Sexillation

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Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Got Felony?



Tuesday was a good day for me except that I didn't really know it at the time. Apparently, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, ruled to overturn the unconstitutional and horribly infamous 2257 adult record keeping laws.

For those of you who aren't deep in the adult business, the 2257 regulations sound all good and fine until you get into the finer print. The claimed purpose of these laws is to make sure that all adult performers are over age. In principle this is a great thing. In practice this law was made overly broad in order to try to put adult business out of business. As it turns out you are probably a felon under this law; yes, you!

If you take an erotic photo of yourself (or God forbid a lusted-one), at home, on your digital camera or phone or whatever, you are required to photocopy your own (and their) ID. A copy of the photo must be kept with it on record until the ends of time. The record should be available for unannounced inspection at least 20 normal business hours per week. If you further complicate this exhibitionist urge by posting your photo up on a blog, you are required to keep track of anywhere this image might end up. Does it get copied and passed around? Does it get posted on other blogs? Well you better fucking know because this too must be kept on record at your location. Anyway, you don't have to post it anywhere to become a felon. It is a crime to take an explicit picture without doing this kind of documentation. So tell me are you a felon?

The trouble for us and other small porn companies is that we are required to have a published location where we reside at least 20 business hours a week. I ask you what pornographer (especially a female-bodied one) wants to publish her home address for the potentially predatory wanking world? So, we have an office. We were lucky to find one in the ghettos of Oakland for only $550 a month. That is a lot of overhead for a business that doesn't cover its costs. That's a lot of risk of stalking even if it isn't my home address. No other business has to deal with predatory overhead in order to start up. There is a good argument that the government is imposing unnecessary dangers by requiring that our addresses be publicized. What's wrong with just registering it with a governing agency, after all?

If all that isn't bad enough, the law's broadness means that the people who are prosecuted are really targeted for other reasons. Bush started his regime going after BDSM and other highly fetishized stuff ... which is not child pornography, the alleged target of this law.

So, while I don't want things to go back to the way they were where sleaze ball pornographers could film potentially underage folks without so much a photocopying an ID, these laws aren't really made to battle the child porn issue. They are made to criminalize pornography. So, let's all hail the joys of free speech as embodied in this decision and hope that someone moderate is able to create a real law that protects minors from pornographic abuse.

1 comment:

Freyja said...

This ruling made me seriously happy, but I am wondering when it will convert to changes for the rest of the nation. I am impatient I guess, lol!

 

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