On February 28th I will be in Philadelphia for 7 hours ( from 2pm until 9pm) on a layover to Europe. If anyone is interested in meeting for a impromptu seminar on FOSTA and other issues related to the escort industry please feel free to email me at michael(at)fattlegal.com. Once I have a list of attendees I will set the time and place for the meeting. As the title suggests, it will probably happen over a famous Philly Cheesesteak somewhere. So if you have a preference or a suggestion for which cheesesteak you prefer, please let me know.

I will also have my friend and fellow attorney, Anthony List, with me. He is a local experienced criminal defense attorney in Philadelphia. Here is his bio;

Anthony F. List, Jr has been practicing criminal law in the State of Pennsylvania since 1998, with a focus on the Greater Philadelphia area. His experience ranges from representation in magistrate court, to felony jury trials that have resulted in acquittals. He is a graduate of Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg Maryland and Widener University School of Law in Wilmington Delaware. Prior to attending law school, Mr. List played baseball professionally in the Texas-Louisiana league. Mr. List gained his initial experience working for the Delaware County District attorney and as a junior Partner at the law Firm of List & List (established 1977).

Follow him on Twitter here –> https://twitter.com/tlist1

He likes going to the gym…

Please feel free to spread the word, just remember – this is only open to escorts or their assistants. I will need to screen you.

If you’re in the adult content production business you’ve probably heard of the law usually referred to 18 USC 2257. And if you haven’t, you’re well behind the curve and you need to read up on it ASAP. Here’s a link where you can start…

https://adultbizlaw.com/2012/10/22/porn-101-18-u-s-c-2257-the-basics/

For those of you who have been keeping up on 2257, then you probably know that the FSC has been fighting this law for years. Right now, there is a judge that is about to issue a final ruling on the constitutionality of 18 USC 2257. Which you can read more about here…

https://avn.com/business/articles/legal/attorneys-in-2257-case-submit-proposed-judgment-orders-786188.html

However, in a story that broke on July 18, 2018, there may be life left in the enforcement of 18 USC 2257. For the most part, 2257 hasn’t really been enforced for years. That doesn’t mean its dead or you don’t have to comply but for the most part, its been a non-issue for the past several years. That is until yesterday and this…

https://www.jrlcharts.com/straightboyz-shutdown-owner-bryan-deneumostier-indicted/

From JRLCharts.com…

The StraightBoyz gay porn site was shut down and owner, Bryan Deneumostier, indicted for allegedly having sex with a minor at the time of his arrest as well as being charged with Surreptitiously Producing and Distributing Pornographic Audio and Video Recordings of Himself Engaged in Sexual Activity with Others.

Not a earth shattering case until you read further…

The indictment further alleges that Deneumostier was a producer of pornography, used performers portrayed in a visual depiction of sexually explicit conduct, and did not ascertain the performers’ identification or age, as required by federal law.

In the past, I am only aware of two other producers that were charged with violations of 2257 – Joe Francis of Girls Gone Wild fame (who plead guilty to a single 2257 violation) and another adult producer who was also charged with obscenity (the 2257 charges were later dropped) but was convicted of obscenity.

These new charges are rather interesting in light of the fact that Judge Baylson is about to issue a decision on the application of 18 USC 2257. None-the-less, despite the recent non-enforcement of 2257, the US Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of Florida has not been deterred from charging the owner of StraightBoyz with three violations, each carrying a potential 5 year prison sentence.

Obviously, this isn’t a reason to panic, but if you are an adult content producer of any size, 2257 applies to you and you should know and understand 2257. 2257 isn’t dead yet…

On July 1, 2018, California Senate Bill 313 went into effect. If you have a membership site with reoccurring billing, this affects you. You might be unaware that even prior to Senate Bill 313, California had strict requirements for online reoccurring billing.

According to Section 17602 of the California Business and Professions Code, requires businesses to:

• present auto-renewal offer terms in a clear and conspicuous manner;
• obtain the consumer’s affirmative consent before charging the consumer for an automatic renewal or continuous service;
• provide an acknowledgment that includes the offer terms, cancellation policy, and information regarding how to cancel in a manner that is capable of being retained by the consumer, as specified;
• provide a toll-free telephone number, email address, postal address (if the company directly bills the consumer), or “another cost-effective, timely, and easy-to-use mechanism” for cancellation; and
• provide clear and conspicuous notice of material changes to auto-renewal terms.

Not only do websites need to comply with these requirements, they also now need to allow clients to cancel online. No longer is it acceptable to have a client call to cancel a membership.

Under California’s current law, violations may result in civil penalties or class action lawsuits alleging violations of California’s Unfair Competition Law. Lawsuits involving auto-renewal allegations under California law have resulted in settlements of upwards of $2.5 million.

Be aware though some of these regulations apply to all websites under federal law known as Restore Online Shoppers Confidence Act (“ROSCA”). This federal statute enacted in 2010.

I am looking for an experienced intern or law student to work remotely, part time (10 hours per week). You will have experience in electronic filing in the Central District of California as well as commensurate legal research skills. You do not need to be located in Los Angeles. This position does not require you to travel to an office and sit at a desk. Rather you will be working remotely from home, mostly on your own schedule. Therefore, you need to be a self-starter and be able to maintain your own schedule while timely completing various assignments.

Please submit your resume to michael@fattlegal.com with salary/pay requirements to be considered for the position.

Recently, I have seen many escorts rebranding themselves as anything but an escort. Some are now travel companions (that’s still an escort), some are  massage therapists, some are personal trainers, some are personal shoppers and some are tour guides.

Before you decide to rebrand yourself, you may want to do some research into the municipal codes of the town/city that you live in. Your new chosen professions may require a license. In most major cities, a tour guide or tour operator requires a license. Advertising yourself as a tour guide might be a felony and may attract the attention of the licensed tour guides and operators. However, each city may be different, especially if you are a “touring” tour guide. You might need to licensed in each city as a tour guide.

The same is usually true for massage therapists. Anyone with two hands can give a massage, but in most states/counties/cities, there are requirements to be a massage therapist – usually training from a state licensed school and passing a test to become certified.

Personal trainers seem to be one area where there are no licensing requirements that I can find. Being a personal shopper is another career where I could not find licensing requirements. However, I would strongly suggest that you do your own research into your chosen career as a personal trainer or shopper before advertising yourself as such.

Also, realize while there may be no licensing requirements for trainers or shoppers, there may still be local business licensing requirements that you must comply with.

To quote Shakespeare – “a rose by any other name would smell as sweet” but just because you don’t call it a rose doesn’t mean it still doesn’t have thorns.

One of the issues I notice most about escort websites is that they are rarely reviewed by an attorney. Almost all of the porn websites are either reviewed by an attorney or at least the credit card processing company prior to launch, so they have some minimal legal /  compliance review. However, with escort sites, these are almost never reviewed for legal compliance issues. I have also heard some discussions about how escorts are taking legal advice from their webmasters. I would not recommend this. As an attorney, I do not provide coding advice, and webmasters and designers should not be providing legal advice.

Here is an example of an issue that I often see with escort websites. Many escorts and their website designers believe that a simple disclaimer that says, in essence, money paid is for time spent, not sexual services. First, depending on where you are located, that could be an admission of guilt. Many cities have escorting regulations that require “companionship for money” escorts to have a license to escort through a licensed escort agency. Admitting that you are merely spending time for money is an admission of guilt when it comes to breaking the escorting without a license laws.

I previously wrote about this issue here;

https://adultbizlaw.com/2018/04/16/prostitution-domming-escorting-without-a-license-and-escorting-with-a-license/

However, if your website has a disclaimer about prostitution and your website also links to a review site or a site well known for verifying an escorts, your disclaimer is beyond useless. This example is from an escorting website;

Obviously, this is almost comical. But even if the TER and P411 buttons are not directly below your disclaimer, just having them on your website will negate any disclaimer. Does anyone really believe that law enforcement would read this disclaimer, then see the links to TER and P411 and say to themselves, “this person isn’t engaging in prostitution, they have a disclaimer, nothing to see here, lets move on.”

This is only one issue of many that I see in regards to escort websites. There are others. I see many escort websites that have contact information where potential clients can submit their information for an appointment, but there is no Privacy Policy listed on the site. This is a violation of many state laws. Some escorts advertise to European clients but do not have a policy in regards to Cookies. EU law requires such.

Soon the EU will implement their new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) – is your website compliant with it ?

I wrote about that here – https://adultbizlaw.com/2018/01/03/the-eus-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr-and-how-it-affects-you/

Also on the horizon is the UK’s new age verification law, which I also wrote about here;

https://adultbizlaw.com/2018/01/02/uks-age-verification-law-what-you-need-to-know-as-a-us-company-producer-or-performer/

And of course, depending on the content on your escort website, you may have to comply with a US federal law known as 18 U.S.C. 2257, well known to the adult entertainment industry but not to escorts;

https://adultbizlaw.com/2012/10/22/porn-101-18-u-s-c-2257-the-basics/

With any adult website client, and escort websites are adult, I highly recommend that you have your website reviewed by an attorney that understands all of the issues and can provide the proper legal advice. Why create additional criminal/civil issues for yourself when some are very easy to solve.

I prefer not to write topical articles since they have a limited shelf-life as far as usefulness, but this topic is something that might be related to the passage of FOSTA. With that said, it appears that Twitter might be enforcing its policies somewhat more forcefully than prior to the passage of FOSTA, especially in regards to adult content.

On April 6, 2018, Engadget posted a story about Twitter showing users its rules to discourage abuse. That article mostly had to do with Twitter’s belief that “research shows that people are more likely to honor rules if they can clearly see them.”

Perhaps this is true, perhaps it is not. However, over the past several days, numerous Twitter accounts of sex workers are getting suspended and/or banned for violating Twitter’s rules.

Whether these are new rules, or rules just now being shared publicly, I do not know but they are rather straight forward.

In summary, Twitter does not allow nudity/sex acts in profile or header photos/content. And if you are going to tweet something adult/sexual, you should mark that tweet as being sensitive. Failure to do can result in a suspension/ban. You can read the specific requirements below.

Overall, I am not at all surprised by Twitter’s recent trend to suspend/ban/enforce. In light of FOSTA, I would expect many of the mainstream sites where sex workers advertise to impose similar restrictions or just to ban sex worker account profiles completely due to potential civil liability under FOSTA. FOSTA isn’t just about criminal enforcement, but it also allows lawsuits to be filed against various social media platforms and websites. The day after FOSTA was signed, the first civil lawsuit was amended to include FOSTA causes of actions.

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20180412/22444139617/amended-complaint-filed-against-backpage-now-with-sesta-fosta.shtml

Always remember, when you eat off someone’s plate (platform) they have the ability to take away that plate and the food. Be smart, educate yourself and develop your own traffic.

UPDATE: The FOSTA Seminar will proceed on Friday May 18th from 11am to 4pm at an undisclosed location in Phoenix. If you want to attendee please sign up below. Everyone in attendance must be preregistered and screened.

What will the post FOSTA sex/adult industry look like? Are you concerned, worried or panicked? There is no question that with FOSTA the industry will change. But exactly how it will change is still unknown. But it’s not only FOSTA, there is also MLAT and you also need to be concerned with the CLOUD Act. The future is here, and you should know what it will look like.

To help the community, I am offering a FREE closed seminar to escorts (only) that want to learn about FOSTA and the future. The length of the seminar is open so that everyone will have an opportunity to ask whatever questions they may have. It will be scheduled for Friday, May 18th at an undisclosed location. It will NOT be broadcast on the Internet for obvious reasons.

Please fill out the form below (if your information disappears as you move to the next line do not worry, that is just a glitch in the program, just continue and click submit)

You can also email me at michael (at) fattlegal.com

Based on the success of the FOSTA Seminar in Las Vegas on April 21st, and the generosity of Alia Janine ( http://aliajanine.com/ ) – former pornstar, now student/comedian, I already have the funds to travel to one city relatively close to Las Vegas, to present my comprehensive FOSTA Seminar.

Currently, I am considering Dallas, Texas and Phoenix, Arizona as the next two cities. However, I am willing to travel and to present this seminar for free to independent escorts anywhere (within reason). I do not charge for the seminar, however I cannot lose time ($$$) from my practice, provide this seminar for free and pay all of my own travel costs. I would require that my travel costs be paid for by the group that wants me to travel. (Example: 30 escorts would contribute $25-$50 each to offset the travel costs – plane/hotel) My normal hourly rate for this type of seminar is $500 per hour. And this will be a 4 hour seminar ($2000 value). The information you will receive will be well worth it.

The travel costs can also be funded through crowd funding at;

https://www.crowdjustice.com/

Please be aware, this seminar is only open to independent escorts. And everyone must be screened and verified. Host cities will be determined by the number of potential attendees in each city.

Bring Me to Your City !

Go to my Twitter account – https://twitter.com/pornlaw – and let me know what city you want me to travel to!

Or if you want to remain private fill out the form below and tell me the city you want me to travel to in the comment section (if your information disappears as you more to the next line do not worry, that is just a glitch in the program, just continue and click submit)

You can also email me at michael (at) fattlegal.com

With the passage of FOSTA and the seizure of Backpage, escorts are running scared and are worried. With bad situations comes new solutions, and some times new solutions are too good to be true. There are new websites, hosting services, apps and email services popping up everyday promising to help escorts stay safe and to protect their privacy. Some of these sites use their offshore location and hosting as a selling point. Others will try to entice you with their promises of encryption and security. Remember, they are trying to sell you, so some puffery is allowed in sales. False claims are not.

I am not a “tech guy” so I will not discuss the issue of security, however, the issue of privacy should be just as important. There seems to be some confusion over websites, apps or services that are hosted off shore and whether that will provide any protection from the prying eyes of the US government or any other government for that matter.

The answer is in that company’s Terms of Use or Service and their Privacy Policy as well as this list;

https://mlat.info/mlat-index

Forgetting the CLOUD Act for a moment, there is still MLAT. MLAT stands for Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty. So you may ask, what is MLAT;

Mutual Legal Assistance Treaties (MLATs) are agreements between two or more countries, which create obligations under international law for governments to assist one another in criminal investigations and prosecutions. Law enforcement officers or prosecutors use them when they need help to obtain evidence from within another country’s jurisdiction.

And what can types of information can a law enforcement officer request under MLAT;

• obtaining witness testimony (either voluntarily or by compulsion) Note: this includes business records from websites
• executing search warrants
• obtaining bank records
• freezing or forfeiting the proceeds of crime

Depending on what country that website, app or email service is located in, there may be a MLAT that would allow for your information to be subpoenaed by law enforcement. Here is a well written FAQs page about how MLAT works;

https://mlat.info/faq

Therefore, to really understand whether your information is protected and will remain private, you should review the TOU or Privacy Policy to determine if the company will turn over your information based upon a valid subpoena or search warrant issued to that website, app or email service. Most legitimate businesses will comply with a valid subpoena from a local court or law enforcement agency. You should also research where the company is headquartered or where your information is stored. If it is in a country that has a MLAT with the country where you reside, you can assume that they will turn over your information without even telling you. You can ignore their claims that they won’t, that is puffery and you need to look at the contract that will bind them and you in all of your dealings, including when law enforcement comes knocking.

No one likes reading TOU, but in this climate it is of the utmost importance that you do, if you want your information to stay safe. Do not take anyone’s word, what someone from the company posts on Twitter, do not assume that based on an someone’s endorsement, that your information will be private and safe. Read the TOS for yourself and if you need to – get a lawyer to explain it to you.