Programs Aid 2257 Compliance

Las Vegas-based TMS, the software arm of Gecko Content, began developing its program My2257 in 2002, when it filed a patent for a 2257-specific talent database. “We were just going to use it in-house,” marketing director David Slaughter told XBiz, “but we thought it was a great idea to make it available to the industry.”

My2257 joined forces with adult attorney Greg Piccionelli who also held a patent in a complementary technology. Piccionelli is now legal counsel to the firm.

Seattle’s 2257-Compliance was developed by attorney Robert S. Apgood and his son, Robert R. Apgood. The elder Apgood spent 20 years as an operating system kernel developer before becoming an attorney. He and his son conceived of the idea of a database last July when the 2257 amendments were proposed.

Both programs attempt to centralize compliance information and to keep records safe should, for example, a clients’ computer system be seized by the feds. The way data are stored and, to a lesser degree, which data are stored, are the main differences in the companies’ services.

My2257 is a program that is installed locally on computers whereas 2257-Compliance is a subscription service, with data housed on web servers in Seattle. Both companies’ products allow for the input of model information with specific fields for photographs, scans of valid identification and known aliases.

For each subscriber or program licensee, datafiles are discreet. In other words, data from one production compan y will not be available to another production company.

My2257’s Slaughter admitted that an industry-wide database would be a very good idea, and the only thing keeping his company from implementing one is legality. “While it would be good for there to be a general field where producers from each company could check the last valid ID of a model, questions of legality and privacy prevent us from providing that service,” Slaughter said.

My2257 would arrive at a company pre-installed and configured on a workstation. “We need to be able to assure that our software is compliant from the start,” Slaughter said.

Slaughter stressed that the program would take 15 minutes to learn and master. Several tiers of rollouts would be available, including a standalone version, a workgroup version and two offsite-backup versions, the first of which would feature offsite backup to a server maintained by the individual production company and the second in which backups would be hosted on TMS’ servers. Each tier comes with an initial setup, hardware and software fee as well as monthly maintenance.

The subscription-based 2257-Compliance would host all data online on secure servers and include fee-based image and title copyrighting features.

Both companies' representatives said their products were arriving at a time of great need, but wondered why the ideas behind them hadn’t come sooner.

2257-Compliance's Robert R. Apgood told XBiz that, in terms of self-preservation, the adult industry could be like an ostrich with its head in the sand. “Sometimes the business seems reluctant to acknowledge what’s coming,” he said.