The US Department of Justice may be getting too overzealous in their fight against child pornography. New amendments to the Federal Labeling and Record keeping Law, aka Section 2257, will require adult social networking sites such as Manhunt and Gay.com to keep a log of users who post “sexually explicit” snapshots.
Passed in 1988, Section 2257 works to combat child pornographers, but a series of amendments have expanded the law’s net, especially on the net. Though regulations are meant to hinder porn peddlers, they can also be expanded to social sties. Private citizens who submit naughty pictures must register and provide a photo id. These logs can then be reviewed by the Attorney General and the FBI, says The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.
Those of you interested in fighting this invasion of privacy better hurry up – the public has until September 10th to file a complaint. The Task Force provides all the relevant information.
GranDiva
From a legal standpoint, it’s no more than porn companies have to do anyway. Since this is the Traci Lords law, it’s all about CYA; people who provide “adult” content must be able to verify the identities and ages of everyone appearing in that content. Perhaps that’s a front for something more nefarious – and I wouldn’t put it past the DOJ – but when one puts one’s bidness out there on the intarwebs, it’s not like there’s a mandated expectation of privacy, is there?
cjc
Solution: use gaydar.co.uk or some service where the servers are not physically present in the United States.
WWH
Solution: go to a bar like the olden days. Maybe gay bars will get fun again….
RexHavoc
Concerning manhunt.n3t the gay meeting site. It has become a voice stifling community monopoly.
Are we losing the more that we know with manhunt? I am a gay artist, singer, songwriter, entertainer. My gripe with manhunt is that you pay them for a space and then they shove advertised porn sites in your face. I was recently in a music contest and I needed votes for my music by other gays (that manhunt monopolizes on the net in my local the community). (If I was looking to make a pitch for my music at manhunts expense I would be posting link to my own music in this reply). So in the profile that I pay for and and they have auto billed me without my consent, I posted a line saying “hey guys I need your vote for my music in a song contest†and I included a web link on my manhunt profile to a music site hosting my pop/folk music. I figured it was my local gay community that I see often in the clubs. But this was not the way manhunt perceived my using my right to free speech on the net. They took my post and replaced all of the words with asterisks!
I wrote them back and was livid! I said what I am I paying you for this page if I cannot even post a link to my own songs? They said it was to discourage escorts from posting links for prostitution. My question to manhunt then is, what do we have undercover cop stings operations for? All they have to do is show up and arrest these prostitutes for solicitation. It happens every day and is quite easy to prosecute. This not letting them post addresses just drives prostitutes underground and they solicit in a private message instead! So there is no solicitation (which I agree with) and there is also no voice (which I disagree with) for reputable community entrepreneurs. A simple web address and a few words describing who we are what the hell is the harm manhunt? Answer? It would cut into your greedy money grubbing bottom line and that is the only reason I assure you!
So a teenager who is straight can post a web link to their homepage on MYSPACE (which I recommend) which is free! But gays have their voice stolen by manhunt (which I recommend boycotting all my gay friends have left the service) and are only allowed to have manhunt’s prison sex and “twinks first time†ads rammed in our faces? While manhunt appears to tout safe sex surfing???? BULLCRAP!
Wake up gays? Manhunt is bad for our community in more was than one way? ANY alternative to manhunt which allows us to have a voice like the FREE sites like MYSPACE.COM and even DLIST.COM let’s us have a space to post a personal website addy should send a clear message to manhunt to stop their greedy policy! Well I emailed manhunt and told them to permanently suspend my membership! They can shove it where they shove all those anal beads they sell.
Consequently I lost the contest because I could not even get support from my personal friends whom I did not meet through manhunt. Manhunt doesn’t deserve our patronage because they don’t’ care about our community voice one damned bit! WE NEED TO CONGREGATE SOMEWHERE WHERE WE CAN BE OURSELVES. Put yourself in my place. Manhunt apparently by their very clear policy only wants sex sluts and if you show one bit of artistic individuality and a real life they reduce your page to asterisks!
Some straight person won the contest because they had the “free†myspace full of straights to support them and post bulletins while I was blocked by manhunt (boycott) from soliciting my OWN local friends for support who are monopolized by manhunt.. Then I told them I would email each of my friends on manhunt and tell them of my contest and they warned me that I would be “banned†if I “spamed†to others on the site. Now it is spam when I email my personal friends that I know in in real life on the site and have known for years locally but it is not spam when I get lewd emails from the “manhunt service man†asking me to join a contest to win dildos, cock rings and anal beads?
Are these people at manhunt on crack???? Every voice they stifle is another crack rock! Wake up gays! Manhunt has stifled our community voice! What will be next?
Manhunt told me I was also not allowed to post “disparaging remarks†on my 50 character maximum blurb they begrudge us. When you get to your limit it says you have “zero characters leftâ€. Manhunt wants to push people into an non existence of promiscuous sex and ZERO CHARACTER! They did not give a damn that I was a local gay musician needing specifically gay support in my local community? What would have been the harm of them letting me link people to a music site that hosts my songs? What a kick in th face! There were free samples of my music and visitors did not have to purchase anything just to support a gay musician by simply casting their vote.
Manhunt stifled my/your voice when I tried to link my own friends to my webpage in my profile and they also then likewise blocked my post and replaced it with asterisks when I tried to alert others of how manhunt has monopolized our community and and silenced our voice! Yet they blanked out that with asterisks too (it wasn’t even vulgar) and said it was against policy to post “disparaging remarks†it is against their policy to allow their own paying customers to nail them to the carpet and speak our mind for their lousy and restrictive unfriendly service? They said they blocked my songs from being linked to to protect my security… They don’t care one bit about my security they care about people not being linked away from their dildo up your sphincter and commercial porn sites which are currently plastered all over the site and right in your face! Greedy manhunt!
So is manhunt saying that myspace does not care about people’s security because they let their FREE patrons link to personal web pages and web hosting sites? I emailed manhunt and told them to suspend my membership indefinitely. I gave them 24 hours to change their policy or that I would go on the net and gripe about it and they in few words indicated to me go ahead they did not care one bit and that they would not change their policy because it had “been in place since manhunt began”… So that is a good reason to stifle the gay voice! Idiots! I told them to change their policy within 24 hours or face my seething review of their site on the net. I guess they’re so big they don’t care about gay people and their voice! BOYCIOTT MANHUNT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes, it has stifled allot of gay people’s voices and made manhunt very rich at our personal expense! Craig’s list allows people to link outside their site and it is free too! Well I will tell you what they can do with their dildos and cheap thrills! So you will not find my profile on manhunts 300 character no personal links profile. DOWN with MANHUNT!
DOGS “hook up†manhunt! Please post this blog anywhere it will reach the most gays concerning manhunt and their careless and selfish policies towards gays. For manhunt has damaged my career by their monopolizing my local gay community on the net with their sex in your face site. BOYCOTT MANHUNT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Apparently manhunt ignored my 24 hour deadline for them to change their policy and preferred that I go on the net and drag their name through the mud that they have dug themselves into… So reverse this situation and think if it was you who needed legitimate support from local gays and manhunt was standing in your way for a valid need so manhunt can sell more sex paraphernalia and link you to smutty commercial porn SPAM to them instead! I can’t link to a website selling original pop/folk songs but someone can post an avatar with a closeup of their anus?
My email address is [email protected] please email me if you can think of any other posts venues and public review sites that I can post this gripe in so that it will get maximum exposure and that people will definitely contact manhunt and demand their voice back or find a better service that treats the gay community with dignity and reasonable fairness to their PAYING customers.
DOWN with manhunt up with MYSPACE and DLSIT
let manhunt die a slow and agonizing death like my ratings in the contest did because of manhunt’s unfair interference in something that was none of their business, MY personal profile to others! The gay community needs to be together in a place where we are all FREE to express who we are (provided it is a legal occupation) and where our information is located on the web. Is that so much to ask from a paid service?