The law, which requires porn producers to hold copies of all actors' photo ID for seven years, has been in place for some time, but as of 23 June, the rule was extended to cover online pornography as well. This includes online forums, adult personals sites and any other place where adult material may be published.
At issue is the government's right to make sure that anyone seen in an explicit pose on a U.S.-based website is legally an adult.
Previously, the government only targeted people who actually produce sexually explicit content. That's why the boxes containing porn videos feature notes in fine print confirming that performers are of legal age.
But the new interpretation allows investigators to go after so-called "secondary producers," including webmasters who buy or steal content from someone else. Critics claim that the government could even target online museum exhibits or news coverage of the pictures from the Abu Ghraib scandal.
Lawrence Walters, an adult industry attorney, said the revised federal regulations impact all Web sites that allow sexually explicit images such as penetration, masturbation and S&M — including gay male cruising sites.
Cruising for a sex partner and posting a nude image doesn’t necessarily fall under the federal regulations, but the images can be posted on commercial Web sites that sell ads and are in the public domain, he said.
For instance, a man posting his nude picture on a Web site might have to prove to site owners that he is 18 or older, and documentation must be on file with the Web site that includes government-issued identification cards, Social Security number, name and address.
In response, a number of sites have voluntarily taken themselves offline, to avoid breaking the newly applied rules.
According to BoingBoing, Rotten.com has taken down ratemyboner.com and gapingmaw.com, which contained the occasional explicit image, although it is/was not a porn site, as such. RateMyBoobies.com and Fleshbot.com took down photos, as did some featuring celebrity nudity. Even non-porn online publishers like PlanetOut.com, a gay website, temporarily removed all photos from its personal ads, even though it bans pictures with adult content.
In a statement on the site, gapingmaw.com's administrators call the law a "side-handed attack on the pornography industry", and says that it would be impossible for it to meet the requirements of the regulations.
While the law is designed to protect minors, and prevent exploitation, some free speech campaigners argue that the law gives authorities an awful lot of power to close down sites they don't approve of, even if that was not its original goal.
Violations of the requirements are criminal offenses punishable by imprisonment for up to five years for a first offense and up to 10 years for subsequent offenses, according to the DOJ.
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