OK... couple of things. First, last night was a late night and I probably should have gone to bed rather than post... but maybe not, because this thread is more interesting now.
I do, however, feel the need to clarify my position-
First, I don't personally find anything obscene that involves consenting adults and is properly documented. If the fist fits.... LOL
Second, as a web host I would have serious issue with any customer that was posting newsgroup and unlicensed content. I am good friends with countless program owners that pay top dollar to produce their own content and my own standards for practicing business simply would not allow a client to publish photos and videos unless they were licensed to them or they were an affiliate of a program. If not my own standards, the Digital Millenium Copyright Act. It's really simple - if you're going to post images of a Lightspeed girl you had best be an affiliate and using approved content from Steve. Unlicensed content is unlicensed content and a legitimate DMCA complaint will result in any such content removal request being handled expeditiously or the site owner and potentially it's host are at risk.
Third, I don't *personally* want to see any prosecution based on obscenity unless it's something that would finally clarify what is acceptable and what isn't in this country. We all agree that 'community standards' is crap, especially if you live in some god-forsaken community. Although we would all prefer that the government stay out completely, it would certainly help the *bulk* of us if they would just come up with some standard on a national level so that we could all sleep at night knowing that we are compliant and completely within our rights, not to be whisked away and held without bail at a moments notice... but, I think we will be waiting for pigs to fly before that ever happens.
Fourth... I'd love to see a .KIDS top level domain so that filtering could be done so easily and be inclusive, not exclusive. Like it or not, the reality of our current environment is that hardcore and extreme content not protected by some type of age verification or proper process is at risk. Not dissimilar to if one was to own a magazine stand and allow everyone to view and or purchase adult material without checking ID. This is an area where companies clearly exercise their own judgement and the amount of risk they are willing to take and that is why we see the gamut of tours and promotions ranging from censored to uncensored.
I am not a lawyer, these are just my thoughts. It does appear to me that they are completely republishing and hosting content that is not licensed to them and not using much judgement as to the variety that they are indexing and making available. For those that are very unhappy with their business model, it would seem to me that an appeal to Visa/Mastercard would actually be the most effective. We have all learned through the IPSPs what Visa/MC are approving and not approving and it is also my understanding that licensure of said content is also a likely issue for them.
That's my
for now.
Brad
P.S. - So TexasDreams, ya just didn't like me before you opened the thread or you were just doing your job?
