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Originally Posted by koolkat
Hopefully this hasn't been answered already in one of the other posts, but I have a question regarding some comments in the federal register...
Now if a movie theatre or store is not required to maintain this information, wouldn't that just make affiliated distributors like the theater?
Doesn't accroding to the part "but does
not include mere distribution or any other activity which does not
involve hiring, contracting for[,] managing, or otherwise arranging for
the participation of the performers depicted", affiliates would be exempt since they are merely distributors?
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I agree with this train of thought, but when I asked my lawyer the same question, he said no. It does not apply.
I countered with, "The distributor for adult magazines places the magazine on the rack, its the retailer that sales the magazine. When the DOJ bastardized the word distributor and turned retailers into distributors, we should be able to apply that to affiliates because someone else is providing the finished product, ie the membership site."
He replied, "That
might apply if you purchase a finished product, such as a plugin, and offer it for resale. But, the regs are calling the
webmaster a producer. They are not calling the retailer a producer. They are calling the retailer
distributor."
As it relates to FHG's and free content supplied by the affiliate program, I disagree with him. But, he is the one that has to defend me in court if I get arrested, so its a mute point.
Bottom line, no matter the source of the depiction, if you publish it, you have to have age docs.
I think the part we have to remember is that the regs are not statute. The regs only spell out how the statute is going to be inforced. And the say they arent going to enforce compliance on convienence stores or theaters.
Google and Yahoo dont have editorial control, but they do publish. It will be interesting in the coming months to see how that plays out.
EDIT:
One thing is for sure, not even the lawyers are in complete agreement when comes to interrupretation. I'm not a lawyer, but my best advice is listen to your lawyer a go with what he thinks he can defend in court.
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