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Okay, I usually don't post on any boards, but this particular thread seems to need a bit of a wakeup call.
If FSA had not managed to pull off what it did today, the results would be horrid. Even if various webmasters were not put into orange jumpsuits over the next 30 days and sent to Gitmo, the lack of any clear opposition would be what the high courts would see as "sitting on your rights" (translation = you had your moment to protest. you didn't. deal with it.). While I suspect that DOJ will come back with a vengence after the August and September dates, if this had not been done, there would have been no history of litigation, supporing documentation, or anything for anyone's personal attorney to present in a criminal defense without re-inventing the wheel.
It is just absurd for anyone to be "dissing" FSA for what they have done. Cambria and Company have forged the tools for a future fight here that could go all the way to the Supreme Court. The 65+ page document they produced was well crafted, set many traps for the DOJ to stumble into, and bought all of us a little time to get fully into compliance under the assumption that this eventually will be upheld to some degree. If you read the DOJ's response, it is arrogant and dismissive - usually a sign of weakness. That they even brokered a deal was also a sign that they felt a need to pull back and regroup. The arguments were strong and if they pushed it, a summary dismissal could have completely wiped out all of 2257. Not good for them - or anyone for that matter.
I have been a professional adult entertainment webmaster for over 10 years now, the "wunderkind" of the various trade associations and conference orgainizers, etc., and the one thing I have always been keenly aware of is that operating an adult site brings hostility from various sectors of society. Like it or not. those "sectors" have given the current administration a "mandate" and need to be thrown a bone. 2257 is the best bone they have, and a very powerful one that could wipe out up to half of the small adult businesses run in the USA if the Secondary Producer Obligations are upheld.
So, as much of a nice guy and mentor as I like to try to be for folks in this industry, I just have to say "get over yourself". You run a business. This is, at the moment, the cost of doing business. Complaining about the FSA is not productive. I'll personally give you $300 to join just to get you to shut up and get behind the rest of the industry that works so hard to be honest and legitimate, against the current tide of conservatism.
Ciao,
Colin
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