on the performers lack of privacy

Anti-porn crusaders must be rejoicing at the dramatic reduction of freely available pornographic pictures on the internet caused by the new wrinkles in 2257 regulations. If this keeps it up, it might mean that people who want to see porn may need to use a credit card to show that they are an adult, and then pay for the privilege.