The Free Speech Coalition has just released an on-line copy of their annual State-of-the-Industry Report for 2007-2008 in pdf format.

I just received this announcement from the FSC.

FREE SPEECH COALITION MEMBER ADVISORY

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Dear FSC Member,

Today the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cleveland struck down 18 U.S.C. 2257 on its face as unconstitutional. At this early stage, it appears that the decision in this case that began 12 years ago is a solid one. Our industry owes a great deal of gratitude to the incredible work of attorney Mike Murray and the courage and tenacity of the plaintiffs Rondee Kamins as well as the unnamed plaintiffs. Thank you.

Within the next few days, FSC will provide a more detailed analysis of the decision, the FSC legal team’s responses to “Frequently Asked Questions,” and an outline of possible next step scenarios. In the meantime, FSC, acting in its role as the industry trade association, will continue to keep members informed about this and other important developments affecting the industry nationally.

The Free Speech Coalition has released its “2257 Guide for Public Comment” and launched a campaign to garner industry participation during the DOJ’s public comment period for the 2257 proposed rules and regulations.

The guide educates members of the adult entertainment industry about how and what to communicate during the public comment period. Input about the new rules and regulations released July 12, 2007, will be accepted by the Department of Justice through September 10, 2007.

For more details, visit Free Speech Coalition web site.

The Free Speech Coalition announced today that, according to the Federal Register website, some of the rules and regulations associated with 2257 will be released by the Government on Thursday, July 12th.

Jeffrey Douglas, Free Speech Coalition Board Chair, and Reed Lee, FSC Legal Committee Chair and President of the First Amendment Lawyers Association, will discuss initial analysis of the regulations at the XBIZ Summer Forum 2257 Seminar, being held in Las Vegas this week, at 11:00am Thursday.

FSC will communicate initial analysis of the Regulations, to its membership and the industry, as soon as they are released.

FSC will continue to provide regular updates on the status of 2257 as the case unfolds through our weekly X-PRESS newsletter, e-mail advisories to our members, and posts to our website,” said Diane Duke, FSC Executive Director. “We are committed to providing accurate, up-to-date information to our members and the industry.”

In a decision made Friday March 30th at the ICANN board meeting, the board voted 9 to 5 to reject ICM’s proposal for a .XXX top level domain. This appears to be the final decision by ICANN as Board Chair Vinton Cerf said that they would not consider another proposal for a .XXX top level domain.

While there were several different bases for the various directors’ votes, the presence of the Free Speech Coalition was definitely influential. The participation of so many webmasters, from the largest to the smallest positively affected the outcome. Due to ICANN’s commitment to bottom-up decision making, the voices of thousands of webmasters voicing opposition was important.

As FSC board member Reed Lee observed, “The ICANN Board members who voted against .xxx did so almost uniformly for one or both of two reasons. They didn’t want ICANN ensconced in content control and censorship controversies. And they recognized that sharp opposition from the community distinguished this application from all others in this sponsored round. These were the issues Free Speech coalition advocated.”

“This process demonstrates the power of the collective voice of the industry. We of the Free Speech Coalition are proud to embody that voice,” said Free Speech Coalition Chair Jeffrey J. Douglas. “Together we can accomplish extraordinary things!”

It was noteworthy that in the only public forum on the topic, ICM Registry’s attorney, flown in specially for that debate, felt it necessary to attack the Free Speech Coalition, and by implication, its membership. For instance, he claimed falsely that FSC’s first rejection of ICM Registry’s proposal was based solely on a failed attempt to have complete control of the dot xxx process. His unwarranted and dishonest comments ultimately reflected badly on ICM Registry.

“When we come together to tell the truth about our industry as a healthy, vital, positive component of today’s business community we have a powerful voice,” said Diane Duke, Free Speech Coalition Executive Director, “Our presence at this conference was a direct result of membership support and what we can do when we come together as an industry, thank you to all who supported us in this endeavor.”

The Free Speech Coalition is the national trade organization to the adult entertainment industry. Its mission is to safeguard the industry from oppressive governmental regulation and to promote good business practices within the industry.

Source: Free Speech Coalition

Today Dr. Richard Wagner posted an open letter to the Free Speech Coalition, critical of their Board election process. In his letter, Wagner asks the question, “how are FSC members, myself included, supposed to make an informed decision about these important leadership positions if we don’t know Shinola about any of the nominees.”

Read Dr. Wagner’s letter post at the In Gay Porn industry forum.

On July 7, 2006 The Free Speech Coalition (FSC) released a draft Code of Ethics & Best Practices for the Adult Entertainment Industry, to be considered by its membership over the next several months with final approval slated for late 2006.

Compiled with the support and approval of industry leaders, the FSC Code of Ethics reflect the following guiding principles:

• FSC members run responsible companies that comply with the law.
• FSC members conduct business with integrity and professionalism.
• FSC members take appropriate steps to help parents control access by minors to adult entertainment without limiting access to such content by consenting adults.

Included in the draft Best Practices are a number of steps Adult entertainment companies already take to help parents utilize these tools, including:

• Registering their websites with the above companies;
• Labeling their websites with text that triggers the above tools;
• Self-labeling through ICRA (Internet Content Rating Association) and other self-labeling methods;
• Placing links to the above tools on their front pages so that adult consumers who are parents can access the tools quickly and easily; and,
• Using age verification methodologies that prevent unsupervised minors from ordering adult entertainment products.

For more details, read the full announcement posted to the InGayPorn forum.

On June 23, 2006 The Free Speech Coalition (FSC) announced the award nominees for the Gala 19th Annual Night of the Stars (NoS) Show, which will take place Saturday July 15, 2006, at the LA Center Studios in Los Angeles, California.

2006 Night of the Stars Nominees:

Lifetime Achievement Awards:
Actress - Jill Kelly
Actor - Marcus Spencer (aka Mr. Marcus)
Director - To Be Announced
Gay Actor - Michael Brandon
Gay Director - John Rutherford

The Good Guy Award - Bob Pyne Sr.
The Positive Image Award - To Be Announced
The Advocate Award - Angelina Spencer (ACE)

The Freedom Isn’t Free Award:
Dave Cummings
New Beginnings
Peekay

Sponsorship Opportunities for the NoS Awards program are still available. The deadline for all ad artwork is Wednesday June 28, 2006. Advertising and ticket inquiries should be directed to val((at))freespeechcoalition.com. Tickets may also be purchased online.

The FSC encourages everyone to come join the industry on this special night as it honors the individuals and companies that have distinguished themselves in their support of free speech. For more information, visit the Free Speech Coalition web site.

The Free Speech Coalition (FSC) has launched their long anticipated web site redesign, and by all accounts it was well worth the wait. The new design delivers members and guests a well-organized free speech information powerhouse.

This is a one-stop-shop for the adult industry, news media, legislators, and general public looking for free speech issues, information, news, and outreach. In addition the FSC has wisely moved this site to a new domain - freespeechonline.org. The new domain sends a clear message that the FSC web site is the on-line authoritative resource for free speech.

My hat’s off to the Free Speech Coalition for a job well done!

This is a follow up from my January 31 article concerning the Free Speech Coalition’s failure to notify its members about an important development in their 2257 litigation.� A full two weeks later, and there is still no mention, on the FSC web site, of their filing an appeal with the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.� Nor has there been any mention of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreeing to hear the appeal - both covered by XBiz.

During these two weeks, a couple of earth shattering news items graced the FSC’s home page.� The first was a sketchy notification of a change on the FSC Board, followed by the current announcement of “Rock-N-Roll Bingo”, an FSC fund raising event to be held in Southern California.

While a regionally specific fund raising event is probably noteworthy, I don’t think it overshadows the importance of our battle with the federal government over 2257, an issue that will have serious impact on everyone in the adult industry.

Apparently XBiz feels the recent developments in 2257 litigation news worthy, as it garnered two separate articles by them.� Now I may have missed it, but I looked all over the XBiz web site for any mention of� “Rock-N-Roll Bingo”, and found nothing.� I’m guessing XBiz didn’t find it newsworthy�go figure.

First Article By Xbix
Second Article By XBiz