Expert: Jim Boyd - 4/18/2009

Question
It's my understanding that the Department of Justice now allows producers of adult content to be retained by a third party.

http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/optf/links/2257-compliance-guide.html

I am considering starting a part-time adult web site from my home in California. Because this would be part-time, it wouldn't make sense for 2257 records to be stored there. That would require publishing my home address on the content, which I would be uncomfortable with, and I also wouldn't be able to have standard business hours there in order to be available for random inspections.

Are there reliable third party companies you can recommend that can provide record retention services (ideally inexpensive ones as this would be a part-time hobby, at least initially).


Answer
Hi Charles,

Your understanding is correct. As of December 18 2008 producers of Adult Material may contract with a third party individual or company to act as the custodian of records required by 2257.

The exact legal text that allows for this is:
28 C.F.R. 75.2(4)(h): "A primary or secondary producer may contract with a non-employee custodian to retain copies of the records that are required under this part. Such custodian must comply with all obligations related to records that are required by this Part, and such a contract does not relieve the producer of his liability under this part."

Two 3rd party record-keeping companies are already in operation, they are: www.2257services.net and www.usc2257records.com . Both are very good companies with a tremendous amount of expertise in 2257 Law. Either would be a good choice.


However, a third company, www.2257safe.com, is set to begin full operation in the next month or so. The owners/operators of 2257sfae.com are Adult industry promoter Kevin Blatt, Adult Industry Attorney Michael Fattorosi of Fattorosi & Associates and Daniel Underhill of Keyframe Multimedia Inc. These gentlemen are the absolute best at what they do and their expertise is simply unrivaled in this business. I HIGHLY recommend waiting a few more weeks to do business with them....