Fergie's Tech Blog

Web sites go dark in anticipation of 2257 crackdown

I must have read through this, and it's associated links, 4 or 5 times -- all the while thinking about the broad scope of impact this law may have on the Net.

Xeni Jardin posts on Boing Boing:

Amended Section 2257 recordkeeping regulations go into effect at midnight tonight. The federal law requires website owners to keep records documenting, among other things, that "every performer portrayed in a visual depiction of actual sexually explicit conduct" is over the age of 18.

In anticipation, porn sites and others that include adult content are preparing to make their sites compliant -- or taking them offline. Today, several sites in the Rotten.com family are going dark for that reason, including ratemyboner.com (like amihotornot for amateur snapshots of a particular male anatomical part in a particular state) and gapingmaw.com (which you could call an industrial-strength grossout blog).

Section 2257 is ostensibly aimed at preventing the exploitation of minors in pornography, but some free speech advocates argue it provides the conservative Bush administration with the power to effectively silence other websites deemed offensive.

Please read the remainder of this post, as well as the reader comments.

posted by Fergie @ 6/22/2005 07:05:00 PM