this is bothering me now

[Cassie]

for those of us in the US, we know the legal age to do anything is 18 (with the exception of drinking and possibly working with written, parental consent). therefore i ask you, if a child (meaning under the legal age) cannot pose or be published on an adult webiste, shouldn't that law hold true for those who try to promote an adult website?

give me some honest feedback here. something that is logical and not based on personal feelings....

[Almighty Colin]

What is the legal age to promote a website?

There are many inconsistencies in law. I don't find this too troubling. Ages of consent of any kind are all completely arbitrary.

[Cassie]

maybe i am missing something then cause i cannot see what is arbitrary about laws pertaining to children. either you can or you can't; i dont see the gray area in this. then again, i am also not a lawyer.

with parental consent, there are somethings you can do from ages 13-17. i know my first job, i had to have, in writing, that i was allowed to work (this was when i was 13) and even then, i was only allowed to work from 3pm to 6pm (I was not legally allowed to work past sun down) and i could only work 10 hours a week. this was a regular job in a restaurant.

granted the internet is a wide open realm which is hard to monitor, but lets say you had an affiliate who was pushing you massive traffic, hence making you a shit load of money and you found out this person was 16. would you term his/her account or keep it hush hush. what kind of legal backlash could you end up with knowing this information and not doing anything about it?

for the record, i do not have a program and am not going though anything like this.

[Mike AI]

I do not know of any federal laws that would prohibit someone under 18 from starting an adult website ( running one). The Constitution is pretty strong in letting people do their own thing, especially when it comes to work.

Now hiring someone under 18 to work for you in the adult business could lead to some problems, including child endagerment or other issues.

[TheEnforcer]

"Contributing to the delinquency of a minor"

I have very little doubt that a DA could level at least that charge, and likely more against someone who knowingly paid someone under the age of 18 for joins to their adult site, and make it stick.

[Cassie]

Originally posted by Mike AI@Jul 18 2003, 10:07 PM
I do not know of any federal laws that would prohibit someone under 18 from starting an adult website ( running one). The Constitution is pretty strong in letting people do their own thing, especially when it comes to work.

Now hiring someone under 18 to work for you in the adult business could lead to some problems, including child endagerment or other issues.

in essence isnt that what a company is doing with an affiliate? you are pretty much hiring them as a so called independant contractor of which they get paid for their services. as a program, you are paying someone to push your site, product, whatever. i know what you are saying about the constitution, but.......

[sarettah]

About the only thing I could find was:

Title 18, Part 1, Chapter 71, Section 1470 (Obscenity Laws)

Sec. 1470. - Transfer of obscene material to minors

Whoever, using the mail or any facility or means of interstate or foreign commerce, knowingly transfers obscene matter to another individual who has not attained the age of 16 years, knowing that such other individual has not attained the age of 16 years, or attempts to do so, shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both

http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/1470.html

*******************************************

There did not seem to be anything in COPA that would address this other than the necessary "passing of sexually explicit material to a minor" that would be necessary for an underage webmaster to run his business...

But what I found interesting was I did not find a definition of "minor" in any of the federal stuff I looked at.... COPA uses "minor" in it's language quite a bit... Further on, it specifies that for part of the statute it is "17 and older"... I might have missed it, but I saw no straight out definition of "minor".

I would think that programs dealing with the webmaster might have some problems especially if they know he is 16... They could be on shaky legal ground because of communications they pass to him etc... But, if they truly do not know the person is underage, if they have been presented false bonafides, then they are probably in the clear too....

[Cassie]

thanks for that link. that is quite informative.

youre right, there is no definition of a what a minor is in that. yet there is a definition in the 2257 section. weird....

edit: 2257, i meant the 2256



Last edited by Cassie at Jul 18 2003, 11:12 PM

[Hooper]

From a truly unbiased standpoint.

At least in texas a person can sell alcohol at grocery stores, restaurants etc before one is 16.. everybody however agrees they shouldnt drink.

A person can sell cigarettes as young as 14 if they have a work permit. But everybody agrees they shouldnt smoke.

Our legal system is full of inconsistencies... being Just is not the same as being fair. or something like that.

[Almighty Colin]

Originally posted by Cassie@Jul 18 2003, 09:05 PM
maybe i am missing something then cause i cannot see what is arbitrary about laws pertaining to children. either you can or you can't; i dont see the gray area in this. then again, i am also not a lawyer.

It's the age itself that is arbitrary. Does childhood end at 16, 18, 21, or what? In the US, one can join the military when at 18, drink at 21, drive at 16 in most states and have sex at varying ages depending on what state one lives in.

[Almighty Colin]

Originally posted by Hooper@Jul 18 2003, 10:17 PM
From a truly unbiased standpoint.

I'm trying to have one of those but they always come out wrong.