The first general meeting of the Free Speech Coalition for 2003 focused on cybersex issues and mainstream media's recent coverage of the adult industry.
FSC Executive Director Bill Lyon challenged a Jan. 12 Los Angeles Times Magazinecover story, which contended lack of government regulation has resulted in epidemic levels of STDs such as chlamydia, plus several AIDs cases, among adult industry performers.
"The reason we've been unregulated is because we've done such a good job of self-regulation," he said. He disputed statistics quoted in the article, The Porn Scene No One is Watching, and criticized media bias and concentration.
Ironically, perhaps, Lyon's remarks were being videotaped by a mainstream camera crew, purportedly from the CBS news program 60 Minutes.
Increased adult industry media bashing comes as Bush-Ashcroft's Homeland Security and Total Information Awareness Network impose what First Amendment attorney Greg Piccionelli called "techno-tyranny," which could effectively spell an end to privacy. The Internet law practitioner said, "We're in grave danger on multiple fronts, maybe facing the greatest deprivation of civil liberties since the British. This is a scary future we're going into."
"Ashcroft convinced Americans security must precede liberty. The opposite's true: freedom's always been risky," Lyon said.
But all's not doom and gloom according to Piccionelli, who spoke about emerging technologies and e-porn's power. "Fox News' Bill O'Reilly is considered ultra-conservative, but Jan. 3, in debating someone opposed to distributing adult materials, O'Reilly said 'Porn is the largest entertainment industry in the U.S., grossing more than all professional sports teams put together. Haven't the American people said 'we want this stuff, leave us alone'?" Piccionelli added, "More people know who Jenna Jameson is than who Germany or France's leaders are. Future historians may note adult entertainment saved our civil liberties."
Passionately invoking the Founding Fathers, lawyer Joe Obenberger compared today's adult industry to 1776's patriots, and likened repression of porn to Nazi persecution of Jews. Attorney Jeffrey Douglas, chair of FSC's board of directors, added, "Bush considers porn part of the axis of evil." Supporting privacy rights and legislation, Douglas cautioned adult Webmasters against collaborating with the government by revealing users' identities.
Ira Rothken (www.techfirm.com), an intellectual property lawyer with a video gaming background, warned adult sites against spam e-mails. He discussed 10 practical points Webmasters should follow, such as not sending bulk e-mails with hardcore subjects and/or content, which could be received by children or others not wanting explicit spam. "We're under a legal microscope," Rothkin warned.
As the meeting came to a close, Scott Tucker, president of FSC's board of directors, introduced FSC board members, including Danni Ashe. Other top pornsters, such as Ron Jeremy and Nina Hartley, were in attendance, plus new talent, and 100 FSC members and supporters.
