Under the amended 2257 regulations, secondary producers – webmasters who display material not created by them – are required to provide age and identification data on models who appear on their websites. When primary producers are not forthcoming with this material, secondary producers are in danger of prosecution.
It's a fear that has lead to speculation on adult message boards such as GoFuckYourself.com, TalkYourShit.com and JustBlowMe.com.
Toronto GFY poster TheLegacy predicted, "There will be a sifting out of webmasters and content providers who simply don't have the resources to get their files in order."
Others questioned whether some primary producers will charge for releasing 2257 information, and poster latinasojourn wondered if some would "[force] buyers to jump through hoops to get docs.”
Miami-based HotAmateurMPEGs.com owner Vittorio told XBiz that some of his colleagues have encountered problems getting information from primary producers. “It could be many reasons, one being model secrecy, and the other, possibly [that primary producers] don't have records,” he said.
While numerous attorneys announced at the Free Speech Coalition's May 26 meeting that they would be filing injunctions prior to the amended 2257 regulations taking effect on June 23, it was agreed that primary producers would be in violation of the regs should they not provide copies of 2257 documentation to secondary producers.
Furthermore, legal precedent was set by 1994’s American Library Association, et al, vs. Reno, in which the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for D.C. disallowed refusal to release legal records to a secoodary producer on the grounds of “trade secrets,” which may be interpreted as “privacy.”
Meanwhile, webmasters who are doing the right thing are clearly promoting compliance as selling points for their services. Vittorio, for example, intends to advertise a testimonial from GigaCash’s Stephen Bugbee extolling HotAmateurMPEGs’ adherence to the new rules.