Canadian Adult Entertainers Unwilling to Bare All to New U.S. Rules   - 3,219 Views,

It seems that adult-themed websites in the United States aren’t the only ones up in arms over the new U.S. “Age Records” rule for adult content websites, which became a reality this week.

Not only are adult industry performers in Canada concerned about the new rules, which require that anyone publishing adult content on the Internet in the United States must have the appropriate model’s identification, release and age verification on file for any model appearing in the content, but no less than Canadian Madame Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart herself has gotten involved, and is investigating whether the new rules will put Canadian producers of adult material in a Catch-22, where on the one hand if they don’t produce the identification and age verification, they will be in violation of the U.S. rules, and on the other hand, if they do produce the identification and age verification, they will be in violation of Canada’s privacy laws.

“It impacts on the privacy, obviously, of any adult performers and the effects of the privacy acts and what a Canadian corporation may be obligated to do to comply with the U.S. regulations.”, explained Vancouver lawyer Paul Kent-Snowsell.

Industry insiders have observed that in addition to the concerns of Canadian adult industry workers, the other likely fallout from the enactment of the new rules will be the forced closure of smaller and free adult-themed sites, many of whom either will be unable to trace their content’s origins to obtain records, or whom acquired their content by less than entirely legal methods.