Do you want the feds at your door?
 

If you haven't read it yet, I just received an update from AVN with a link to This Article. I suggest everyone take 15 minutes to read it. You may change your mind about accepting Visa specifically as to filling out their personal information forms.

I've changed my mind, as of Nov. 1, I'm not accepting Visa anymore, and I'm putting a notice on all my sites for everyone to contact their legislators to VOTE NO ON BANKRUPTCY REFORM. Visa doesn't have the right to OWN the world and get their precious bankruptcy laws changed in their favor; and although I have nothing illegal on any of my sites, I don't need the feds sifting through my house and harddrives looking for garbage and hauling my computers away on a witch hunt. With all the damn viruses out on the net I'd be surprised if less then 80% of every computer in the world (connected to the internet) didn't have at least one image hidden somewhere that the feds could use for prosecution.

:stoned

vik

you get em cowboy

Here's what I now have on my paysites -

Due to new Visa regulations being implemented Nov. 1, 2002,
We suggest that you do not use your Visa card for any adult website.

First it will be the webmasters that get a knock on their door, then it will be our subscribers. :waaaaahh

:stoned

vik

thats one way of adding to the killing of consumer trust.
freak em out.

Thats one of the reasons I have decided not to pay the fee.

The big brother nature of it. And, I just have one small niche site I dont care that much about, so I dont want to get on the TMF because of a project that I dont have long term plans for.

So Im content to just go with a "lite" billing option just using mastercard, and feature online checks more. Perhaps with a cheaper membership rate for check signups to make it more enticing.

Yah, they should be freaked out. Do you think it will end with us webmasters? Don't you think the feds would love to have a log of all downloads from every IP address they can? Do you think it may be easier for them after Visa has all of our personal information and a list of every adult website in the United States, and probably soon, other countries.

Knowledge is power - the more people that know about these Visa regulations, the more people will start to panic and put pressure on Visa to scrap their Nazi like plans.

:stoned

People have been talking about the fed crackdown for the better part of 3 years now.

Granted this will make it easier for them, but do you really think it was hard for them to begin with.

I know for a fact that iBill supplied their entire processing list to the Feds regularly.

All they have to do is tell your processor to hand over your payment information and you are fucked.

If the feds want you for running your amatuer asian bondage site, they will get you. They dont need Visas help.

Well I'd like to believe that nothing will change except for a lighter wallet, but it's hard to believe considering we've got Heir Ashhahahahaha (3 times I typed it in and this program wants to change the letters in ASHhahahahaha) at the wheel of the justice dept. Shit, is this board censored?

:stoned

I know you are a little bit insane, but do you think it's coming? I think it is. If not for 9/11, I think it would already have happened. What do you think?

Mr. John was getting ready to do it... He had called in a bunch of Attorney's that had successfully gone after porn peddlers and was going to use the same tactics.. then 9/11 happened...

Being a paranoid, this is a subject I think about alot. Have asked lawyers about, listened to everyone I can, read the historical obscenity prosecutions etc...

Here is what I have come up with. Historically, the Feds always go for the big boys first. The Larry Flynts, the video producers, the content makers. One lawyer told me its all about money. It costs in excess of a million dollars to shaft someone for a federal obscenity violation. Thats why they want to hit the big boys first. What do they get for spending all that money and shafting some 19 year old kid and his pee pee website? Jack shit. They need to send a message and they need to make it worth their while finacially. They are not gonna spend 20 mill to haul in 20 gallery makers. Waste of money, time, and energy. That, and it is not as easy as it used to be to make the charges stick. How many obscenity cases you seen go through the last 10 years? Next to none compared to the heyday in the 1980s.

So, if the crackdown comes, the big boys will get hit first. And when they get hit, I close up shop and leave.

People have been talking about these coming crackdown since I started. I suspect someone is gonna take it in the ass, but it wont be any of us. At first.

Thats just my opinion.

and Im not insane. Im the only lucid person on this board.

:1orglaugh :1orglaugh :1orglaugh

No one on this board is lucid since the announcement.

I didn't mean insane in a bad way. :)

I agree that they will go after big people first, but will they judge big by traffic or money or brand name or what?

Is being listed high on Sex Tracker a bad idea these days? I wonder.

I remember watching a show on pbs about the porn industry like a year ago, don't quite remember much but i remember they mentioned they were going after the smaller business's and hit them with obscenity in order to scare people off and set an example in an attempt to clean things up...

If the feds go for the big boys first they've obviously failed, so why would they do it again? imagine if they went after gallery makers and tgp owners, i would imagine a TON of people would be scared off.

Doesn't the 1 million price tag come from the fact that they are big and are willing to defend it?

What if some smaller player received a letter from the FBI saying "we don't like your site, shut it down immediatly and never run another adult site again. If you choose to cooparate we'll let you slide this time, if not, see you in court."

Obviously the big players would probably say "fuck that" and attempt to defend themselves, resulting in 1 million price tag for both sides. Small players will be much more likely to cooparate, resulting in very limited costs.

But then again, I agree with Labret, the governement rarely goes after the smaller players.

I disagree sometimes the small fish is the target. The 19-year-old probably doesn?t have sufficient resources to defend himself so it would be an easy victory for the troops. Sit the 19-year-old down tell him he is facing 50 years, but we will cut a deal and only send you up for 15. How many years did that 19-year-old girl in South Carolina get for selling her used panties? She was hardly a whale. Prosecutors are interested in the headlines. The Larry Flints of the world have the resources to draw out a criminal trial for 10 years or more the small fish don?t.

True if you are talking about the local level. Bookstore owners and video store owners always get nailed and run out of business at the local level.

But the thread asked about the Feds.

I have never seen an obscenity case where the Feds went for some small timer running a poop website.

no one will be able to touch me once i've moved to Sealand

Was that a rhetorical question?

Just out of curiosity, is this fee per Account (ie my 5 paysites with Epoch or CCBill) , per URL, or what?

OK from what i read here and there, is that you guys in the states are in a constant battle against your goverment on every issue, if you guys didn't forget you elected that guy, and you guys should start to put some presure.

If your goverment wants to start spying on everyone in the states, well if you are willing to allow that... well you need to think again.

The US goverment is starting to gets on every other counties nerves with their "Security Mesures" it's not because a gang of towel head wanted to arm the US that now it gives them the right to go and spy on everything that everyone is doing. I think it came far enought, Remember that everyone that is a American has the right to do something.

The way i look at it is that the US goverment is turning the USA in a Communise (i think it's how you spell it) Country. They want to be able to track everything that everyone is doing, they imput security messures to break your privacy. This is not how it should be, It's a goverment for the people elected by the people, right now it's a goverment for the rich people. They seem to have forgoten that they were elected to represent the people of the USA.

I dare you to right a letter to your congress or even call them and see how import the people are to them, you'll see that they don't give a shit about the people, that if you don't have money to give ot them they will just threat you like another peace of trash.

I'm not saying that you have to go and run outside on a rampage, but it's about time that the people take their country again, now it's the Rich men's country. If you don't ahve hte money $$$ well your a no body.

My :2 cents:

P.S. Remember JFK, he wanted to be a goverment for the people of his country, and 2 weeks after he said that, well you know the rested.