Are image posting / rating sites legal?

[LisaMartWeb]

State: Florida

I would like to create an image posting and rating site using non celebrity people. Are these type of sites legal under the new 2257 laws being enforced this month (June 2005)? Have they ever been?

I notice that there are numerous other image posting and rating sites out there (I will not post the names here because I do not wish to "plug" anyone), most of which have partial or full nudity and do not have a warning page. Some of these sites have been around for years. The type of site I would like to create the user may upload titillating images but no nudity (pubic shots). Would the record keeping portion of the 2257 law apply to webmasters of image posting and rating sites?

 

[w98]

http://www.southern-charms.com/2257.html
This is a disclaimer I found while google'ing for '2257 law web site'

In it, it says that the webmasters are not the original *producers* of the material. The law states that the producers are required, by law, to determine that the person(s) depicted in their photos are of legal age and must keep that information on record.

I haven't seen anything yet that details that web site operators need to care about it ...

However, if I were the one developing the site you describe, I would simply put that same disclaimer on your site, as well as a link to the law itself as well as the text of the law itself on whatever page you use for people to upload the photo. Mention that you will be logging their IP address, user details to identify them (browser type, etc), and timestamp their upload so if any legal claim happens, you have as much information as you are 'reasonably' capable of maintaining to track the upload to a particular ISP at which point the ISP logs need to direct law enforcement any further.

As for whether candid photos can be posted, I guess the laws surrounding that would depend heavily on the jurisdiction where the photo was taken as to whether or not a candid photo can be publicly displayed without the consent of the person(s) in the image.

 

[LisaMartWeb]

http://www.southern-charms.com/2257.html
This is a disclaimer I found while google'ing for '2257 law web site'

In it, it says that the webmasters are not the original *producers* of the material. The law states that the producers are required, by law, to determine that the person(s) depicted in their photos are of legal age and must keep that information on record.

I haven't seen anything yet that details that web site operators need to care about it ...

However, if I were the one developing the site you describe, I would simply put that same disclaimer on your site, as well as a link to the law itself as well as the text of the law itself on whatever page you use for people to upload the photo. Mention that you will be logging their IP address, user details to identify them (browser type, etc), and timestamp their upload so if any legal claim happens, you have as much information as you are 'reasonably' capable of maintaining to track the upload to a particular ISP at which point the ISP logs need to direct law enforcement any further.

As for whether candid photos can be posted, I guess the laws surrounding that would depend heavily on the jurisdiction where the photo was taken as to whether or not a candid photo can be publicly displayed without the consent of the person(s) in the image.

Thank you for your reply w98!