LOS ANGELES — The Free Speech Coalition will host an all-industry roundtable discussion on Thursday to take a look at the political and regulatory challenges facing the adult industry this year.
Eric Paul Leue, executive director of the FSC, called the discussion, to take place at XBIZ 2017, “crucial” for anyone doing business in the adult industry today.
“While we were able to defeat Prop 60, our biggest battles come later this year,” Leue said. “From the Cal/OSHA hearings this month to the prospect of renewed obscenity prosecutions to mandatory porn blocking to raids on service providers, we are seeing grave threats to the industry’s existence.
“We have not faced a more hostile government in nearly three decades, and we will need an active and informed industry in order to survive.”
The incoming Trump administration has pledged to make obscenity prosecutions and regulation of adult content one of its top priorities.
Trump has stated that he does not believe that adult content is protected by the First Amendment; his attorney general, Jeff Sessions, suggested at his confirmation hearing yesterday that he may revive the disbanded Obscenity Task Force to go after adult producers.
Many state GOP legislators have called internet porn “a public health crisis.” As a result, several states have proposed mandatory blocks on all computers, tablets and phones sold, and a bill drafted in Utah would allow private citizens to sue producers for “harm” that comes from viewing adult material.
Leue said that at new Cal/OSHA hearings this spring, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation will once again seek to mandate condoms, as well as other barrier protection such as goggles and dental dams, in adult productions filmed in state.
“The prospect of aggressive prosecution is frightening, and we must remain vigilant,” Leue said. “We will discuss strategies for survival, both for the industry as a whole, as well as for individual producers, performers and distributors who want to avoid triggering prosecutions.”
The “Past Prop 60” panel will be preceded by an FSC panel on site security, featuring leaders from the tech world, including Wired.com and the Center for Democracy and Technology.
“Past Prop 60” will be held at XBIZ 2017 from 1 p.m. to 1:50 p.m. on Thursday at the Rooftop Ballroom at the Andaz in West Hollywood.
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