Companies fined for not using condoms

[RawAlex]

JR, it is up to individual performers, actors, actresses, and each person involved in the industry to know and understand the risks before they get involved in the industry. It is no different than picking someone up at a bar and having unsafe sex. That happens all the time, and literally hundreds of thousands of people have died in the US as a result of that.

The 4 people who got sick as a result of the HIV situation this year were performers in a high risk business, and they CHOSE to take the additional risk of unprotected anal sex. The men chose to give, the girl chose to receive, etc.

Yes, the producers bear some responsiblity for filming (and potentially encouraging) these dangerous acts, but none of the performers was "forced" (except by their desire to make money by fucking on camera) to participate.

If they are looking for a criminal, they should look at the actor who had unprotected sex with multiple untested partners (while in South American) and, knowing the risks involved, chose to do scenes in the US immediately after that involved risky behavior.

Yes, California is smart for using existing laws (rather than attempting to write new ones) to cover this situation, but it is a fairly large hammer to solve what in effect is a minor issue compared to the overall AIDS epidemic.

IMHO, the AGotUS has put into the minds of each and every state AG the desire to get at the porn industry, and I feel it quite likely that he (or his department) were consulted on this issue. I would NOT be surprised to have seen an active role taken at the federal level to review these laws to make the state feel comfortable that they could be applied.

Ashcroft's being a Minister has so many implications, some more obvious, some less obvious.

Nobody on either side wants ANYONE to get infected and / or die of HIV. I have too many friends who have suffered and died to think anyone would want that. However, the amount of effort to get after 4 isolated cases seems a little bit, well, extreme, when you look at the overall picture (hint: There were probalby 4 new infections in the US in the time it took to read this!).

Alex