Do Child Pornography Laws Apply to Amateur Porn Websites

My main question is this, under the Child Protection and Obscenity Enforcement Act of 1988, porn producers are required to keep age records on all models they shoot, this also applies to "secondary porn producers" defined as "anyone who publishes, reproduces, or reissues explicit material". Does this not apply to porn tubes that host amateur content? It seems in definition it does, but in practice it certainly isn't enforced in any way. Can someone clarify for me?

I understand that many of these sites are hosted out of country and therefore not subject to U.S. law, is anyone aware of any international statues requiring them to keep age records?

I posted this here because none of the other categories seemed appropriate. Thanks in advance.

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Quoting J.Macendale

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I understand that many of these sites are hosted out of country and therefore not subject to U.S. law, is anyone aware of any international statues requiring them to keep age records?

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There isn’t any such thing as an “international statute” as there is no international legislature to pass such a statute. (The United Nations is not a legislature; it has no authority itself over anyone other than what countries agree to give it. General Assembly resolutions are not binding on any nation not willing to abide by them.) International law is the law of treaties, compacts, and customs of nations. Treaties and compacts bind the nations that agree to them, not the individuals or entities in those countries. It is up to the nations to enact the laws needed to carry out any treaty or compact obligations to which they agree and each nation does that differently. The main international treaty with regards to child pornography is the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. It was adopted by the U.N. General Assembly in 2000 and entered into force in 2002. So far, there are 169 nations that have adopted the treaty, including the U.S. and pretty much every major nation on the planet. But the treaty doesn’t specify that porn producers must keep proof of age of the person appearing in their videos. Instead, the treaty simply says that nations must enact laws to deter child porn but leaves the details of how to do it to each country.

Having your server outside of the U.S. does not exempt you from complying with U.S. law -- if you are going to host content that is unlawful under U.S. law, or that you cannot prove to be lawful, you had best block U.S. users from your website.

The U.S. has successfully prosecuted pornographers who had overseas servers and never set foot in the United States prior to being dragged here for trial.

Further, if any of the material passes through the US (or god help you the subjects in the video), you can certainly be prosecuted under US law.

Thank you everyone for the replies, this has given more to look into.

My basic question still remains though, and that is whether they are legally considered secondary producers, and thus required to keep age and identity records (though in practice don't) or if they are exempt under the current wording of U.S. law?

Any company trying to skirt the law on that issue had best have a very long talk with its legal team.

Well a lot of companies need to have a long talk then, because in practice all you need to upload an amateur porn video is an e-mail. This leads to a lot of "questionable" (in both age and consent) videos being in circulation. Right now I can't even figure out if this practice is legal or not...

What is your need to know?

Long story short? I'm looking in to trying to change the way these sites (Xvideos, Xhamster, etc.) do business. Problem is, right now I'm trying to decipher if the problem lies with the existing laws or the enforcement of existing laws.

I think that, if these sites are going to host amateur content, then they need to be able to provide proof of age of those appearing in the videos, and an e-mail and an IP (easily masked) doesn't cut it. Especially considering that even if you delete your profile with them, they will continue to host your video unless you contact them to specifically request it be taken down.

Like I said, these sites host a lot of "questionable" videos. I've had many removed by complaining loud enough. But I'm looking for a more permanent solution to a truly under-recognized problem.

I want to make it clear that I don't have a problem with porn, but do have a big problem with the lack of screening that these sites employ that has allowed some pretty outrageous things to remain on their walls for years. Requiring them to keep proof of age and I.D. (such as a scanned driver's license) would go along way to help with issues of age, consent, and revenge porn.

I think you need to look into when and why a website operator is and isn't liable for the content posted on the site.