Adult companies are accustomed to navigating an ever-evolving legal landscape — avoiding pitfalls while exploiting new opportunities.
This is sure to continue, and even accelerate, in 2018, with a wide range of new laws including mandatory age verification and new corporate policies that impact the banking scene, as well as other issues making the radars of our group of experts, who shed light on this topic when asked:
We are against throttling and censorship in all forms. As such, stopping lawmakers from passing an anti-net neutrality bill is the single most important thing we can do right now to save the future of a free and open internet. -Ela Darling, CAM4VR
“Tell us what legal issues you foresee impacting the adult industry most strongly next year and what are your plans to address them?”
Jesse Garza
Senior Marketing Manager, Kink.com
“U.K. age verification seems to be everyone’s focus and how to address it. Being on the harder side of content we are always faced with limitations from both the government as well as credit card processing partners. We balance these limitations by continuing to fight for freedom of speech and expression, bringing the positive aspects of our community to the public’s attention, and focusing the conversation on consent and enjoyment both in our interviews and the media at large.”
Yannick Ferreri
Head of Business Development, Porndoe Production
“Technology is making piracy something of the past. In the coming months maybe at most a year, the automated systems that detect piracy will be so sophisticated only tubes with a legal approach, such as PornDoe, will be able to sustain as they are only using sample content provided by trusted partners.”
Mugur Cosmin Frunzetti
CEO, Studio 20
“We expect and support further official steps to avoid minors accessing adult content, including live cam.”
Karen Campbell
VP, OrbitalPay
“The OrbitalPay team is focused on knowing our partners as well as helping them to know theirs. We believe having the right understanding of our relationships continue to help us be successful. By doing so, we can avoid any legal issues surrounding payments.”
Jim Austin
Head of Business Development, Stripchat
“I’m deeply concerned about the current situation with net neutrality. When large corporations have control over what users can see over the internet, we should all be deeply troubled. I have a feeling that soon the adult industry will have a target on its back and we need to join the fight in keeping the internet open and free for all. U.K. age verification is also on everyone’s mind, and we plan to fully comply with the regulations when they are made completely clear to us. Again, we applaud the efforts of the U.K. government as long as it’s a level playing field for all sites in the adult industry. I personally believe that it will benefit the real professionals of the industry and get out the bad apples that are giving us a bad reputation.”
Steven Grooby
President, Grooby Productions
“The most immediate issue will be the new U.K. laws which we will all have to comply with if we want U.K. business. We’re currently addressing how we’re going to deal with that, and prepare for a worldwide rollout over the next few years.”
Wouter Groenewoud
Affiliate Manager, Traffic Company
“This is definitely a hot topic for the industry we operate in. Mobile marketing is still a relatively new market and new regulations are introduced every day. We expect this to increase even more in 2018. And this is a good thing! It cleans the market and it will make it clear to everyone what is and what isn’t allowed on this shared playground.”
Paul Acevedo
Marketing Director, DOF Network
“Well, it seems the U.K. age verification will be the big one for next year, and we imagine many other countries will follow their lead. So buckling up and finding solutions to combat the loss of traffic that will come with the new regulations will be at the top of our agenda.”
Gian Carlo
Founder, BitterStrawberry
“We think of ourselves as the foundation for the advocacy of anti-piracy in adult. We have stated it several times, pursued those guilty of it with our content and of course, created the platform for anyone interested in using free traffic on tubes by advertising sample content to the users. Piracy will be addressed in 2018, and in a way like never before. Technology has officially caught up with the excuses normally so many have used in the past.”
Clement P.
President, Bang.com
“We are already working on remaining compliant with the new E.U. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) . In our account section, members will be able to control, update or delete their private data as they choose. I’m looking forward to seeing the implications that will result from the U.K. age verification law. I’ve personally seen a few attempts at controlling (by law) the access to adult sites to minors, so we will see if this one proves better than past systems.”
Colin Rowntree
CEO, Wasteland
“The important one I see coming up is age verification in the U.K. which may indeed spread to other countries including the U.S. We are still evaluating how we can be in compliance in a cost-effective way.”
Steve Hamilton
Model Manager, Cams.com
“The major issue for the adult industry is something that affects the entirety of the internet, that is the possibility of net neutrality. If the changes that are currently proposed are implemented, your internet service provider could choose not to allow you to view adult content over their services. We implore all members to look into this and decide if this is something they are willing to give up.”
Holly Ruprecht
Senior Manager of Business Development, Hustler
“With the current administration in place, it is smart to be prepared for every and anything! There are many threats that will be carried over to the new year, and sadly we probably have not heard the last of Aids Healthcare Foundation Michael Weinstein. The industry is better and stronger when we come together to combat any legal issues that we face, i.e. Prop 60, so I will call upon my peers if we do indeed face anything together!”
Gregory Dorcel
CEO, Marc Dorcel
“We think that the adult industry is in jeopardy as occidental societies will not stand much longer the fact that tons of porn are available without any protection and no editorial line to anybody, including minors. According to us, as our industry is unable to get organized and eradicate this type of broadcast, the governments will apply more or less restrictive measures, more or less damaging for our industry in each country. It goes without saying that these measures will often be coercive, even for those who follow the laws. We saw it happen in the U.K. and it is an ongoing debate in France. We are very concerned with the rumors of private interest age verification recuperation systems that might turn out to be gateways for our whole industry.”
Ela Darling
CAM4VR
“We are really concerned about the continued persistence of the FCC to pass anti-net neutrality laws in the U.S. At CAM4, we believe in a free, open and uncensored web, where governments do not control what we see and do online. We are against throttling and censorship in all forms. As such, stopping lawmakers from passing an anti-net neutrality bill is the single most important thing we can do right now to save the future of a free and open internet. At CAM4, we will continue to play our role in helping to educate our users on the issue of net neutrality, whilst also standing in opposition to the FCC by helping to make the voices from within our community heard. Any bill that seeks to eradicate net neutrality is a move against our personal freedoms and privacy and we should all stand in opposition to this gross abuse of power.”
Axel Vézina
Chief Strategy Officer, CrakRevenue
“As a CPA network, what impacts us most is the GDPR. We work incessantly with our partners to ensure that everyone is ready and prepared for when the enforcement date gets closer (in May of 2018).”
Dinorah Hernandez
Director, BadoinkVR
“Net neutrality and the new laws that have led to a migration of porn production out of California.”
Mitch Platt
Founder, Vendo Services
“2018 will bring two main legal challenges: age verification in the U.K. and the European Payment Service Directive 2 (PSD2). With the aim to protect children from accessing pornographic content, the U.K. government plans to restrict access to adult content via age verifications as soon as 2018 with the implementation of the Digital Economy Act. New legislation will force owners and administrators of pornographic websites to check the age of their users before allowing them to access adult content. Adult sites that fail to check visitors’ ages could face fines of up to £250,000 and could be shut down by the government and Visa and MasterCard. Pornographic websites currently include checkboxes that require users to acknowledge that they are 18 or older. The obvious problem is that minors can simply lie. In the future, websites will need to include a strong identification process. Several companies are running a race against time to develop a low friction verification process. Challenges like privacy, liberty, and ubiquity will have to be overcome. Europe will also see the birth of a new paradigm in the payment ecosystem with the implementation of PSD2 in 2018. PSD2 will bring the compulsory implementation of a strong customer authentication for all online transactions above 30 EUR. Strong customer authentication will most likely take the form of 3D Secure V2, the standard that is being developed by VISA and MasterCard and will require end users to go through a two-step verification (providing something they are, something they know, or something they have) for most of their online transactions. The directive is expected to be published by the end of 2017, requiring full implementation within the next 18 months.”