Legal Advice for Gay Porn Blog

Webmaster Discussion
, , ,
#1

Hi There,

I just started a new Gay Porn Blog (www.homohotness.com) and was wondering if anyone out there has some great resources for legal requirements. I am located in Michigan

I have RTA (restricted to adults) code in my site so that any computers with child protection software will not be able to view the site. However, I’m wondering what other considerations I need to make.

Like, do I need an age verification page? A lot of the blog I visit don’t have them, but I haven’t been able to find out Michigan Law regarding this. Also, do I have to consider local law?

Any help you could provide would be greatly appreciated.

Best,
DirtyEpic (HomoHotness Blogger)

#2

Re: Legal Advice for Gay Porn Blog

i strongly suggest you talk to an adult lawyer about this. getting legal advice on a board means you often will hear conflicting requirements, and that means some will be wrong. there is - as far as i know and last time i talked to lawyers - no u.s. law requiring a warning page although you are responsible for keeping minors from your content… there IS however a federal law requiring that you have these exact words on your page :

18 U.S.C. 2257 Record-Keeping Requirements Compliance Statement

linked to a page with your primary place of business, which is probably your home if you’re just starting. you are legally required to keep a copy of i.d. for each and every model on your site in sexually explicit content (that includes lasciviously showing their genitals) and you must have them cross referenced by url and name. it’s highly unlikely but theoretically possible that the fbi will come by to check during business hours.

#3

Re: Legal Advice for Gay Porn Blog

basschick is right! You really should speak to an attorney who knows the laws of the adult online industry. I would suggest you speak with Chad Belville. This is his website and you’ll find his contact info near the bottom of the page, http://chadknowslaw.com.

#4

Re: Legal Advice for Gay Porn Blog

I might be naive, but I don’t think its that serious. The blog looks good, keep it up!

#5

Re: Legal Advice for Gay Porn Blog

2257 carries a 5 year jail term if you’re non compliant.

there are a number of adult attorneys, most or all of whom do phone consultations for a fee. i recommend chad as lisa already mentioned or lawrence walters, who’s the attorney i first consulted about 2257. he can be found at http://www.firstamendment.com/contact/

#6

Re: Legal Advice for Gay Porn Blog

if he’s just an affiliate of these sites though, its not his responsibility to to actually have ids for models and such. i think he’s just worried about running an adult affiliate blog out of his state. right?

#7

Re: Legal Advice for Gay Porn Blog

unfortunately you are 100% incorrect. what you say was true until 2005, and has not been true since. all u.s. affiliates are responsible to have i.d. for ALL sexually explicit content on their sites, and to organize the i.d. and make it available as per the revised 2257 regs.

#8

Re: Legal Advice for Gay Porn Blog

So you personally have all the model id’s for everyone you promote?
This may seem naive, but- doesn’t that conflict with data protection laws?

#9

Re: Legal Advice for Gay Porn Blog

I know I’m not going to be popular, but I strongly suggest you don’t waste your money on a lawyer. Just post some damned pictures and get on with it.

2257 is a quagmire. As a site owner I don’t send out model IDs with affiliate content, and I don’t think I’ve ever gotten any ID from a sponsor.

Without IDs, you’re definitely running a risk of having the FBI show up on your doorstep. But as long as you stay away from the barely legal type of content, I don’t think the FBI has the resources to start running around checking every flippin’ blog, AVS site, freesite, and TGP gallery out there. From what I can see, any inspections that have taken place have been with larger content producers, not independent webmasters.

A lawyer is going to tell you to put up a warning page, which will kill your SEO and require an extra click for the surfer to see something. You’ll be competing with 49 million other blogs out there that don’t have a warning page. And seriously, does anyone think a judge is going to say, “Oh you had a warning page, okay, I’ll just throw this whole thing out of court.”

And if you have a warning page, so what … what does the traffic coming from search engines see when they type “big hairy cocks” into Google and get deep linked into your site?

For your own piece of mind you should probably consult an attorney, then take what they say with a grain of salt. Lawyers want to make money, they’ll suggest you do a whole bunch of unnecessary stuff that will help keep their services in need. You’ll have to decide exactly what parts of their advice you want to follow.

And posting here is only going to get you a whole bunch of what-if scare mongering. Consult a lawyer if you’ve got a few hundred to spare, then do what you think is reasonable.

And Larry Walters is probably going to suggest that you purchase his birth date verifier, which is about as useful as a warning page. Oh yes, I’m a 15-year-old boy looking for porn on the Web and I’m going to put in my real birthdate … D’Uh!

Sorry, I’m feeling a little grumpy this morning. Can you tell?

#10

Re: Legal Advice for Gay Porn Blog

But Sponsors DO NOT provide that to us as affilates. None of them do. So if we follow the law, how are we suppose to promote any of the content if we don’t have those tools?

#11

Re: Legal Advice for Gay Porn Blog

we don’t have any of the kind of privacy protection laws in the u.s. that the uk does.

[QUOTE=Richard;82442]So you personally have all the model id’s for everyone you promote?
This may seem naive, but- doesn’t that conflict with data protection laws?[/QUOTE]

many sponsors i’ve talked to do - not all, but a lot.

#12

Re: Legal Advice for Gay Porn Blog

Tony don’t even waste another minute worrying about such stuff. You don’t live under U.S. jurisdiction and following their law would break laws in your own country. Move on, post on your blogs.

#13

Re: Legal Advice for Gay Porn Blog

i doubt man hunt daily, fleshbot, just us boys, dude tube, or any of the other major blogs are worrying about that kind of stuff. those are much bigger fish. and with blogs today like tumblr, there are hundreds of people reblogging porn pictures and videos all the time.

#14

Re: Legal Advice for Gay Porn Blog

It doesn’t make it legal just because someone else does it. People have been made examples of in the past. Do you think anyone will be able to defend themselves by saying “but they do it too”?

However as Michael says unless you are based in the US don’t worry about US 2257. But you do need to comply with local laws to where you live.

Personally I do hire lawyers from time to time as a precaution and for my own peace of mind. They check and review what I do, advice on what to stay away from or what might be illegal, changes needed, write up terms of service etc. I feel it’s been money well spent. I always make sure I comply with UK laws that apply to me. Any serious business that want to succeed would always make sure to safeguard themselves and their employees by making sure that they operate within the law.

#15

Re: Legal Advice for Gay Porn Blog

And seriously, at this point in time, I think a webmaster is more likely to get into trouble for featuring guys with poo on their faces, or other such things widely considered obscene, than there are for 2257 violations.

I even think that there’s more of a chance that the legal system will start prosecuting people for producing or featuring bareback sex long before we see people getting into trouble for serving up porn to minors.