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Internext Seminar: An Overview of the Legal and Legislative Battles Facing the Industry
Posted On 25 Jul 2002
INDUSTRY NEWS
Editor’s note: This is the second week of comprehensive Internext coverage. If you missed last week’s edition, we urge you to read it. We are proud to be the only webmaster news service to offer exhaustive Internext coverage…INDUSTRY NEWS
Editor’s note: This is the second week of comprehensive Internext coverage. If you missed last week’s edition, we urge you to read it. We are proud to be the only webmaster news service to offer exhaustive Internext coverage…
Paul Cambria (an attorney who has represented Larry Flynt), Clyde DeWitt (a partner in the firm Weston, Garrou & DeWitt, and a contributor to AVN), and Greg Piccionelli (who was also on the panel, “Content Management”) set the tone for the state of the online adult community.
Webmasters, said Cambria, need to be aware of the political climate. A number of judges are in a holding pattern for judicial appointments who will likely be unfriendly to the adult Internet industry. Presently, there is only one federal prosecutor in the obscenity squad, but Cambria thinks this will likely change. Obscenity cases will fall under the mantra of child protection. If federal prosecutors wish to go after the likes of AOL and Yahoo on obscenity charges (which they have stated), Cambria argued that obscenity prosecutors will likely go after adult site operators as well. (Attorney General Ashcroft has already stated he wants to lock up adult site owners.)
Federal prosecutors’ number one concern presently is explicit material on the Internet, said Cambria. Categories that prosecutors will be looking at are she-males, double penetration, S+M, interracial, and fisting. Keep in mind that the nature of jurors isn’t the same as webmasters, said Cambria. Jurors won’t admit they like anal sex and in some small town in the Bible belt, you aren’t likely to find a jury that can place themselves in the shoes of the adult webmaster.
Mail order used to be the number one prosecuted business, said Cambria. These days, the web is similar: children can access porn for free and as a result, parents often find out about it. A simple piece of advice that was offered by Cambria was for webmasters to police their images themselves on adult sites. Also, prosecutors have told Cambria that there are the same 5 or 6 companies that often violate obscenity laws (names not disclosed).
If the Ashcroft Army gets funding and the proper political appointments, webmasters will see a round of prosecution, especially if they have extreme content such as the ones mentioned above or bukkaki sites, added Cambria. Greg Piccionelli noted that the legal panels are getting more popular. He advised webmasters to proceed with caution as the “Wild West” days are over. Any affiliation with teens (an immensely popular category) can put you in harm’s way, he said.
Adding fuel to the obscenity prosecutor’s fire will be file sharing sites, according to Piccionelli. Porn images, like MP3 music files, can be shared easily. The possibility of free porn available to everyone, coupled with clever (fraudulent) monitization schemes and the possibility of child porn image swapping will likely lead to more scrutiny against the online porn industry.
Piccionelli also advised webmasters to stay out of patent trouble by buying intellectual property insurance (which is inexpensive) and to conduct a patent search if the need arises.
Clyde DeWitt also cautioned webmasters, saying that “Reverend” Ashcroft does not like porn … there will be more prosecutions because the obscenity law is a coin toss. DeWitt predicted that obscenity prosecutors will likely first come after adult site operators and sites with no barriers to a child’s ability to access porn. There are also 4 cases that are going to be reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court this term.
The U.S. Supreme Court will be reviewing the COPA issue; simulated child porn; Alameda Books vs. the city of Los Angeles, and a key licensing debate that may affect online adult entertainment. DeWitt also said that President Bush will likely take the side of his Attorney General. Bush has said in the past that he thinks Justice (Anton) Scalia would make a great chief justice. Scalia is one of the most conservative members on the U.S. Supreme Court. All three attorneys who spoke at the panel advised webmasters to take full precautions with their adult sites.
