Porn inspectors: adult industry fights tight rules.

• Author: Sanchez, Julian

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is eager to keep a closer eye on porn--and this is one time the adult entertainment industry would prefer a smaller audience. The Free Speech Coalition, a trade association for producers and distributors of adult content, wants to block expanded record keeping requirements known as "2257 rules," after the section of the criminal code in which they're found--that they say place unreasonable burdens on their businesses.

The rules require producers to keep records verifying that all their performers are of legal age to appear in adult movies or magazines. But in June, based on a new interpretation of the original 1990 statute, the Justice Department extended those requirements to "secondary producers" (such as Web sites that host adult content), demanded that more extensive records be kept for longer periods of time, and announced that it would do random inspections of those records. Violators face up to five years in prison for a first offense, 10 for subsequent offenses. A Justice Department press release claims the rules "are crucial to preventing children from being exploited by the production of pornography."

But Free Speech Coalition Communications Director Tom Hymes...