While a Bavarian "oompah" band played upstairs, sponsored by German website conversion outfit www.sexmoney.com, an air of warning pervaded the Newbie Legal seminar downstairs at the Internext convention.rnrn
"There are a lot of people in this country who would like to see you in jail," attorney Joel Obenberger told the group of newcomer adult webmasters in the audience, "and the idea of a 'country club prison' is a myth."rnrn
The seminar provided an overview of the "Dos and Don'ts" of starting and growing an adult site. Gordon Einstein, a lawyer practicing in Century City, provided a few Don'ts quickly: "Don't go in as a sole proprietorship or a partnership. They are very, very bad. Don't do it." He then provided examples of how the unlimited personal liability of a partnership or sole proprietorship was a bad business idea.rnrn
Einstein repeated the Forest for the Trees dictum that many webmasters forget: adult business or not, this is still a business, and the fundamentals need to be attended to. Cash flow, employee and shareholder agreements and business plans needs to be developed the same way as they would be in a standard corporation. Einstein was seconded by Lawrence Walters from Weston, Garrou & DeWitt, who added that the adult industry is under the microscope now more than in recent years. "You can't get away with what your accountant gets away with," he said. Overpaying taxes, keeping rigidly compliant with 2257 laws and allowing no room for scrutiny should be the watchwords of the adult webmaster and the pornographer in general.rnrn
Obenberger provided an entertaining and passionate defense of the First Amendment and outlined several things to guarantee webmasters "an orange jumpsuit in a federal prison', including "Make sure you send spam with highly graphic content to the Reader's Digest e-mail list" and "By all means steal content, leaving no paper trail on how old your models are."rnrn
Walters mentioned a US News & World Report poll that said 50% of Americans were comfortable giving up certain civil liberties in the war against terrorism, paving the way for increased persecution of adult content. He advocated giving legal attacks no purchase on your site's content, such as child pornography or even links to putative child pornography. "Take the fire away from the government," he said.rnrn
Obenberger and Walters stressed education in keeping a business afloat. "Become an expert in obscenity law," Walters said. Obenberger added, "View 2257 as your friend, because it is. Comply with it. Don't think of ways to avoid it.b The easiest way to get jailed is to blow it off."rnrn
Once the war on terrorism is consummated either by peaceful or belligerent means, he continued, the current administration will honor its obligation to "the moral right" and crack down on pornography.rnrn
"Don't let your liberties go down the drain without a protest," he said. "It will be apparent within the next 12 months how courageous you are. Go forth and prosper within the law."
