CHATSWORTH, Calif.—Adult industry trade group the Free Speech Coalition (FSC) reports that it assisted this week in getting a website taken down that had published the legal names of thousands of adult performers.
FSC's announcement of the takedown follows:
A publicly-posted leak featuring the legal names of over 13,000 adult creators and performers was finally taken offline this week after Free Speech Coalition alerted the site and related entities to the legal and ethical issues with hosting such information.
The source of the data is still unknown, but the leak first surfaced last week when sex worker advocates began circulating the link in private messaging groups to alert them to the potential threat. To prevent unnecessary distribution of the original link and list, FSC created a tool that allowed performers to establish if their legal names had been exposed in the leak without further disclosing the information.
“We thank everyone who brought this to our attention and who, in groups large and small, rallied to protect the community,” says Alison Boden, Executive Director of Free Speech Coalition. “The disclosure of personally-identifying information such as this is illegal in many states and countries, and it’s critical that those who aid in the distribution of such content are made aware. We’re glad this was resolved, and will, of course, remain vigilant against these kinds of attacks in the future.”
