Phatforums News Room and Blog

CANOGA PARK, Calif. — During the first part of April, the Free Speech Coalition began to receive calls from worried industry members about the existence of Porn Wikileaks. At that point, it was still unclear from where the information came, as there was what looked like medical information as well as 2257 information. Soon we learned that it was likely that AIM’s database had been hacked and that some 2257 records may have also been compromised. Almost simultaneously, I learned, from a conversation I had with AIM CEO Sharon Mitchell, that AIM’s clinic “temporarily” was closed due to a “paper work issue.” Apparently, L.A. County had closed the clinic based on a filing technicality. I was assured by Sharon that the paperwork issue would soon be resolved, that the database was still up and the draw stations were still active. Sharon assured me that the AIM clinic would reopen. Almost immediately thereafter, AIM was sued by two individuals for breach of medical records. I learned that the litigation expenses for individuals suing AIM were covered by AIDS Healthcare Foundation. AHF has been attacking the adult industry with frivolous lawsuits, Cal/OSHA and labor complaints as well as protests and misleading inflammatory press conferences for the past two years. AHF has been especially relentless in their attack on AIM. Meanwhile, FSC staff met with producers, agents, talent and attorneys to discuss industry options for combating PornWikileaks. We discussed what channels we could go through to get it taken down and if there were criminal implications for those directly involved in procuring and posting federally protected data. We agreed that we would need additional information for any action and sent an announcement out to the industry asking anyone who was impacted by PornWikileaks (PWL) to contact us and give us the information. We contacted the FBI and began working with them with two goals in mind. The first goal was to get the site taken down and to ensure that it was down permanently. The second goal was to prosecute the monsters who launched these personal and illegal attacks on adult industry professionals. The next information that I received — just as everyone else in the industry did--was that AIM was closed for “remodeling.” This did not make any sense to me, if the clinic had been closed by the county, why AIM would extend that closure for “remodeling?” Sharon had also confided in me during our last conversation that AIM was in financial trouble so I doubted that it had the money to remodel anything. I tried to contact Sharon Mitchell to find out what was happening but she didn’t return my calls. I knew that FSC’s Board Chair Jeffrey Douglas had been working pro-bono for AIM for the past two years and I called him to ask him if he would ask Sharon to call me. I knew he couldn’t and wouldn’t discuss any AIM issues with me because he was bound by attorney-client privilege. … [Read more...]

LOS ANGELES — An appeals court on Friday certified for publication its June 16 ruling in AIDS Healthcare Foundation vs. Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. “For good cause it now appears that the opinion should be published in the official reports and it is so ordered,” the court said in an order certifying opinion for publication. “There is no change in the judgment.” The June 16 2nd Court of Appeal ruling affirmed a lower court decision that said public health officials don’t need to require porn industry performers to wear condoms to protect against the spread of AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. A Los Angeles Superior Court judge dismissed the earlier ruling and the appeals court agreed, saying it could not compel the county health department to implement The state's highest court now will decide whether to take the case over the AHF's bid to make condoms mandatory for all porn productions in the county's "agenda" to combat sexually transmitted diseases. “We cannot compel the department to implement the foundation's agenda,” the appellate court ruling said in the June 16 ruling. “The foundation’s public policy advocacy is better directed at lawmakers to change the laws and workplace regulations.” After the June 16 appellate ruling, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation asked the California Supreme Court to take the case on. The group asks whether to make condoms mandatory for all porn productions in the county. The justices so far haven't decided to take on the case. The certification order can be viewed on Page 15 of this document. … [Read more...]

CANOGA PARK, Calif. — The Free Speech Coalition today applauded this week’s court decision blocking Cal/OSHA’s subpoena for information in the 2009 case of Patient Zero. “This ruling is a bit of a bittersweet victory since AHF has brought about the demise of AIM,” said Karen Tynan, an attorney who specializes in OSHA litigation and has represented several adult companies. “However, this shows that AIM was properly and legally protecting patient privacy at all times,” she added. The court’s action is the latest development in proceedings by Cal/OSHA to regulate workplace safety on adult production sets, spurred on by complaints filed by AIDS Healthcare Foundation. The adult industry trade group, along with Tynan, industry stakeholders and compliance experts have been working with Cal/OSHA to arrive at industry appropriate regulations for workplace safety, an issue that has been the focus of an AIDS Healthcare campaign. “AHF has filed lawsuits and legal complaints against adult production studios, talent agents and L.A. County Health, in its attempt to force its condom-only agenda on the industry,” FSC Executive Director Diane Duke said. Recognizing the gap left by the closure of the AIM clinic, FSC is currently developing Adult Production Health & Safety Services (APHSS), in order to ensure that STI testing protocols for the industry continue, and to protect the safety of performers. Tynan will serve as legal advisor for the APHSS Advisory Committee, when the APHSS program is launched. “New procedures and plans for industry medical testing and protection of performer privacy will be consistent with the legal analysis and conclusions offered by Judge Smith,” Tynan said. … [Read more...]

LOS ANGELES — The AIDS Healthcare Foundation will appeal last week's ruling by the California Court of Appeal that said Los Angeles County health officials can't be forced to regulate the local porn biz. The state's highest court now will decide whether to take the case over the AHF's bid to make condoms mandatory for all porn productions in the county. Tom Myers, general counsel for AHF, said that the group "will continue to pursue all available means to protect adult film workers and the public." Diane Duke, the Free Speech Coalition's executive director, on Thursday blasted the AHF, saying, "It is shameful how AHF's grandstanding consistently takes priority over the health and well being of their clients and now the people of L.A. county." "AHF has a history of frivolous lawsuits that not only squander funds that could and should be used for the prevention and treatment of HIV but also now into taxpayer dollars." But Myers said his group is on the right path and that the county has been derilict of duty when it comes to the porn industry. "The county of Los Angeles has the duty to protect public health, one the highest responsibilities of local government," Myers said. "It simply cannot ignore this duty and blithely sit by while thousands of people, both inside and outside the industry, contract STDs.” “Unfortunately, in dismissing our case, the Court of Appeal effectively ruled that the county cannot be forced to fulfill it statutory duty to protect the public from inherently hazardous activities, such as sexually transmitted diseases resulting from the making of adult films. We disagree with that conclusion, and will seek Supreme Court review." The decision to ask state justices to weigh in on the case contradicts an earlier statement to XBIZ by AHF officials. Appellate judges, in the unpublished opinion last week, said the county's health department has discretion to determine what measures are necessary to prevent the transmission of communicable diseases and could not be forced by the courts to implement the specific means advocated by the AHF. The AHF said in the appeal that that the porn biz in Los Angeles county has been afflicted by recurrent outbreaks of sexually transmitted diseases among performers — an "epidemic" — including HIV, gonorrhea, syphilis, chlamydia, hepatitis, genital human papillomavirus infection and genital herpes. It blames the "lack of protective equipment for performers, including condoms,” for the so-called "epidemic," and says the county has taken no effective steps to address it. … [Read more...]

WASHINGTON — A Cal/OSHA investigation involving a porn performer has hit a roadblock after a judge denied the agency’s request to obtain identifying information of the performer’s production company. The employee contracted HIV in 2009 in Los Angeles County and is only known as Patient Zero. Cal/OSHA subpoenaed the information from AIM Healthcare, which has since been shut down. Patricia Ortiz, a Cal/OSHA spokesperson, told XBIZ that the division never sought the patient’s identifying information such as their name, personal medical records or HIV test results. “Cal/OSHA’s goal is to identify the employer to address the HIV exposure,” Ortiz said. She added that the agency remains concerned that employees in the adult industry continue to expose employees to sexually transmitted infections such as HIV as many employers don’t require the use of condoms. But Alameda Superior Court Judge Winifred Y. Smith ruled that a patient’s privacy trumps the agency’s subpoena request, saying that Cal/OSHA offered no reason why it can’t prove a violation by looking into the records of film producers themselves. “Even if the government agency itself has a duty to maintain the confidentiality of the information, constitutional privacy may bar the agency form obtaining the information,” the judge said. “Cal/OSHA has not demonstrated, by evidence or argument, a compelling need for the information sought in the subpoena. Nor has it demonstrated that its subpoena is narrowly tailored to minimize the intrusion on plaintiff’s privacy issues.” Ortiz said the agency is considering whether to appeal the ruling. … [Read more...]

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge has denied Facebook's request to expedite discovery requests in learning the identities of about 100 affiliates of FriendFinder-owned FacebookOfSex.com. U.S. District Judge Donny Ryu on Friday ruled that Facebook hadn't demonstrated good cause for expedited discovery and that "its discovery requests are so broad as to be implausibly tailored for the sole purposes of discerning unnamed defendants’ identities and crafting a motion for preliminary injunction." "[Facebook] may obtain discovery to identify unnamed defendants during the normal course of discovery," Ryu wrote. FriendFinder and its affiliates have been the focus of an infringement claim by the mainstream social network giant since Facebook filed suit in April. In the suit, Facebook says the name of FriendFinder's Traffic Cat site, FacebookOfSex.com, is too similar to its own trademarked name and it seeked expedited discovery to accelerate a more complete evidentiary record relative to alleged infringing uses of its trademark. In a motion to nix Facebook's request, FriendFinder counsel Floyd Mandell of Katten Muchin Rosenman earlier said "no good cause exists for [Facebook's] proposed expedited fishing expedition to search for other entities to sue and to interfere with defendants’ business references." Facebook's counsel, Michael Rhodes of the Cooley law firm, said that FriendFinder simply hadn't complied with its requests over information relative to names and addresses associated with its affiliate program and that talks have broken down. Facebook counsel further said that FriendFinder continues to use the "Facebook" trademark in the FacebookOfSex.com domain, which directs users to another FriendFinder site, XMatch.com, and that the company continues to benefit from accepting traffic from the John Doe defendants’ infringing sites. After the suit's filing FriendFinder removed most of the content, leaving a login screen for existing members to log in to their accounts. Facebook asked the court for expedited relief because it said it intends to pursue a motion for a preliminary injunction against all defendants, which have been difficult to identify because many use a proxy service domain registration that masks their identities. In its original suit filed in April at U.S. District Court in San Francisco, Facebook says FacebookOfSex.com " is a blatant attempt ... to hijack Facebook's fame for illicit financial gain." … [Read more...]

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles County public health officials have the discretion to mandate regulations to control sexually transmitted diseases on porn sets, an appeals court ruled Thursday. The county had been sued by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which has been a thorn for the adult entertainment industry for years as it attempts to make condoms mandatory for all porn productions. The AHF sued the county for its inaction over regulating porn shoots. It lost in a lower court and reached out to the California Appeal Court, which ruled against it, 3-0. Appellate judges, in the unpublished opinion, said the county's health department has discretion to determine what measures are necessary to prevent the transmission of communicable diseases and could not be forced by the courts to implement the specific means advocated by the AHF. The AHF said in the appeal that that the porn biz in Los Angeles county has been afflicted by recurrent outbreaks of sexually transmitted diseases among performers — an "epidemic" — including HIV, gonorrhea, syphilis, chlamydia, hepatitis, genital human papillomavirus infection and genital herpes. It blames the "lack of protective equipment for performers, including condoms,” for the so-called "epidemic," and says the county has taken no effective steps to address it. In their appeal, the AHF honed in on alleged violations of Heath and Safety Codes, including Sec. 120575, which requires that a health officer who knows or has reason to believe that any contagious, infectious or communicable diseases exists, or recently existed “shall take measures as may be necessary to prevent the spread of the disease or occurrence of additional cases.” The appeal also focused on Sec. 120175, which refers to venereal diseases, and provides that it is the duty of the health officer to investigate all cases, to ascertain the sources of infection, and to take “all measures reasonably necessary to prevent the transmission of infection.” The AHF contended that the laws impose a mandatory duty to act to control the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, and asked a lower court to issue a writ of mandate directing the Department of Public Health to enforce Secs.120175 and 120575 by requiring adult film producers ensure performers are vaccinated for hepatitis B and use condoms during filming. The AHF, in the alternative, asked the court to declare the department had abused its discretion under these sections in failing to take action and direct the agency to “cure that abuse of discretion.” But Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David P. Yaffe entered a judgment of dismissal, setting up a ruling on appeal. On Thursday, writing for the majority, Judge Richard Aldrich said Secs. 120175 and 120575 do not “impose a ministerial duty, for which mandamus will lie,” but “a mere obligation to perform a discretionary function.” The county Health Department has “discretion to choose among various … [Read more...]

LOS ANGELES — In one of the most heated and contentious advisory panel meetings so far, nearly 70 porn performers came out in force to voice their concerns and give input on a Cal/OSHA draft proposal containing modifications to California's health code to strengthen adult industry workplace safety regulations. Marked by angry outbursts and personal attacks between various performers and the panel, Deborah Gold, Cal/OSHA’s senior safety engineer, was visibly frustrated and had a difficult time keeping the group on track as she tried to move the five-and-a-half hour meeting forward. Audience members tended to move off topic on numerous occasions prompting Amy Martin, Cal/OSHA’s counsel, to reiterate that they would not be discussing any other issues than what was on the agenda. The purpose of Tuesday’s meeting was to gather comments from industry stakeholders to crystalize specific areas of proposed regulations in the draft, which is not a rule-making proposal. Several items were on the agenda including discussing definitions, control measures, alternative measures, medical services and record keeping. The draft described “adult entertainment” as the production of any film, video, multimedia or other recorded or live presentation in which performers actually engage in any activity that may result in exposure of the eyes, skin, mouth, anus, vagina or other mucous membranes to the blood or other potentially infectious materials – sexually transmitted infections (OPIM-STI). Many took issue with this description saying this was too broad of a definition. “Even kissing can pass along disease,” fetish performer Sid Black said. Gold said the goal is to identify an industry where there’s an intention to expose people and that it’s not about content. She said that saliva isn’t considered an OPIM. Attorney Paul Cambria said that regulations should be content based. “The only way to be fair is to identify activities that may lead to exposures,” Cambria said. “It’s not a matter of a category being adult, but rather as activities that are covered by these rules.” Julia Ann, a veteran adult industry performer, said these regulations were singling out the adult industry. “Our whole purpose is to be exposed,” she said. “This doesn’t make sense to me. It feels discriminatory that they are going after us and not other industries. It feels like we’re getting penalized because there’s sex involved.” Gold responded by saying Cal/OSHA has laws that apply to all industries and all kinds of employment and that this specifically deals with the production of adult films. Another performer Ella Darling brought up the topic of employee vs. independent contractors, which was brought up several times during the meeting. There was universal agreement from performers who said that they are not employees, but independent contractors and that these regulations would only apply to “employees” of … [Read more...]

MANAMA, Bahrain — A Tunisian court has ordered the blocking of all porn websites in the country within 48 hours. Gulfnews has reported that the court of first instance issued the ruling after three lawyers, Ahmed Hasana, Monem Turki and Imed Saadia, last week filed a legal case to re-impose a block of porn sites that was lifted following the revolution that toppled the regime of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali on January 14 who had ruled for 23 years. The court ordered the Tunisian Internet Agency (ATI) to re-block all X-rated websites. Since censorship ended in January, seven porn sites have appeared among the 100 most visited websites in Tunisia, according to the Tunisian Internet site Business News, five of which were in the top 50. The lawyers said porn sites have "negative psychological, physiological, social and educational effects" and that adult material clashed with the values of the Arab-Islamic society. The report said the initial ban on porn sites was lifted in January following an outcry by citizens for more individual freedom and rights. … [Read more...]