Justice Department Proposes Porn Star Database

Posted by Samhita Mukhopadhyay at 5:22 AM on August 22, 2007.

This post, written by Samhita Mukhopadhyay, originally appeared on Feministing

So I don't really know how this would be that different from USC section 2257, but to take an already faulty law to the next level, the US Dept of Justice wants to generate a list of all actors in the porn industry. The desire to do this is of course to prohibit the production of underage porn. However, the reality of 2257 has been that many women have had their identities and personal information revealed to people that shouldn't have access to it. Or rather people we don't want to have access to it, thusly making a potentially preventative measure backfire or often force performers to leave the country.

The new rules, proposed under the Adam Walsh Child Safety and Protection Act, would require blue-movie makers to keep photos, stage names, professional names, maiden names, aliases, nicknames and ages on file for the inspection of the department's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section.

"The identity of every performer is critical to determining and ensuring that no performer is a minor," according to the new proposal.

The adult film industry plans to challenge the new rule as a violation of the First Amendment, said Paul Cambria, a lawyer for Hustler and other adult film companies.

According to one article the key difference will be that this new law covers all sexually simulative acts, not just explicitly sexual acts.

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Tagged as: civil liberties, justice department, porn

Samhita Mukhopadhyay is an editor for Feministing. She is also is the Training and Technology Coordinator at Youth Media Council.