Wall Street Journal Covers 2257 Battle

WASHINGTON — In a lengthy article published Monday in the Wall Street Journal, staff reporter David Kesmodel details the controversial legal battle between the adult industry and the federal government’s U.S.C. 18 § 2257 record-keeping laws.

Although the record-keeping regulations have been of major concern to many in the adult community, mainstream press have given the bill scant attention over the past year, despite the fact that many in the adult world say overregulation — from 2257 and other proposed bills — would effectively shut them down.

In his article, Kesmodel writes about the Free Speech Coalition’s ongoing legal battle on behalf of the adult community and speaks with several webmasters who say their businesses already have suffered because of the bill. Quoting Mark Prince at webcam company 2much Internet Services, Kesmodel writes that several “performers have quit over privacy concerns since their information could be shared with other adult sites.”

Kesmodel goes on to highlight AEBN’s Scott Coffman’s frustration with the law. Now only has Coffman spent more than $300,000 trying to get his online retail site to comply with 2257, he says several filmmakers simply refuse to give up actor information. The end result: only about half of AEBN’s 40,000 films have complete records.

“I don't see how me and another 10,000 sites storing the records helps,” Coffman is quoted as saying. “The only records I'm storing are what the manufacturers are giving me.”

Citing Wall Street Journal policy, Kesmodel could not speak with XBiz as to why the paper chose to cover the 2257 issue.

The full text of his article can be read here.

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