Let's Play Porn Scare Whack-a-Mole!! Clover Finally Gets Cleared; Lisa Ann Goes SuperSleuth And Defuses Another Bomb

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Porn Panic 2012: The Syphilis Hits The Fan

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Porn Panic 2012: The Testing Wars: Here Comes The Spin

I would be derelict in my duties if I didn't post the reactions from both sides of the now aborted compromise that would have unified performer testing across the board.

First...the statement by Talent Testing Services on their decision to break completely with APHSS:

Talent Testing Service, Inc. worked diligently to comply with three basic requirements in order to appease the Manwin/FSC/APHSS model of presenting a unified reporting system. These three items were:

1. Change our web portal to demonstrate a "Cleared/Not Cleared" status of results instead of showing the actual test results.

2. Automated transfer of Talent Status to the APHSS Database.

3. Cooperate in helping to build protocols in case of a positive case.

Once these three items were completed, Manwin/FSC/APHSS was to issue a press release indicating that it would accept TTS test status to be viewed in the TTS web portal by its producers and agents. After completing the first two items, TTS was asked to provide its protocols for handling positive cases to Manwin/FSC/APHSS. We indicated that this was not part of our agreement, that we would assist and help to create these needed protocols (as agreed), but we would not have ours copied for use at Manwin/FSC/APHSS. We consider these protocols to be proprietary and confidential. At this time Manwin/FSC/APHSS demanded to see these procedures for which we declined.

“It has become evident that our initial position of not participating in the Manwin/FSC/APHSS mechanism for testing/reporting is the correct one.” said Sixto Pacheco, president and CEO of TTS. “We have always believed that industry testing laboratories should be completely unbiased and unattached from any other industry affiliated organizations in order to avoid any misconception about the validity of the testing being performed. Furthermore, the manual entry of a talent's "Status" into the Manwin/FSC/APHSS database by any participating facility is an unsafe practice,” added Mr. Pacheco.

TTS will continue to provide the level of service our stakeholders are accustomed to by providing the latest testing methodologies coupled with our technology based platform without sacrificing our Quality and Privacy Policies and Protocols in place.

Talent Testing Services, Inc. caters to clients by providing the most up-to-date technology. The company uses QR Codes for validating printed test results, as well as a convenient mobile page for verification of authenticity on-demand and access to actual test results. Producers/Agents as well as Talents are provided with a personal online dashboard that provides access to historical and most recent testing information. Furthermore, Talents can set up automatic reminders for next test dates.

 So, apparently, the deal breaker was the insistence that TTS incorporate their protocols for contacting performers possibly testing positive for STI's into the APHSS database, which they balked at for what they deemed "security" reasons.

Not to be outdone, of course, APHSS was quick with their own counter response.

This is the first word we have received from Talent Testing Services that they have chosen to stop sending data to the APHSS database. We regret this decision by TTS since it will have a negative effect on performers and producers.  Further, it obviously endangers adult production industry self-regulation protocols, especially at a time when the industry is under fire from outside interests that support mandatory condom legislation.

We have done everything possible to compromise with TTS – despite their objections to participation in APHSS – because we had requests from several producers and agents to include TTS data in the APHSS database. We agreed with producers and agents that including TTS data was the best possible situation for the industry (despite their unwillingness to comply with APHSS policy & protocols), in order to have a complete source of information for active performers.

If TTS is currently in dispute with Manwin over alleged demands placed on them for further cooperation, APHSS cannot comment on these developments as they do not directly involve any negotiations that we have had with TTS. APHSS responded to TTS’ initial demands by providing them with an automated interface to load data into the APHSS system. At that time, TTS agreed to follow APHSS protocols in the event of an STI exposure incident.

However, because of other objections from TTS to APHSS policy, they declined to be included in the APHSS program and so were not able to become an APHSS-recommended facility. It seems that now they have decided to drop out of the program completely, based on their own business interests.

We assume that Manwin has based their company policy on what is most prudent for them, and we commend them for giving serious consideration to establishing health and safety protocols for their company.

The APHSS database was developed by industry stakeholders, attorneys and compliance experts to be a comprehensive source of information, to safeguard self-regulation protocols – as well as providing performers with reliable health services that include doctors and healthcare professionals. The database design was also developed to safeguard user privacy and security.

APHSS-recommended facilities have been chosen from established healthcare providers that have agreed to abide by industry self-regulation protocols, including the presence of on-staff physicians and adherence to  STI exposure protocols. Many of those protocols are based on those developed by the AIM clinic. These components are essential to any industry self-regulation – without them, the industry has little defense against mandated regulation by governmental entities. The essence of those protocols have been effective since they were established in 1998.

In addition, the recently-initiated Performer Subsidy Fund is to be administered through the APHSS system, which will subsidize testing for all performers whose testing data is updated through the APHSS system. Without voluntary TTS updates for performers that choose to use their services, we cannot hope to know which performers have tested there, so subsidizing their test fees will be nearly impossible. Most critically, it will also be impossible for APHSS to gather data on performers that test at TTS, in the event of an exposure incident.

Again, we have had little communication from TTS concerning these latest developments and we hope that their representatives will reconsider the potential repercussions that their decisions will have on the entire adult production community.

We encourage producers and performers to consider carefully their own policies toward industry testing and STI protocols, but acknowledge that all are free to choose the services they wish to use. Producers and performers wanted - and have a right - to a system that offers them choice, reliability and, most importantly, cooperation in the event of any STI exposure incident. APHSS will continue to provide those services and more, now and in the future.

 So, it seems, we are back at Square One, with no organized testing protocols, a divided industry, and AHF/CalOSHA/LACDPH waiting for November and a successful condom mandate law to move in for the kill shot. Heck of a job there, guys.

Porn Panic 2012: The UCLA/Talent Testing Services Sexual Health Study: Empirical Research Or An AHF/Cal-OSHA Blindside For The Porn Industry??

Well, now....the Porn Testing Wars just got a new and ultimately interesting twist this weekend. As if the breakdown of the compromise between the Free Speech Coalition/Adult Performer Health and Safety Services and Talent Testing Services wasn't enough of a twist already.

Talent Testing, you will recall, reported last week that they would now back completely out of the compromise that they reached with APHSS, where they would share their test results with the database that APHSS uses to notify performers and producers of porn of their clearance to shoot scenes.  Basically, they cited incompatability with the protocols required by APHSS, including the requirement of a doctor on staff to verify test results and notify performers who are at risk for positive STI infection, as well as the need to maintain their "independence" from production companies such as Manwin, whom had essentially funded and backed the APHSS standards and protocols, and even offered to repatriate some of the costs of testing for performers. Mostly, though, they were opposed to joining APHSS on the concern that the latter group was, to their eyes, only a fundraising shakedown for the Free Speech Coalition, and biased towards a competing testing group, Cutting Edge Testing, that was formed out of the charred ashes of AIM -- the original testing group that was ridden out of LA in 2010 as part of the campaign to impose condoms in porn -- and whom was fully within the APHSS protocols.

Given the timing of all this happening while the Los Angeles County condom mandate is still being prepared for a November vote, one can marvel at the way that the industry is eating itself at precisely the wrong time.

However, a new and intriguing outside source has intervened to further stir things up a bit.

On Saturday, Talent Testing Services announced that they would participate in a sexual health survey hosted by the University of Cailfornia at Los Angeles (UCLA), in which they would offer their clients incentives (such as discounts on testing and free followup care) to participate in the survey. Essentially, any performer participating in the survey would have to sign a waiver giving UCLA the right to use their information (I assume with names removed for privacy protection) from their tests in whatever way they see fit.

That wouldn't be too much of an issue...except for one inconvenient fact: UCLA has also been the home of some of the more strident and openly hostle advocates of the condom mandate.  In particular, UCLA  - though its Reproductive Health Interest Group - has hosted seminars on performer testing and condoms in porn that have degenerated into nothing more than glorified press conferences for the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, the LA County Department of Public Health, Cal-OSHA, and other groups seeking to impose "barrier protections" in porn. (One such seminar even allowed Shelley Lubben to become the default "repesentative" of porn performers, while totally freezing out active performers who weren't so zealous towards the condom mandate and willing to torch the industry for its supposed mistreatment and "abandonment" of its talent.)

So, the question remains: Why would Talent Testing knowingly ally themselves with an organization which has openly abetted the agenda of AHF and would ultimately seek to undercut the industry??

At his latest post over at Adult Legal Blog, Michael Fattorosi weighs in one factor that may count: $$$$$:

There is a third potential possibility as well. Many people are now starting to understand that information is worth money. Data mining is a big time business in this world. STI testing results are indeed worth money to the United States government as well as corporations developing new drugs for STIs.

[...]

Performers wanting to receive a $40 gift card and free follow up STI medical care can participate in the study. Which essentially means that UCLA will have the right to their test results and medical care to use as part of their study – in essence a performer waives their right of privacy in so much that the information will could be sold. I am sure this information will be sanitized – meaning names will be removed since UCLA probably doesn’t care about a performer’s name or identifying information – rather UCLA cares about the empirical data – how often one tests, how often one catches an STI, the treatment received for such, how long the treatment lasted and how effective the results of the treatment were. That could be a data goldmine for a drug company trying to develop the next anti-biotic to fight any one of the many STIs on the planet.

How much can a group or organization receive for this type of information ? According to the link I posted to the National Institutes of Health’s grant overview information website, there is no limit. However if you want more than $500,000.00 you have to call the NIH directly. Apparently you cannot just email the application for a grant requests at that level.

I am not saying that Talent Testing Services received the grant themselves, however it does appear that UCLA has indeed received grant money for the study of STIs. The performers present a very unique situation in the world when it comes to STI research. I am going to bet that no where else in the United States does a group of people test for and possibly contract STIs as much as performers do in porn. And now that the testing cycle is being pushed to every 14 days, the amount of information is only going to increase and therefore the potential gold mine of data will increase in value as well.

As I tweeted, “there is gold in them thar HIV tests!”

 But as usual, I have a much darker, less pliable motive in play. Remember that UCLA has been all in with the AHF and Cal-OSHA throughout the entire condom mandate, and AHF has had no qualms in using underhanded tactics in using and acquiring performer records (whether it be using lawsuits to force AIM to hand over personal and private medical information, to using LACDPH staff to go to performers' houses with syringes seeking live blood samples, to exploiting both private message boards and underground sites like the original Porn Wikileaks in order to use private performers' medical records for their own cause). There's nothing that says that there wasn't some grease applied by AHF to get UCLA their grant for this study, and nothing says that the information gathered by this study won't be used by AHF as campaign fodder for their condom mandate ordinance. Or worse, that the information couldn't be conveniently be "sold" to AHF for use as blackmailing performers into compliance, or even recruiting them unwittingly in service to their potential "condom police".

It probably has also crossed Talent Testing's mind, too, that collusion with AHF/UCLA/Cal-OSHA, combined with busting the Manwin/APHSS/FSC/Cutting Edge Testing trust could gain them some serious credibility later on if the condom mandate ultimately passes and withstands court challenges. Clearing out a competitor AND getting paid...not a bad concept.

Now, all of this is simply conjecture on my part...for all I know, Talent Testing is simply taking advantage of an opportunity to contribute to a badly needed assessment of performer testing and STD study. But, considering the timing of all this, at the very least some answers are in order as to why they would do this at this time, rather than at least wait until after the condom mandate issue is resolved.

And, Shy Love and all those agents who are so exercised at defending Talent Testing's right of "independence" should take a step back and ask these same questions.

Porn Testing Wars 2012: Manwin Clarifies Their Stance Against Talent Testing Services; Reinforces Performer Testing Program Pool

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Porn Panic 2012 (The Original Series): Finally, Some Unity?? TTS and APHSS Compromise On Testing Protocols; And APHSS Holds NO-Holds-Barred Meeting Hashing Out Testing Procedure And Condom Mandate Resistance

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Porn Panic 2012: LA County Condom Mandate Initiative Officially Makes November Ballot. It's WAR Time, Folks.

While everyone is being entertained by the Great Porn Testing War between the Free Speech Coalition/APHSS/Cutting Edge Testing and the Shy Love/Talent Testing Services factions, no one has mentioned that all this show and blow could still be rendered irrelevant if Michael Weinstein gets his wish and imposes a condom mandate over Los Angeles County, as he already has over the city of LA.

And today, Weinstein and his AIDS Healthcare Foundation flunkies are one November ballot measure away from pulling the proverbial rug out of everyone.

The Los Angeles Times dropped the bomb this morning.

A ballot measure asking Los Angeles County voters whether porn actors should be required to wear condoms during filming has received enough signatures to qualify for the November election, a county elections official said.

The initiative, one of the most explicit ever seen on a ballot, will be decided by voters in a county that is the nation's most populous and headquarters of the U.S. porn industry.

Los Angeles AIDS activists and other supporters say porn performers are at constant risk of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.

"The lives of these performers are not disposable," AIDS Healthcare Foundation President Michael Weinstein said Wednesday. "This industry is sending out the wrong message about safer sex."

Many adult film producers oppose the initiative, saying that actors and actresses should be able to choose whether to use condoms.

Diane Duke of the adult film lobby group Free Speech Coalition could not be reached for comment late Wednesday. She has said previously that the measure was " government overreach into the way we make movies." Porn producers have said they tried using condoms in the late 1990s following an HIV scare, but consumers were not interested in spending money on porn with condoms.

Weinstein said his group collected 371,000 signatures in five months, far exceeding the 232,000 signatures needed to qualify the measure for the ballot. The county Board of Supervisors must take the final step of placing the measure on the ballot.

If approved by voters, the measure will require adult film producers to pay a fee and obtain a permit from the county Department of Public Health. Actors will then be required to use condoms for acts of anal and vaginal sex. County officials will have the authority to suspend or revoke the permit for violations, and could follow up with civil fines or misdemeanor criminal charges, according to the AIDS group's petition.

Weinstein said he was confident of success. The AIDS group released the results of a March poll of more than 1,000 likely voters, which said that 63% would vote yes.

"The people are ahead of the politicians on this issue," Weinstein said. "There's never been something on the ballot as sexually explicit as this, so it's going to be excellent education for people."

The requirement would apply to filming in unincorporated areas of the county and 85 of its 88 cities, including Los Angeles. The cities of Pasadena, Long Beach and Vernon have their own public health departments.

In fact, this gets much, much worse...because the story doesn't factor in the continuing and ongoing efforts of Cal-OSHA to procure regulations on "barrier protection" in the taping of sexual acts within porn, which would include not only condoms for anal and vaginal sex, but probably oral as well. Those regulations would probably become the template for enforcing any condom mandate law....and they could be enforced not only in LA County, but nationwide, since it's likely that the national branch of OSHA would be more than interested in the outcome.

And...this isn't just an issue for big porn studios, either. The authorities have every intention of applying the law not just to porn shoots, but to even private personal websites and cam services...in fact, anyone who makes any kind of sex scene for their own profit would have to apply for a permit AND impose condoms..even if they are married, monogamous, and totally free of STD's....all for the sake of generating money for Weinstein's enterprises driving the porn industry into the underworld some false sense of protection from STD's and HIV.

In short, the war we have been fearing is now upon us, and time is running short.

I don't live in Los Angeles County, so my vote won't count in this ....but if you do, and you are a fan of adult sexual media and you actually give a damn about its continued existence and the right of performers to make their own choices without misguided (if well intentioned) bureaucrats telling you how to engage in sex, you really, really need to follow this upcoming mandate campaign....and then turn out to vote.

Otherwise, we may wake up next year and find that the Lubben/Weinstein Model has been imposed nationwide and your personal sex life becomes an open fishbowl for public view and exposure and policing by the Condom Nazis.

My suggestion to Shy Love/TTS and Diane Duke/CET/APHSS?? Bury the hatchet, agree to disagree, and ally together against this proposal and all other attempts to impose this law. If there ever was a time for the industry to unite and fight, it is now.