VAN NUYS, Calif. - The first general meeting of the Free Speech Coalition
for 2003 focused on cybersex issues and mainstream media's recent coverage
of the adult industry.
FSC Executive Director Bill Lyon challenged a Jan. 12 Los Angeles Times
Magazine cover story, which contended lack of government regulation has
resulted in epidemic levels of sexually transmitted diseases such as
chlamydia, plus several AIDs cases, among adult industry performers.
"The reason we've been unregulated is because we've done such a good job of
self-regulation," Lyon said. He disputed statistics quoted in the article,
"The Porn Scene No One is Watching" and criticized media bias and
concentration.
Ironically, perhaps, Lyon's remarks were videotaped by a mainstream camera
crew, purportedly from the CBS news program "60 Minutes."
Increased adult industry media bashing comes as Bush-Ashcroft's Homeland
Security and Total Information Awareness Network impose what First
Amendment attorney Greg Piccionelli called "techno-tyranny," which could
effectively spell an end to privacy. The Internet law practitioner said,
"We're in grave danger on multiple fronts, maybe facing the greatest
deprivation of civil liberties since the British. This is a scary future
we're going into."
Lyon added, "Ashcroft convinced Americans security must precede liberty.
The opposites true: Freedom's always been risky."
But all's not doom and gloom according to Piccionelli, who spoke about
emerging technologies and e-porn's power. "Fox News' Bill O'Reilly is
considered ultra-conservative, but Jan. 3, in debating someone opposed to
distributing adult materials, O'Reilly said porn is the largest
entertainment industry in the U.S., grossing more than all professional
sports teams put together. Haven't the American people said 'we want this
stuff; leave us alone?'" Piccionelli added, "More people know who Jenna
Jameson is than who Germany or France's leaders are. Future historians may
note adult entertainment saved our civil liberties."
Passionately invoking the Founding Fathers, lawyer Joe Obenberger compared
today's adult industry to 1776's patriots, and likened repression of porn
to Nazi persecution of Jews. Attorney Jeffrey Douglas, chair of FSC's board
of directors, added, "Bush considers porn part of the 'axis of evil.'"
Supporting privacy rights and legislation, Douglas cautioned adult
Webmasters against collaborating with the government by revealing users'
identities.
Ira Rothken of www.techfirm.com, an intellectual property lawyer with a
video gaming background, warned adult sites against spam e-mails. He
discussed 10 practical points Webmasters should follow, such as not sending
bulk e-mails with hardcore subjects and/or content, which could be received
by children or others not wanting explicit spam. "We're under a legal
microscope," Rothkin warned.
As the meeting came to a close, Scott Tucker, president of FSC's board of
directors, introduced FSC board members, including Danni Ashe. Other top
pornsters, such as Ron Jeremy and Nina Hartley, were in attendance, plus
new talent, and 100 FSC members and supporters.
http://www.avnonline.com/issues/200301/newsarchive/012703_lead.shtml
