No proper discussion of legitimate pornography (that is, pornography that is provided to the adult community as a form of entertainment in its many shapes and forms) can be had without the discussion of the 2257. The 2257, officially known as the 18 United States Code 2257 / 28 Code of Federal Regulations Part 75, is part of the Child Protection and Obscenity Enforcement Act of 1988.

In layman’s terms, the 2257 Regulations “require producers of sexually explicit material to obtain proof of age for every model they shoot, and retain those records. Federal inspectors may at any time launch inspections of these records and prosecute any infraction” (Wikipedia). Until recently the regulation only applied to those peoples who were directly in contact with the talent performing – that is, casting directors, directors, talent managers, and other persons directly responsible for the casting of the person in the adult film. Now, the regulation encompasses a wider reach, including “secondary producers”. According to Wikipedia, “According to the DOJ, a secondary producer is anyone who “publishes, reproduces, or reissues” explicit material.” I’ll go further into the primary vs secondary producer descriptions at a later time – that in and of itself is an entire blog entry.

The 2257 is what you see on the back of every XXX video box, DVD cover, and at the end of every XXX production on screen. It tells you that no one under the age of 18 was in the production at any time, and that the producer has the necessary documentation to prove that fact. The required disclaimer does not just appear on DVDs and videos…it also appears on online porn sites, whether it be a solo girl site, a compilation site, a webcam site, or a clips/VOD site. It protects children as well as adults, and makes sure that adult entertainment is made by adults for adults.

The required documentation, which MUST be visible by all interested parties (including potential viewers of the material you are selling), can be a varied form of the following verbage:

Sale to minors prohibited. Content copyright 2008 (name of Studio). All rights reserved. Explicit material for adults only. Sale to or use of minors strictly prohibited. All persons depicted in this work were over the age of 18 yrs at the time of creation of such depictions.
18 U.S.C 2257 records maintained by the Custodian of Records, (enter name of person or company holding the paperwork, and their address) . Date of Production: 10/15/2008.

For online use (such as websites), usually a page is displayed before the home page, with the following verbage:

WARNING: Sexually Explicit Content.
This Website contains explicit sexual material which may be offensive to some viewers. You must be 18 years or older to enter this Website. By going beyond this point, you acknowledge that you are 18 years or older.
All models, actors, actresses and other persons that appear in any visual depiction of actual sexual conduct appearing or otherwise contained in this adult site were over the age of eighteen years at the time of the creation of such depictions.
Some of the aforementioned depictions appearing or otherwise contained in or at this site contain only visual depictions of actual sexually explicit conduct made before (enter date of production), and, as such, are exempt from the requirements set forth in 18 U.S.C. 2257 and C.F.R. 75. With regard to the remaining depictions of actual sexual conduct appearing or otherwise contained in or at this adult site, the records required pursuant to 18 U.S.C. 2257 and C.F.R. 75 are kept by (enter name of person or company holding the paperwork, and their address).

This is usually followed by two options: To Leave or To Enter. The legalese of the first page protects the producer from legal recourse by the person who decides to enter the site despite their underage status.

Some websites, such as Rodney Moore’s, have even more stringent rules before entry, which includes entering a birthdate and electronically signing the certification that the person signing it is of legal age to view adult materials.

In addition, all adult websites should have a clickable link or a section in the main page where it clearly specifies the 2257 Regulation Compliance Statement. On Rodney Moore’s site, the verbage is clearly written out at the bottom of the very first page. On most other sites, such as Girls Gone Wild it is a clickable link notated “18 U.S.C 2257 Record Keeping Requirements Compliance Statement”. Once clicked, it takes you to a separate page with the information on who and where the 2257 records are kept. (Joe Francis and the Girls Gone Wild franchise (Mantra Films/MRA Holdings) is an interesting one to bring up in this blog, since his September 2006 court case is specifically a result of the 2257 requirements.)

There are several methods for record-keeping of 2257s. I will be discussing the legal requirements, how to file them properly, and the new method of electronically safekeeping these documents in a later blog post.

In addition, I will also be discussing the many legal attempts to rewrite and reinterpret the 2257 Requirements. Enforcement of the 2257, as well as the many legal challenges that such documentation poses in a country that prides itself on its First Amendment rights, have lead this piece of legislature into the courtroom often, with no end in sight. It seems that as long as there are people willing to create adult entertainment in its many forms, there will always be a battle between the liberal free speech and art advocates, and the decision to uphold the moral protection of general society by government.

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