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Inquisition 21
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Mechanisms of repression
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1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11
Mechanisms of repression
The US lurches to the right
Law 2257 came into effect June 23 2005, lurching the US further into a state of totalitarianism, and is sure to attract the attention of Nanny states such as the UK, who will want to copy it. Issued by the US Department of Justice, the new regulation updates the Child Protection and Obscenity Enforcement Act and requires adult businesses to keep detailed records proving that all the models they use are over the age of 18.
But it goes much farther and also requires that the records contain the real names of performers, and their addresses, all cross referenced to the images published, under pain of severe penalties including imprisonment. It goes beyond pornography to lascivious and nude images. As some journalists are putting it ‘all porn in the US is now child porn’, a development totally predictable. The reasoning here is that all pornography in the US is now effectively classified as child pornography, unless providers can prove the ages of the people in every image. Pornography and all art considered to be obscene is being attacked by bureaucratic procedures, a very effective mechanism of suppression.
All web sites publishing images that come under 2257 must give the address of the ‘place of business’, which will at a stroke give back a monopoly to the likes of Playboy and the other corporate sex image providers, by putting the small operators and amateurs out of business. The address rule is to allow law enforcement officers to pay visits. It will also put an end to girls selling their images over web cams as those that do publish addresses risk being stalked or attacked. The addresses of the models in any images published must be kept for seven years.
It provides police free access to all the files of the image providers, what one US journalist aptly described as ‘allowing the cops a free wank’. It authorizes warrantless searches of any establishment, including a home or residential location, where the records required by 2257 are kept.
The Free Speech Coalition in the US is trying to fight the new law, but they are not likely to get much support from the cowed US public. We should also take note that the US Department of Justice has begun negotiations with Internet service providers to examine the possibility of monitoring the content of all online communications including chat rooms. It’s being called ‘mandatory data retention’.
Incidentally, the four minors who did manage to sneak into the adult video industry in the past 20 years all had identification documents that would have passed even under the new regulations, so the new law is not expected to ‘save’ any minors. But it will deal a body blow both to pornography, including that in the eye of the beholder, and to free speech.
Mechanisms of repression
One click and you’re out - Pervcheck
Free speech in Britain under threat
The US lurches to the right
Sarah’s story
Kafkaesque from the National Crime Squad
More Big Brother building blocks in place
How porn is being used to quash dissent
Book burning in Canada given Royal Assent
And the net draws tighter.
Response to AOL
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