BBCity and the Ugly Politics of e-Commerce

I imagine most of you know by now that BarebackCity.com is gone. It closed down rather suddenly and quietly, and for the first few days following its disappearance there was no concrete information as to why. Long plagued by overcrowded servers and technical problems, it seemed that they had finally collapsed under their own technological limitations. But with new information posted by Steve and Kenny, it is now apparent that Bareback City met its death because of a decision on the part of PayPal to no longer provide financial services to adult content websites and vendors of adult-themed products and services.

Friends, the recent demise of BBC is just the tip of the iceberg. It is an omen of things to come; things that are happening quickly and covertly behind the scenes in the financial e-world and in Washington. And while I hate to say it, if you think that's bad, you ain't seen nothing yet.

Back in November, a certain global financial supercorporation (whose name I cannot print here for legal reasons) dropped a bomb on the internet, and the effect is rippling quickly outward. This corporation, whose name has become a "four-letter word" around my house, redlined the internet and classified all adult websites as high-risk entities. It then extorted the better part of a thousand dollars from each and every adult website in the US that used their credit card services for membership and billing purposes. Most of us in the biz paid this extortion under duress for fear of losing almost three quarters of our clientele. In return, the GIANT CORPORATION allowed us to continue accepting its brand but offered us nothing else in return... except more woes.

This sent a shock wave throughout the webmaster community. Third party billing companies, (eg: I-bill, CCBill, Epoch, etc), suffered from the pinch. Some even went out of business because of that action. Others fought creatively to stay alive. And rumors began floating about that worse was yet to come at a time when we were discovering just how oppressive the hand of our current right-wing administration was proving to be.

The next blow would be the announcement from PayPal that they were ceasing all adult-oriented transactions, as they didn't want to be tied into the porn industry. See, PayPal is a different kind of financial processing company that acts more like a bank than a credit card processor. But to the dismay of many adult-site webmasters, PayPal would only handle transactions for hard goods and services, or for mailing money via email to other PayPal account holders. They do not offer their services for recurring memberships, as each transaction is a complete and separate item. And for this reason, I suspect, people such as Kenny and Steve, who used their Bareback Video Store as the means of supporting Bareback City, found PayPal to be an effective way of dodging the GIANT CORPORATION's extortion tactics.

When eBay purchased PayPal in order to keep it from going insolvent, eBay announced PayPal would not handle transactions for adult-oriented merchandise after mid-June, except when it came to purchases of adult-oriented merchandise from eBay's own restricted adult area. Talk about two-faced.

Now, the GIANT CORPORATION has returned to deal the next big blow to the adult internet industry with the announcement that its US division will require all adult websites which avail themselves of their services to maintain records of proof of age of legal majority for every photograph depicting nudity or sexual content. And the proof of age requirement stipulates that a signed and notarized paper document is to be kept by the webmaster. Additionally, the kind of language you see scroll by at the beginning of every porn video you watch ~ you know, the stuff that declares that all actors are over the age of 18, pursuant to Section 2257 of Title 18 and CFR Part 75 of the United States Code ~ must be present on the first page of every adult content website. What does this mean to you?

Well, it means that soon you will not be able to post your hot nude photos on any adult paysite without submitting a signed and notarized affadavit of your age, address, and true identity for each photograph you submit. It means that you will have no more anonymity. It means that we webmasters will now have to act as custodians of such records for every image on our websites. And it means that the GIANT financial and credit card CORPORATION has overstepped its boundaries in an effort to push a great number of adult businesses off the internet.

It also means that a new door will be opened to the Federal Government to seize such records at will. Personally, I don't want the responsibility of maintaining your personal records (unless you happen to be in one of my upcoming videos). And, I don't want to be the one having to turn over those files if the feds come knocking at my door. Your privacy is your right, regardless of how the Homeland Security and Patriot Acts might try to compromise those "inalienable" rights.

As I said, the demise of BarebackCity.com is only the tip of the iceberg. Back in November, I cautioned the adult webmaster community that unless retaliatory action was taken at that time against the demands of the GIANT CORPORATION, there would be worse surprises in the offing. I knew that nothing good would come of allowing them to walk all over us. Sadly, very few listened, and fewer still took action. I attempted to organize a grass-roots level boycott of the GIANT CORPORATION (having had remarkable success leading boycotts against Dr. Laura and AOL). But my efforts gathered no support. Now this is what we face.

What's rich is that this GIANT CORPORATION, which operates in manners that indicate IT doesn't believe the laws of this country (and other countries) are written to include them, feels it has the authority to enforce laws and rules upon its customers that have nothing whatsoever to do with the services it is licensed to perform. Isn't that rich? What a bunch of shmucks!

Currently, we are trying to find creative ways of side-stepping the GIANT CORPORATION. But that may not be enough. So I want to prepare you for what is yet to come. The current administration is committed to ending porn on the internet even if it means violating our constitutional rights to free speech and creative expression. It looks as though the untouchable GIANT CORPORATION is in bed with the feds. So don't expect fairness or anything resembling Constitutional protection. We're already seeing our Constitution being dismantled by the most powerful men in this country. Instead, expect more insidious "morality laws" aimed at our culture and designed to take our freedoms and recreational enjoyments away. Expect to see more attempts in our hypersensitive society to protect children from the evils of the internet, regardless of how many conscientious adults it adversely affects. Expect to see more unethical rules and limits put on your choices. And expect to endure the loss of more of your favorite cruising sites. That's our tyrranical right-wing government in action, boys. And with Ashcroft (the man who covered up the statue of Justice because her boob was showing) at the helm of the DOJ, the Reagan years are going to look like a picnic. While Reagan may have had difficulty saying the word "AIDS", our current President has trouble contemplating the meaning of freedom of speech, let alone creative expression.

All this means is that we have a long hard battle ahead of us. It's a battle to oust the antichrist from the Oval Office and a battle to keep hold of our rights in the interim. I for one am not interested in seeing my rights being handed off to children, as if someone else's rugrats were more valuable to our society than me. Hell, the little diaper-soilers can't even fucking vote. I don't want children on my site, nor in my house, and certainly not in a position of having more legal protection than myself. I would imagine it's the same for most of you. And as far as I am concerned, webmasters are not $25.00-a-month babysitters. If the parents of these creatures can't be more responsible for monitoring what their own offspring are doing, it's not our damn fault.

We're going to stay here as long as we possibly can. It means we are going to have to be creative, inventive, and as ruthless as possible towards the pinheads that would like to see Barebackjack.com vanish. I encourage you to do the same. If some GIANT CORPORATION thinks it has the right to take away our freedoms, we need to stand together just as we have on the issue of barebacking, and hammer home the reminder that the GIANT CORPORATION is actually beholden to us. WE are the consumers. They feed off the money we decide to spend. Therefore WE make the decisions, not them. Use your power of veto. Tell them they are not calling the shots by cutting off the flow. Pay cash whenever possible from here on in. And vote against the right wing in 2004.

BarebackCity.com is, unfortunately, a casualty of corporate greed and Republican hysteria. I think it's a shame that Steve and Kenny fell prey to the pressures of these unethical organizations. There certainly were other options available to them. But, understandibly, the fight can sometimes seem overwhelming. Trust that Barebackjack.com will hang in there with the intention of riding out this storm. We are every bit as committed to our community as the former BarebackCity boys. I'm just hell of a lot more ornery than most others, and I won't go down until and unless every possible option has been exhausted. And if it comes down to it, I will reveal the name of the GIANT CORPORATION and retaliate with fervor. You can count on that.

Incidentally, it's not my usual style to mix politics with sex. After all, I'm not exactly a Congressman, now am I?

Be strong, stand your ground, and fight for what you believe. It's the American way.

Jack