For everything else - there's the DOJ
The Montreal Mirror is reporting in an article
entitled Crisis in Pornland that according to some, 18
U.S.C. 2257 is not only draconian but will place such an economic burden on
website owners and adult performers it could require 24,000 (yes - that's twenty
four thousand) personal computers to house the information required to be
maintained.
The site also reports that performers may not be able to take any vacation due to the new regulation.
Now it may sound far fetched - but the quotes above seem reasonable. The Department of Justice is now apparently requiring the following:
1) Websites who provide adult content must make available to the Department of Justice 20 hours per day (minimum) access to records of the real names and addresses of performers.
2) That this information must be provided to all associate websites which also carry your content.
3) Websites which provide streamed content must maintain all that content online.
So here is what this means.
If you are a website owner, the DOJ can come to your business 20 hours a day (I am assuming the four remaining hours are contiguous - say from 4am to 8am) to inspect your records. If you are a small home based business - forget ever going anywhere. I'm sure that when the DOJ comes to your home office to inspect your records they will find that you have left to go to the store. Upon your return you would be arrested since they couldn't come in and inspect your records.
Item two - let's think about this for a minute. I like Kobe Tai. So, is the DOJ telling me that all I have to do to get her REAL name and REAL address is to register a website then purchase her content? Hey - I'm there!
Now, according to the article, if a performer produces streaming content 4-5 hours per day, 6-7 days per week, then that performer must keep all the performances on disk. So, someone apparently ran some quick numbers and decided it would take 24,000 personal computers to store all that content. I don't know about that so I thought I would run the numbers myself.
I have a couple videos on my website. They are low resolution, and short clips but they will do for this mental exercise.
TITLE: DURATION: SIZE:
Meeshka and Nova 45 seconds 1.1 Megabytes
Capture the Schmoo 56 seconds 1.7 Megabytes
I've Got a Stick 29 seconds 1.6 Megabytes
Now, these films are quite smaller (height/width) than I would assume a streaming porn video would be, and they are also compressed for non-professional style websites. For example the last video, I've Got a Stick was almost 10 Megabytes before web page compression.
So, it would be reasonable to say that stream video would run somewhere between 1.5 Megabytes and 20 Megabytes per minute based on the above values.
Let's call it 2 Megabytes per minute. Very nicely compressed, audio and video.
There are:
60 minutes per hour = 120 Megabytes
8 hours per workday = 860 Megabytes
5 workdays per week = 4300 Megabytes or 4.3 Terabytes
4 weeks per month = 17200 Megabytes or 17.2 Terabytes
12 months per year = 206,400 Megabytes or 206.4 Terabytes
So, in order to store one years worth of work, at my low grade and poor sound quality it would take 206.4 Terabytes of storage.
I am currently into Apple computers. Lucky for me, Apple can provide just such a storage system. The storage system comes in 1, 2.8 and 5.6 Terabyte storage configurations. The cost is only a couple thousand dollars each. Let's go with the largest capacity at 5.6 Terabytes and a cost of only $12,994 each.
It would take 206.4 Terabytes to store one years worth of data, or 36.535714285714 (let's call it 37) units to store the data. Now that unit does come with 14 drives each, 1 Gig of RAM and dual raid controllers, redundant power and redundant cooling. But, using standard rules of available hot-swapable storage and backup - we need at least one more replacement unit one hand for every 10 units in use. But, let's be frugal and say one unit available for every 20 units in use. So another two units ready in case of failure. Thats 37 units plus 2 backups for a total of 39 units per year of data.
39 units at $12,994 each = $506.766.00
37 battery backup modules at $350 each = $12,950.00
37 Fibre Channel cards at $499 each = $18,463.00
39 Service parts kits at $2,249 each = $87,711.00
39 Premium service/support plans at $999 each = $38,961.00
And, with a sale like this - let's say Apple is feeling nice and happy - so they ship it all for free.
Total cost for a system to keep one years worth of streaming video online? $664,851.00
Of course, this doesn't include the power required to keep such a system running, or the space, or the additional rack equipment needed to put it all together. But, you get the idea.
Now suppose someone does this for a couple years? That's quite a chunk of change. The example used in the article is of a performer who does this for 7 years. It would take nearly 280 of these units and nearly 4 million dollars to store the data required by 18 U.S.C. 2257. All this just to adhere to the law! What if you miss something?
Well, that's simple. Your first violation (a single image) is 5 years in prison. Then, it's 15 years for each additional picture. I note picture because I am sure that our Government will be quick to point out in a court of law that streaming video is nothing more than quickly displayed still images at 30 frames per second. One second of video for which you do not have the proper paperwork or have not properly stored the image, or for which you cannot find the documentation, or you weren't at in the home office when the DOJ came to kick in your door could easily lead to
15 years * 1 second of video = 6,740 years in prison AND fines up to $300,000 PER SECOND OF VIDEO!
I guess that point of the article is correct - "this creates such an enormous economic burden to put a price on freedom of expression that it isn't consistent with American values."
The site also reports that performers may not be able to take any vacation due to the new regulation.
Now it may sound far fetched - but the quotes above seem reasonable. The Department of Justice is now apparently requiring the following:
1) Websites who provide adult content must make available to the Department of Justice 20 hours per day (minimum) access to records of the real names and addresses of performers.
2) That this information must be provided to all associate websites which also carry your content.
3) Websites which provide streamed content must maintain all that content online.
So here is what this means.
If you are a website owner, the DOJ can come to your business 20 hours a day (I am assuming the four remaining hours are contiguous - say from 4am to 8am) to inspect your records. If you are a small home based business - forget ever going anywhere. I'm sure that when the DOJ comes to your home office to inspect your records they will find that you have left to go to the store. Upon your return you would be arrested since they couldn't come in and inspect your records.
Item two - let's think about this for a minute. I like Kobe Tai. So, is the DOJ telling me that all I have to do to get her REAL name and REAL address is to register a website then purchase her content? Hey - I'm there!
Now, according to the article, if a performer produces streaming content 4-5 hours per day, 6-7 days per week, then that performer must keep all the performances on disk. So, someone apparently ran some quick numbers and decided it would take 24,000 personal computers to store all that content. I don't know about that so I thought I would run the numbers myself.
I have a couple videos on my website. They are low resolution, and short clips but they will do for this mental exercise.
TITLE: DURATION: SIZE:
Meeshka and Nova 45 seconds 1.1 Megabytes
Capture the Schmoo 56 seconds 1.7 Megabytes
I've Got a Stick 29 seconds 1.6 Megabytes
Now, these films are quite smaller (height/width) than I would assume a streaming porn video would be, and they are also compressed for non-professional style websites. For example the last video, I've Got a Stick was almost 10 Megabytes before web page compression.
So, it would be reasonable to say that stream video would run somewhere between 1.5 Megabytes and 20 Megabytes per minute based on the above values.
Let's call it 2 Megabytes per minute. Very nicely compressed, audio and video.
There are:
60 minutes per hour = 120 Megabytes
8 hours per workday = 860 Megabytes
5 workdays per week = 4300 Megabytes or 4.3 Terabytes
4 weeks per month = 17200 Megabytes or 17.2 Terabytes
12 months per year = 206,400 Megabytes or 206.4 Terabytes
So, in order to store one years worth of work, at my low grade and poor sound quality it would take 206.4 Terabytes of storage.
I am currently into Apple computers. Lucky for me, Apple can provide just such a storage system. The storage system comes in 1, 2.8 and 5.6 Terabyte storage configurations. The cost is only a couple thousand dollars each. Let's go with the largest capacity at 5.6 Terabytes and a cost of only $12,994 each.
It would take 206.4 Terabytes to store one years worth of data, or 36.535714285714 (let's call it 37) units to store the data. Now that unit does come with 14 drives each, 1 Gig of RAM and dual raid controllers, redundant power and redundant cooling. But, using standard rules of available hot-swapable storage and backup - we need at least one more replacement unit one hand for every 10 units in use. But, let's be frugal and say one unit available for every 20 units in use. So another two units ready in case of failure. Thats 37 units plus 2 backups for a total of 39 units per year of data.
39 units at $12,994 each = $506.766.00
37 battery backup modules at $350 each = $12,950.00
37 Fibre Channel cards at $499 each = $18,463.00
39 Service parts kits at $2,249 each = $87,711.00
39 Premium service/support plans at $999 each = $38,961.00
And, with a sale like this - let's say Apple is feeling nice and happy - so they ship it all for free.
Total cost for a system to keep one years worth of streaming video online? $664,851.00
Of course, this doesn't include the power required to keep such a system running, or the space, or the additional rack equipment needed to put it all together. But, you get the idea.
Now suppose someone does this for a couple years? That's quite a chunk of change. The example used in the article is of a performer who does this for 7 years. It would take nearly 280 of these units and nearly 4 million dollars to store the data required by 18 U.S.C. 2257. All this just to adhere to the law! What if you miss something?
Well, that's simple. Your first violation (a single image) is 5 years in prison. Then, it's 15 years for each additional picture. I note picture because I am sure that our Government will be quick to point out in a court of law that streaming video is nothing more than quickly displayed still images at 30 frames per second. One second of video for which you do not have the proper paperwork or have not properly stored the image, or for which you cannot find the documentation, or you weren't at in the home office when the DOJ came to kick in your door could easily lead to
15 years * 1 second of video = 6,740 years in prison AND fines up to $300,000 PER SECOND OF VIDEO!
I guess that point of the article is correct - "this creates such an enormous economic burden to put a price on freedom of expression that it isn't consistent with American values."
Posted: Thu - August 25, 2005 at 09:02 PM If this blog entry was of use to you, why not show your appreciation by donating to support the site? Just click on the MAKE A DONATION button on the right hand side of the page! It's all handled by PAYPAL.
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Published On: Aug 30, 2006 06:55 AM
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Published On: Aug 30, 2006 06:55 AM