The Great Online Porn Hunt
There is little doubt that few industries have benefits from the internet more than porn. In the last few years, the government has instituted the great online porn hunt.
The Great Online Porn Hunt
The internet is often touted as the greatest forum for freedom of expression in the world. Of course, there are plenty of people that have opinions about what that means. Since you are reading this online, you are undoubtedly aware of the fact online porn sites abound. Based in pure economic terms, they are responsible for a large part of the revenues on the net.
When it comes to online porn, opinions vary. Conservative, religious groups hate these sites. Liberal groups love to hold them up as a standard bearer for freedom of expression on the net. Others tend to be somewhat ambivalent about them. What is undisputed, however, is the government has taken notice and is acting.
What, if any, regulations apply to this industry? Well, there were practically no regulations through the 1990s. In fact, there were very few, if any, prosecutions directed at “ordinary” online porn sites. Instead, the government focused on child porn and rightly so in my opinion. It is one thing for an adult to look at images of other adults having sex and quite another when a child is involved. Child porn is disgusting stuff and purveyors of it should be hunted down right and left. I know of nobody who disagrees with this proposition.
With the turn of the century, the government started focusing on the non-child porn online sites. A variety of legislation was passed ostensibly to protect children, but it was struck down by the Supreme Court because it so obviously was intended to wipe out online porn sites. Eventually, the government realized it was attacking the problem from the wrong perspective.
To appease various voting groups, politicians have always suggested they were going to prosecute online porn sites for obscenity. While this approach sounds great, such cases are very, very hard to win. In truth, the government never really launched the wave of obscenity cases promised. Instead, it went the regulatory route.
The adult industry has been legally required to maintain records for the actors in adult productions. These records, known as Model Releases, must contain a copy of the person’s driver license and other incidentals. The government was authorized to come in and check the releases to verify that no underage models were being used. Despite the fact the law had been on the book for some time, the government had never actually enforced it in relation to online sites. The situation recently changed and the online adult industry had problems.
Beginning in early 2006, the government decided it would check the model records of online sites. Ah, the great porn hunt had begun. Why? Well, there is a little secret that few people understand about online adult sites. Simply put, most sites do not shoot their own photographs or movies. Instead, they purchase them from “content suppliers.” As you might guess, the model releases do not come with the purchased content. Suddenly, a lot of site owners were scared.
As the great porn hunt proceeds, the government has not bagged many trophies. The adult sites reacted quickly and obtained the records they needed. If they could not get them, they deleted the images and videos. A few, of course, did not. To date, the biggest prosecution has been against the owner and company promoting the “Girls Gone Wild” videos. Joe Francis, the owner, ended up paying 2.1 million dollars in fines, but avoided jail.
As the years move forward, it will be interesting to see how the great online porn hunt proceeds. Whether you care or not, regulation has certainly come to the online adult industry.