thank you very much for that important informative post!

You must not know the 2257 ,you also have to have every link cross referenced.that wouldnt be so easy. Also if someone is custodian of record they can be arrested, the custodian is responsible for the records.

That is exactly why so many girls I know got out of it. I hope this is true.

Do you write just to see it on the page? The custodian of record is where they go for inspections. Thats why they have custodian of record the name and that persons address on the videos. Someone is giving you bad info dude

Do you think people that cant afford a small office to work out of are going to able to afford a lawyer to be the custodian of their records. Thats funny.

Maybe you are reading a different thread than I am?

i'm too lazy to go back and revisit all these issues. i am fairly certain that at a minimum, you are required to keep the records at your primary place of business. otherwise, the custodian of records can be just listed as;
Leif Ericcson
Small Viking Long Boat
Breiðafjörður Bay, Iceland

and everyone could call it good.

Im just going off what was just said.

What do you mean? They go where it says the custodian of record is. If its your lawyer then they go to your lawyer, if the records arent right since your lawyer is your custodian of record they are responsible.They can be arrested for violations.

Just for the record I wish I could pay my lawyer to do this for me.

paragraph a and c of section 2257 of title 18 of the united states code suggest its not acceptable.

or... apparently, you can just use his logic and fully shield yourself from criminal liability by forming an LLC owned by multiple other LLC's and no person is responsible as no individual can be identified as "the business owner".

Everyone is up in arms about 2257. It's not like the porn industry is the only industry that has such record keeping rules. I had sinner with a friend the other day and his father; He's worked for the railroad for decades. He told me the record keeping regulations they have are a huge pain in the ass.

All businesses have paper keeping regulations they must obey. Every business does just by having a business license. (One of my friends recently failed to renew his busines license and they put a lein on his house!) If you fail to keep records they'll fine you. And if they find out that you are breaking the law by using under age models, well, you'll get what you deserve.

I dont mind record keeping if it was crystal clear what had to be done. You talk to three lawyers you get three different answers, the fbi gives different answers. Its annoying tell me clearly what to do and its done but its vague and can be read different ways.
My lawyer said we really wont know any of it for sure til it goes to court. Also Playboy has how many lawyers and how much money so record keeping is much easier and much more of a so what, then for the mom/pop.If GGW was some 100k a year operator he would be sitting in jail now ,not doing community serivce.

Chad you rock and you are right you are not like most lawyer. You are only one the very few lawyers I like hehe. Thanks for posting this :thumbsup

Mark

Maybe they can afford an office to work out of, but for personal reasons they need to work out of their home.

Like what kids, if you have kids porn shouldn't be done in the house.

Yes no one has kids and works from home in porn... Some guy named Steve I know does.... and I do, and tons of other people. Obviously if you are shooting in a home the kids should not be home.

Not to be a jerk, but there are people who need to work at home.
My gf is disabled and can't be left alone for long periods of time. OK?

Yes thanks Chad, very informative post. :thumbsup

:D

Excellent info. Thanks

Good article.

As for the people working from home.

It's the governments job to protect underage people being exploited or getting themselves exploited by working in porn, being sexually molested, abused, etc. Even if they turn up at the studio and demand a part in a gang bang movie.

It's not the governments job to put under age people at risk so you can run a porn business from your living room. Go get an office.

Just as a follow up:


According to the agent, the FBI sends a report to the US Attorney's office for each inspection regardless of the results of the inspection. If there was a violation, then the decision is made whether or not to prosecute. What is very important to know is that the prosecution decision is made from the FBI Agent's report-- so if the report says "no violations" it basically ends. If the report says "there was this particular violation but the producer corrected the violation prior to the submission of this report" then, in my experience, no prosecution will take place. I know there are the attorneys that say "you will go to jail if you have ANY violation" but they are living in Fantasyland and are trying to scare you into hiring them. I do not care for that kind of behavior--people hire me because I come with good recommendations, not because I convince them to hire me. Maybe that is why I have only one house and drive a truck instead of a Mercedes??????

In my experience with federal prosecutors, they only take cases that are important. In the jurisdiction where I prosecuted, the federal prosecutors had a very high threshold for drug prosecutions -- a certain number of pounds of marijuana or a certain number of grams of cocaine, for example. The federal prosecutors passed on a case where a 17 year old brought a gun to school that I referred to them for federal firearms violation. That was an open and shut case but they declined to take it because they had more important cases to prosecute. You must understand that prosecutor's offices at every level have heavy caseloads and the federal court system in particular is under very heavy loads. Filing a criminal charge against a producer who did not have an ID on file but produced it 2 days later is not worth the time, effort and money it takes to prosecute a criminal case. There are serious drug traffickers, weapons traffickers, human slavery traffickers, and money launderers that are more pressing and involve real victims.

The Agent said that if you are making a good faith effort at keeping your records in order and you have all your ID's that the likelihood of prosecution is nil. He also said that if you meet those standards, he will not send a report of a violation to the prosecutors office, even if technically and under strict interpretation of the law you had violated the law.What the FBI agent basically said, and what I have said before, is that if you are going 58 MPH in a 55 zone you will not get a ticket. Of course, I am not the one in the driver's seat, I just give directions and try to warn of real dangers ahead.

Great read, thanks a lot :thumbsup

I don't suppose anyone here would happen to know why it is that all of a sudden now, after the most recent ass beating the repukes got in the November elections, the FBI is coming around to "clarify" and try to "help us?" Where were they when Bushie Boy was riding high? That's right, they were not "our friends" then, so much, were they? :1orglaugh

And any attorney that advises you that law enforcement is your "friend" and wants to "work with you" should have his bar membership revoked. The purpose of law enforcement is to make arrests and none other.

am i the only person here who thinks that those agents were inspecting your archives and wank afterwards? :1orglaugh :1orglaugh

I wonder if they watch each scene straight through until after the money shot second for second, or if they just skip through it? Also, does one agent watch the DVD alone by themselves or do they all watch it together when reviewing the DVD. What does their H.R. department think about the review process? Have they ever accidently been aroused while reviewing the DVD's?? What kind of DVD's do they favour best? Are they allowed to take the DVD home with them when the day ends or what happens to the DVD when they're done watching it?

These are the kinds of questions I would have asked the agent.

am I the only one who has a bad feeling about this softer side of the FBI
face there showing now ?

and why would the FBI help us like this when in fact they are trying like bush and gonzo to put the industry out of biz ?

and if you think there not your living in a fantasy world .

all I am saying is beware the wolf is in sheep's clothing .

Nice work Chad...... and common sense advice.

great thread, very interesting indeed

Id be interested in hearing about this too.

Not everyone runs the same kind of business as you, Paul.
SOME people sit in their home office, simply editing and uploading material shot in different cities, different states, or different countries - with no business contacts of any kind (underaged or 60 years old, male or female, porn chicks or content salesmen) setting foot in their house.
In 2007, millions of people work from home.
Not one of them is required to put their home address on the web, except for us.
There ARE people in this business who don't shoot porn themselves, Paul.

nice read :) thanks

Very informative, thanks very much for sharing this information

this is a great thread..

Thanks for the post ;-)

I think its worth pointing out again that the FBI is doing the job of inspections only. The actual responsibility for reviewing the results of the inspections and making the decisions on whether to prosecute comes from the Department of Justice Attorneys. Chad's insight into the Federal prosecutors having large caseloads and passing over cases deemed to insignificant is also on the money.

That said it is also worth saying that there is a difference between prosecutors passing on a drug case when they have 135 similar drug cases with larger amounts of contraband and the DOJ passing on prosecuting a 2257 case because the adult company only had a "few violations". The main differences include political agendas and desire to show that the money spent on 2257 inspections has yielded a positive result (i.e. convictions, jail time, fines and asset forfeitures). I do not think it is wise for adult companies to view 2257 as something where you can expect the DOJ to pass on the opportunity to prosecute should the FBI inspections yield some violations. The DOJ has specific instructions from Congress to report the results of 2257 inspections. Those reporting instructions as I recall are written right into either the 2257 or 4472 legislation. If the DOJ is required to stand before a Congressional committee and detail what they have done, I do not think the DOJ is likely to give free passes out for violations. I hope I am wrong on this.

For what it is worth, what the FBI said at the XBiz show closely tracks what the FBI said to those present at the meeting in Washington DC in October 2006. Some things said at the XBiz show that were new include the fact that the FBI has been fully funded for 2007 inspections and has in fact increased the amount of agents committed to this job. There was only one team in October and now they are indicating that they have two.

The comment "If you're showing intention to comply, the chances of prosecution are virtually nil" should be taken with caution, since again the FBI are not the ones who will be making the decision on whether to prosecute, its DOJ attorneys who have that role. At the October meeting, the room included an attorney from the DOJ and on a few occasions Burrus referred to her as to whether the DOJ would prosecute on a few hypotheticals posed by the collection of adult attorneys present. This rep did not seem to have a clear idea on whether or not minor violations would be given a pass or not. She indicated that she would have to take the issue up with her superiors.

Thanks for this thread...I am curious if anybody asked about a stance regarding non-USA based webmasters..doubt it but curious.

I have a very nice office. Its 18x18 with a nice view of the street. If Im working in my office during the day then there is a nanny here that watches my children. If Im working here at night my wife watches them. If we are shooting here there are no children present or my wife present they go to someones house, or find something else to do and call prior to coming home.

There are some other very big names that do the same thing. Its easy for you though I suppose if you have any kids they are probably middle aged by now.. :winkwink: *Pokes fun*

they can come to Czech Republic anytime if they want :glugglug

i just doubt that anyone will listen to them here :)

Bumping to ask also -- Chad, did they address secondary producers such as who use affiliate programs?

The FBI comes in to check your records, with local police which they can do and they see kids in the house. It will be off to foster care for the kids, if you think they will take your word the kids are never here when you shoot porn.Your living in a fantasy world. Now I know you know it all but something to ponder.You consider yourself a big name? Thats classic lol Big names if they produce porn have a office.

Well lets see Tony smart guy. The custodian of Records is my partner that is single with no children. Please play again.

Did I call myself a big name? If you were really smart you would figure out who I was referring to. Im glad you are here for everyone to benefit from your knowledge. Thank God for that! :1orglaugh

Btw you think they just take kids without proof? lol Big brother is gonna get us all muhahaha lol

Good info.








.

once again you know everything and i was trying to give you aheads up but you know better. if they have proof you are running a porn business out of your house thats all they need.You said other big names work out of their homes, can be taken you see yourself as a big name.

Wow thanks a lot Chad. That is very good news and he sounded reasonable.

You have become one of the industry's most irritating people. You are a jack ass who just runs his mouth and most of the time you have no clue what you are saying. You are the worst kind of webmaster an entitled blow hard who continues to bash anyone who is not some nobody like you.

change your name to to BooHooTony

It's always something with you whining about this and whining about that always talking shit about big companies and acting like somebody has wronged you... work harder... make more money... and stop fucking crying about everything and everyone.

Chad - do you think it's fair to say that, whatever a regulatory agency may state as its intent, and the limit of the scope of its investigations with respect to the regulations it is charged with enforcing, it is far more comforting to have such limitations and intentions codified in the statutory language of the laws/regulations themselves?

It seems to me that while the assurances of an FBI agent are good, limiting construction in the statutes/regulations themselves would be substantially better.

That said, I wholeheartedly agree that the actual risk of being prosecuted for minor infractions under section 2257 is far lower than some observers have suggested. Convincing a federal judge to hand out 5 year sentences for what amounts to a simple filing error (assuming that the violation in question involves not a lack of records, but a simple error in keeping those records) would likely be a tough sell for a prosecutor.

- Q.

lets see
in this thread I was right https://gfy.com/fucking-around-and-business-discussion/704350-xxx-happened-xbiz-people.html
in this thread I was right :https://gfy.com/fucking-around-and-business-discussion/704036-picked-hdv-panasonic-camera-2.html

and that was just today , you really have no idea what your talking about. I was trying to actually protect him but you rather attack me. I guess thats more fun,I praise people all the time. If you read more then a few times you would know that.
In fact I thanked Chad for taking the time to do this thread.

You rock Chad! Thank for that information.