Originally Posted by
Melonie
the major new wrinkle of course is the Section 2257 law ... which for a live webcam stream basically requires that the person on camera post their real name, real address and real age on their webcam page in order to prove that they are over 18. This has put a major damper on 'independent' webcams, as very few girls (including myself) were comfortable with the idea of telling every perv on the net exactly where to find them in real life !
You can avoid the requirements of the Section 2257 law by allowing a hosting service to operate your webcam, and 'front' for you in terms of Section 2257 compliance. However, this also typically means turning over 50% of your profits to the webcam host ! On the other hand, a Section 2257 bust is considered to be a federal felony 'child porn' sex crime ... which will basically follow you for the rest of your life (having to announce yourself to local cops and neighbors as a 'sex offender' whenever you move, having to wear a radio ankle bracelet in some cities so local cops can instantly check on your whereabouts etc.)
Because the Section 2257 law basically cut webcam profits in half, I dropped my own website and webcam when the law was enacted towards web 'publishers' a couple of years back. Section 2257 had been in effect for mainstream publishers (videos, magazines etc.) since the 1990's of course.