affiliate liability under the new bush anti-porn crusade
 

Does anybody know if affiliates promoting certain more "extreme" porn sites through affiliate programs should be worried about the new bout of prosecutions or are they going to go after the sponsor site or the "messenger"?

You are in Canada, why should you give a flying fuck?

Most likely they will go after the producers.

But that doesn't mean you are totally off the hook.

If you have a lot of traffic and are highly visible, you
are an easy target. But if you are relatively small
and "flying under the radar" you are probably not
a high priority right now.

Off course, if your hosting it then your libel.

If it was that easy then people could promote CP without any liabilities because they could just be "affiliates"

Man the government can't tell the difference. government always shoots first ask questions later.

First they kick your doors in, take all your property. Then you get out on bail and start with your defense in court.

Always assume the worst

It is a little tougher to go after affiliate because the transaction (money exchanged for porn) occurs on the sponsor site. To be safe you should conduct a content review of all of the content that is hosted on your server/domains. If you are outside the 10th circuit make sure your content is 2257 compliant. IMO the easiest way for an affiliate to comply is to remove any content that is defined as sexually explicit in 18 U.S.C Section 2256 (2) (A)-(D) which should also reduce the exposure of an obscenity charge.

I could see the reality in a sponsor being taken in at the federal level, and then higher profile affiliates having their info passed onto local county prosecuters to look into it more if they please.

There is always that "conspiracy" charge...if they really wanna play hardball they could start tossing that charge around.