I might wonder why we end up giving more credence to the other side than they themselves do.
Let's start with my point about Pornography being Symbolic speech and thus should not be protected in the same way as other forms of speech. It is quite clear, that soon the courts will overturn the protection allowed to unpatrotic flagburners (protected by this misunderstanding of what free speech actually is).
Symbolic speech is important and can have protection. If burning the flag is symbolic and so unprotected, then ironically so would waving the flag. Currently provocative speech would be the defining line on what is not protected.
More important is that communication is not just verbal or written, otherwise we would not have paintings or movies. We can understand visual elements have the power to communicate ideas and lead to change.
This is perhaps the second bit of irony. One of the arguments by those against sexual imagery is that it could lead to a change in society. Thus they are admitting that it has a power to communicate and effect change. If something has that power then it certainly has a reason to be protected by the Constitution as speech.
Once we agree to the idea that the govt should be able to suppress communication that would lead to change in society that the majority would not like to see happen, then there is no longer any real right to protest or petition the govt for redress of grievances. And there no longer would be a sense of free speech.
Moreover,I cannot see why a money-making enterprise NOT be compelled to produce accurate records? Why should your industry be any different?
Yes it certainly sounds simple. Some of this also might have made sense when the primary means of making sexually graphic content was large scale corporate enterprises.
In that case people usually were hired as actors and actresses to make the imagery that was being shown. And why shouldn't the production company keep some basic records on who they hire? That does not seem odd.
What does seem odd is the overabundant amount of records that are necessary for each employee which sets a burden on the employer and employee alike. They are more like rap sheets and in depth investigations conducted by the employer so that detectives on a case don't have to have to do any leg work.
This of course is extremely invasive of people who might want to work in the industry as well as prone to error in some measure especially as new works are added to someone's resume, or stage names change.
They also require unusually strict ways of storing the info for ease of investigators turning production companies into secretaries for the detectives, on top of being detectives themselves. Why is the lack of a fully crossreferenced database something that should cost a person years of their life? There is no way that could cost so much valuable time to an officer in an investigation that they would lose their case.
And of course there is the need to have specific office hours for years after production... thus you go bankrupt yet still hold office hours for years, complete with warehousing your product for direct perusal. No other company is held to quite that standard, even the military... and that has more of a reason for accuracy.
One question which is raised throughout is how is this not just asking sexual content providers to "stock lakes" for fishing expeditions. Clearly some producers do not even make product that this is intended to help. If I specialize in geriatric porn, exactly what chance is there that one of them could have been a child? Yet one would have to keep records and could be jailed for not having a complete record on an obvious 60 year old. So what could that data be used for... for further harassment and fishing for other charges.
Now this is all under the past paradigm of corporate porn. That is not the end all be all of sexual imagery.
This will result in ending much nonporn art from outside the US making it in for US viewers to watch. Nations not as prudish do allow material that would be caught by this legislation and it is doubtful nonUS companies are going to bother complying with US regulations and give up on the US market. For film or other art buffs in the US, that should be a pretty major concern. We are closing US markets to foreign film.
There is also the growing trend of private producers of erotica, or art that is sexually graphic. They are rising to counter corporate domination due to the new media which makes production really cheap... anyone can make it and so communicate what they believe is real. This includes individuals and couples making the exact type of content that is less likely to be seen in corporations who have to secure a fan base.
Indeed there are couples who show that sex can be fun and monogamous within a marriage. Those people would be sent to jail for inaccurate records (not to mention labelling).
Many independents have day jobs and this is just a way to express themselves with costs used to cover bandwidth or shipping charges. Yet that automatically makes them "commercial producers". That is almost an absurdity. And these independents often do not employ anyone, they just use themselves and friends or acquaintances. It is certainly the case that friends and acquaintances might not mind being seen on a site but do not want to have to divulge their entire life history to do so. There is a loss of anonymity which is CRUCIAL to FREE SPEECH... even if it gets dubbed commercial as a technicality.
Worse still for independents is the requirement to show name and address to the world. That is an incredible requirement which is not seen for other businesses. There is no reason an investigator cannot figure out who he has to contact with less amount of information broadcast to the world.
And then recordkeeping becomes a hassle as well. When one is not hiring people it is bizarre to get work histories and create databases for such things and then expect to keep additional set office hours JUST FOR THE POLICE.
Many don't even work more than one to two hours a month because they don't have the time. Now for recordkeeping duties they must have official 20 hours a week sitting at home just in case an officer wants to drop by at any minute... and that for somewhere between 5-10 years AFTER they stop running their site, or selling videos.
Suddenly the hobby of expressing yourself sexually is forced into a burdensome corporate model you can't possibly be expected to keep, except by becoming a corporation. End of hobby. End of communication.
These people did not work with those making such content, including for the "hobby" independent market, in order to draft their agenda. They were looking for ways to put the hurt on people making AND VIEWING such content. They even rejected solutions proposed by industry which might have helped out the hobbiest as well.
These people were not looking to create a way for people producing such imagery to help produce records in such a way as to reduce a potential problem in the industry... which is the goal of accurate record keeping in other industries. This was to create problems within an industry so that they could go fishing on anyone who might stick it out and hit them on minor technical violations.
holmes
"...what a fool believes he sees, no wise man has the power to reason away.."(D. Bros)
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