December 29, 2005 | Sex & Society

Judge weakens proof of age regs

The much criticized amendments to Regulation 2257 which would vastly broaden who must keep proof of age records for porn performers was slightly weakened by a ruling on Wednesday. While a federal judge in Denver let the regulation stand, he granted a preliminary injunction blocking the rules from applying to chat rooms and some websites.

While U.S. District Judge Walker D. Miller dismissed the adult  industry's claims that the rules enacted this summer violate their First Amendment rights, he said the rules were overly broad in their application to websites that are beyond the porn producers' control.

The old 2257 regulations required porn producers to keep detailed information that verifies the identity and age of their performers on file. The amended regs expand those requirements so that all "secondary producers" - that is any website that purchases content from an original producer -  would have to keep  copies of the same records on file as well.

The preliminary injunction blocks the regulation from being applied to websites that do not involve "the hiring, contracting for, managing, or otherwise arranging for the participation of the depicted performer." In other words, since primary porn producers already keep proof of age records on file, secondary producers should not have to duplicate that effort.

• Judge upholds porn rules, but finds them overly broad [Denver Post]
• Judge rules in favor of industry on 2257 case [AVN Online]