US authorities take action against porn sites for illegal...

[MaddyH]

BILLING - This is outrageous! They can stand up when there being billed too much, but not to protect the victims of the industry. Rediculous. Link is below.

"The owners and operators of playgirl.com, highsociety.com and scores of other adult web sites have been charged by the US Federal Trade Commission with illegally billing thousands of consumers for services that were advertised as free, and for billing other consumers who never visited the web sites at all.
The FTC and the New York Attorney General have taken court action in New York to halt the illegal billing practices and have asked the court to freeze the assets of the responsible companies pending trial, to provide for consumer redress.

New York City-based Crescent Publishing Group, its owner, Bruce Chew, and David Bernstein, are named in the federal court complaint detailing the charges, along with 64 affiliated corporations that operate the adult entertainment web sites.

According to the complaint, the "Free Tour Web Sites" generated income of $188 million between 1997 and October 1999 - $141 million of which was generated in the first 10 months of 1999 alone.

The web sites claim that consumers' credit card numbers are required solely to prove that the consumers are of legal age to view the adult material, and that the credit cards will not be billed. But thousands of consumers were charged recurring monthly membership fees ranging from $20 to $90, the complaint says.

The FTC said this week that: “Consumers who tried to dispute the charges were met with a variety of barriers designed by the defendants to thwart their efforts.” According to the complaint, the defendants use billing names different than the names of the Web sites, so consumers often had no idea who was billing them or why. Moreover, consumers often had difficulty the contacting anyone to get refunds from information provided to them on their billing statement.

The FTC and New York Attorney General According claim that the defendants routinely change corporate billing names and merchant banks in an attempt to avoid the fraud detection systems of credit card organisations such as Visa."

http://www.out-law.com/page-934

[sunnysmiles]

I almost feel like saying "good" - but I refrain... because I know the implications.

They know they can "swindle" morons from their money cause most of these fuckers have wives and girlfriends who don't want to know that their SO is watching porn... so these fuckers participate in pornstitution behind closed doors.

I'm hoping all their names will be outed and that there relationships are shot to hell and that no woman ever looks at them again. Yeah, I know I am dreaming.

I hope no one gets their money back, but I also hope that the stupid porn agencies go out of business with lawsuits. I would prefer if the lawsuits came from women in porn, but i digress...

[rich]

$188 million between 1997 and October 1999 - $141 million of which was generated in the first 10 months of 1999 alone.

I don't believe this. I bet the porn companies want to get sued just so people believe those figures; being seen as more powerful than they really are is worth the legal hassle for them any day of the fucking week.

I actually think feminists do them a favor a lot of times by going on about how it's a bigabillion dollar industry, as big as the conventional film industry, etc., because it's not really true. Bragging about being rich is like bragging about penis size to them and they tend to lie about both.

[MaddyH]

Rich Said:
"I actually think feminists do them a favor a lot of times by going on about how it's a bigabillion dollar industry, as big as the conventional film industry, etc., because it's not really true. Bragging about being rich is like bragging about penis size to them and they tend to lie about both."

You are probably right. They get off on the fact that we are negatively affected by them - this shows clearly in the way the women are treated in porn. Especially when they are being hurt, raped, gagged, and crying. They get off on the negative affect they have on women, because they can clearly see their power over them. Therefore, a woman saying they are affected negatively because this industry is made so "powerful" by abusing women and children. Only lends to their fulfilment - more power.[/quote]

[CoolAunt]

I understand what you're saying about this being free publicity for the pornmongers. However, that's from the point of view of those of you/us who aren't porn patrons. Reading between the lines, I'm reading that pornmongers screw their own customers, too (pun intended). The entire porn industry is rotten to its core and will profit from the damage it causes those who work in the industry, women and children who are harmed by the industry, and even those who support the industry by stealing from them. Pornographers care nothing about free speach (speech?) and are not here to protect that right for the common man. Pornographers care about the almighty dollar and nothing else.

Another thing to consider is that when the DOJ goes after those crooks for distributing child porn and other illegal materials, for tax fraud, for collusion (spelling?), any and all prior charges won against the pornographers will be brought up to discredit them. I commend the DOJ and FTC for going after them on any and all charges that will stick.