Here's what I know about the law and the Internet porn business: not much. I know more about the law and Internet porn than the average person but that doesn't make me a lawyer. I sure as heck don't know the law better than an average lawyer. The only legal advice I'm qualified to give you is to tell you to CONSULT A LAWYER.

"The only way to operate is to insure that your site complies with local, state and Federal law, as it exists, based upon the advice of a qualified attorney."

Personally, I don't think I can make the point clearer. Get a lawyer. Consult a lawyer. Don't take my word for it. Don't take anyone else's word for it except a lawyer's. Lawyers are professionals who've gone to school and know legal stuff. I'm just a hack that writes (hopefully entertaining and enlightening) bullshit on the web. I can research and make phone calls. I can take notes and cite precedents that I found on the Google. I have neither the education, discipline or certification to give you legal advice. All I know is that there are some good, real-life lawyers who have taken on the job of representing adult webmasters.

You can find these folks here in our Frog Legal Listings. You can find them listed on other adult resource sites. Adult industry lawyers have their own websites. You can even find adult webmasters flying links to attorneys, in signatures, on message boards. These professionals located the world over and a phone call away. Some of them have been serving your fellow webmasters for more than a decade. They understand the complexities of the legal code as well as the shit-buggery of the Internet. Go find a local lawyer and tell them that another webmaster is stealing your content by hotlinking your video clips in an IFrame. Notice the glassy stare?

I don't know about where you're from but in the US. there is no Federal, legal definition for obscenity. There are guidelines but the highest court in our nation decided to let individual communities and states determine their own definitions. For example, one state might outlaw sex toys but another does not. One city forbids full nudity in strip clubs while another town makes it a crime to own a strip club. The problem for you are the state, local and interstate laws that apply to smut pushers. The untested cases emanating from cyberspace are just added aggravation. We don't actually know if sending digital images over the web constitutes interstate-trafficking because no court has made a decision or set a precedent on the matter. You have no idea if running a smutty site from your house is the same as running a xxx bookstore in your town because so far, the only webmaster charged for doing it never went to trial. The only way to operate is to insure that your site complies with local, state and Federal law, as it exists, based upon the advice of a qualified attorney.

After all these years, I still feel strange presenting legal issues as a layperson. I do my best to make my own sites comply. I keep up with legislation and news on legislation. I check in with pending cases before the courts. I look back on our legal history. I see cases that have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars for the defendants, guilty or not guilty. I've observed the fear that spread through our community each time a webmaster is arrested or a content producer is searched by the FBI. I obey the laws as I understand them but I know that no matter what I do, they can still arrest me because US obscenity law makes me guilty until proven innocent. I am as poor if not poorer than any adult webmaster. I can't swing the expense of a lawyer on retainer. All I can tell you is what I do to keep my nose as clean as possible:

1. Extreme Niches are Right Out.

No gonzo. No violence. No crazy. No ick. Extreme porn attracts a lot of hostility from law enforcement, politicians and concern groups. Every election year, these people go hunting for smut and extreme porn tends to stand out. Why court their attention? These people don't care about your right to free speech. They need your badness to make them look good. Don't be their tool.

2. Take Care of the Basics.

Put up that Warning page and make sure you've got that 2257 info linked in a prominent location. Only buy from vendors that supply proper 2257 documents. Only affiliate with sponsors that comply with 2257. Stay the hell away from illegal content and from content that looks illegal. Don't cheat. Don't spam. Don't do dirty tricks with dialers or auto-downloaders.

3. Be a Responsible Citizen.

Pay your taxes. Don't drive drunk or set fire to your house making crack. You're a pornographer. You get extra demerits for that. Pay your damned bills and fulfill your contracts. You don't need vendors or customers suing you. Just because you run a site made from pixels and light, that doesn't mean your actions are free from legal consequences. You may not be a member of polite society but running an adult site for adult customers is legal. You're not a criminal so don't act like one.

4. Lawyer. Lawyer. Lawyer.

Remember? I'm just a hack. You need a lawyer. I can point you to legal information and forms but that's as far as you should take my lawyerly advice. As I wrote, there are a good number of legal firms and individual attorneys, specializing in the adult Internet. You can find them under our Frog Legal Listings or at our Legal Help Guide. While you're at it, poke around the Help Guide. Articles by adult law professionals as well as about legal issues.