jayeff

It's only sheer bloody laziness which would make that happen (although I agree it is a strong possibility in many cases). The green light has been given on redacting documents, so the privacy issue is now a non-issue and the sponsors have to keep these records for themselves. So if they are running their own businesses properly, how hard can it be to link to - presumably computerized - records and provide the necessary documentation.

My feeling is that American affiliates will be hard hit because with no requirement to keep 2257 records and a big enough pool of non-US affiliates, there is no incentive for overseas sponsors to provide these documents. Plus they will likely figure that lots of webmasters will assume there will never be a knock on their door.

The really dangerous thing which many seem to be ignoring (judging my the number of questions about what the law means and what software to use), is that the law has already been in force for almost 2 years and if you get inspected, you could be asked to show a copy of your TGP (or whatever) from 18 months ago, along with the relevant records.

I suspect others will be tripped up over issues such as perhaps not even realizing that a softcore set is an excerpt from a shoot which included hardcore material, therefore thinking they do not need to keep records for it. The law is both broad and confusing: a lot is going to depend on how the inspectors (and later the courts) actually enforce it. Meanwhile it is fine and dandy for people playing barrack-room lawyers, but if they do find themselves in the firing line, it will cost them a lot of money to defend those opinions.