2257 Updates

Well, they're here: as of today, the US Department of Justice's new 2257 regulations go into effect, and we're pretty much confused as everyone else is about how they're ultimately going to effect your porn viewing experience. While we're busy for the next few hours combing through our image archive and replacing the necessary thumbnails with 150x100 pixel portraits of Hello Kitty (hey, she matches our color scheme)*, here are some reports from the trenches:

· First, the (possible) good news: Xbiz reports that a "deal has been brokered by lawyers for the Free Speech Coalition in U.S. District Court" . More details will be available this afternoon; keep an eye on the FSC website for updates. (xbiz.com - read more @ AVN)

Update Xbiz reports that the "deal" involves a pending agreement that would "put a temporary delay on enforcement of the rules"—which presumably means that they're still going to be enforced at some point unless more legal challenges are on the horizon. (xbiz.com; more @ AVN)

· Despite the fact that a poster on an Xbiz forum claims that he was told during a phone call with a DOJ representative that "linking sites" (you're soaking in one!) would also be subject to the new regulations because they "increase sales and revenues of the images on the site they were linking to", we're not ready to close up shop here at Fleshbot Central just yet. (Adult FYI)

· Seth Lubove at Forbes weighs in with an article that's both breathtakingly condescending towards the adult industry (actually, some people are going to miss publications and websites like "Bound And Gagged" very much) and critical of the DOJ's new draconian recordkeeping requirements. (forbes.com)

· In the meantime, some of the more curious early casualties of the new 2257 rules include "explicit thumbnails" at Sensible Erection, "adult profile" photos at Gay.com and other personals sites, DVD box cover images at WantedList and other online retailers, and several sites in the Rotten.com family—not that we visited Gaping Maw to get our porn fix too often anyway.

· If you're still confused why the new 2257 regulations are such a big deal for porn producers and audiences ... well, maybe reading an informative article with stick figure illustrations will help you understand? (freeinternetpress.com)

· And remember, if all else fails ... we'll always have Google. (images.google.com - thanks Rob)

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*Ed. note: Actually, we've never had any explicit thumbnails on Fleshbot. At least something is making our jobs easier today.