One of the main complaints in this industry seems to be tube sites and *illegal* copies of our content being distributed on these sites. Well, I think... maybe... I have a way for us to bite back at these assholes.

Has anyone tried reporting the tube sites to the feds?

I'm not talking about whining to the feds about "he stole my production!" or something like that... I'm talking about the obvious violation of Title 18, Section 2257. Obviously, if the tube site is hosting a video that they don't have proper authority to host and display, they do not have the required records, federally mandated under Section 2257 for the performers.

http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=browse_usc&docid=Cite:%2B18USC2257

Why don't we ALL report videos we see to the feds as a violation of Section 2257? This would surely create a legal nightmare for illegal tube site operators (remember... child pornography laws go international these days) and bring them under control.

Here's where they break the law:


(4) for any person knowingly to sell or otherwise transfer, or offer for sale or transfer, any book, magazine, periodical, film, video, or other matter, produce in whole or in part with materials which have been mailed or shipped in interstate or foreign commerce or which is intended for shipment in interstate or foreign commerce, which—
(A) contains one or more visual depictions made after the effective date of this subsection of actual sexually explicit conduct; and
(B) is produced in whole or in part with materials which have been mailed or shipped in interstate or foreign commerce, or is shipped or transported or is intended for shipment or transportation in interstate or foreign commerce;
which does not have affixed thereto, in a manner prescribed as set forth in subsection (e)(1), a statement describing where the records required by this section may be located, but such person shall have no duty to determine the accuracy of the contents of the statement or the records required to be kept; and
(5) for any person to whom subsection (a) applies to refuse to permit the Attorney General or his or her designee to conduct an inspection under subsection (c).



Has anybody tried this to take these guys out?

Dude, the only time Feds give a fuck about porn is when the Max Hardcore’s of society ring their bell & a bunch of religious freaks start chucking spears for “action”.

Don't they like to look good by cracking down on porn sites that break the law though?

They don't have to care about you or me or our rights... they just have to care that the tube sites are breaking the law and go after them for not having the records on the performers.

Hell, you could join a concerned religious group, then rally the people around you to start cracking down on sites that don't have their child porn records in order. Point the religious fanatics right at the tube sites.

I'm just sayin... it's the only way I can see us taking on the tube sites and taking back our content. It would work, too, I think.

Sometimes I wish this industry worked more like other "big business" industries. Together, with a little effort like this, we could get rid of the tube sites.

I could see the government working towards getting rid of ALL PORN if your advice were heeded. I just can't imagine them using tax payer money to protect hunting down people who "victimize" pornographers. I can't see them helping pornographers make money by protecting their copyrights.

The lone exception would be if the feds were after the owners of the tube sites for other reasons and copyright infringement used as an expeditious means of prosecution.

How many of the tube sites are US hosted anyway??

Most of the tube sites are off-shore. There is no possibility that the FBI will fly to Cyprus, Panama or some other God forsaken place to investigate and make an arrest. It is the Wild West out there and there is no sheriff.

Quote:

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if only the industry got organized

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That would be a rational first step ...

^^^ I like the way this fellow thinks.

The government can't do shit because it's almost impossible to prove that the tube sites owners are doing anything illegal. Officially, all content is uploaded by anonymous users and as long as they take it down when they receive a notice from the copyright owner they have nothing to fear. In practice, it is clear that most of the content is uploaded by the tube owners themselves but that is nearly impossible to prove.

Evil Angel won a court case against bootleggers in Canada a few years ago, so there's precedence.

Here's my POV...

The DOJ probably thinks that if they ignore the tube sites long enough they will cannibalize enough porn to make it unprofitable to create pornography and the production companies will shut down, thereby eliminating the need to spend taxpayer dollars on prosecutions.

There has to bee some kind of embedding soft ware to protect content. Im not a tech guy, but it seems that there could be some sort of program dialogue between your servers and the end user. Hell, I dont know

The porn business doesn't have and can't afford anywhere near the lobbying power that the RIAA and Hollywood studios have in their pockets.

In the 90's I went on search warrants to catch CD music pirates. It is my opinion that the reason we were investigating these crimes was that the music industry gave quite a bit to the campaign funds of many who influenced NYS politics.

What politician/law enforcement official want to be seen as in the pocket of the porn industry?

The only reason they would accept a check is to rip it up on a campaign stop.

If they can't stop Online Gambling then how are they going to stop tube sites? It's a shame but the US government can only do so much. Technology will change somehow but how and when is the Big Question.