YNOT – Free Speech Coalition Executive Director Diane Duke and Membership Director Joanne Cachapero will be available to meet with FSC members and prospective members in Las Vegas Jan. 6-10 during AVN’s Adult Entertainment Expo and Internext.
“2010 has brought some important challenges for the adult industry, and as the industry trade association, FSC has been working hard to support and protect the wellbeing of the adult industry community,” Cachapero said. “We could really use support from all of the industry to continue the work we do in anti-piracy, opposition of dot-xxx, and with workplace safety issues and 2257 regulations.”
During AEE, FSC will host a performers-only meeting about proposed condom regulations and workplace safety issues on adult production sets. The meeting is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. Jan. 7 in Meeting Room 102 at the Sands Expo Center. Only currently active performers will be allowed to attend, as the focus will be on education about the latest developments and other sensitive issues that directly affect their personal and professional lives. FSC staff and industry attorneys will be on hand to answer questions.
Also on Friday, at 3:30 p.m. (prior to the performers meeting) in Meeting Room 102, FSC will sponsor the annual Arthur Schwartz Legal Panel, an open forum for exploration of recent developments in obscenity, zoning, labor law and bookkeeping requirements impacting all adult entertainment businesses. Panelists include industry attorneys Paul Cambria, Michael Murray, Gill Sperlein and Karen Tynan. FSC Chairman and industry attorney Jeffrey Douglas will moderate the discussion.
From noon until 1 p.m. Jan. 9 at the Sands, FSC will present an Internext panel entitled “So, What’s Up with .XXX?” Audience members will be encouraged to participate in a discussion about the latest developments surrounding the controversial proposed dot-xxx sponsored Top Level Domain, which remains in limbo awaiting approval or rejection by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. ICANN’s board of directors is expected to vote on dot-xxx as early as February.
Panelists for the dot-xxx discussion include Duke, who attended the ICANN Board of Directors meeting in Cartagena, Colombia, in December. Duke, Douglas and several other adult industry insiders spoke out in opposition to the sTLD during a public forum conducted as part of the meeting.
Also on the Internext dot-xxx panel will be adult industry attorneys Al Gelbard, Reed Lee and Gregory Piccionelli, in addition to attorney Matt Zimmerman of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. AVN Senior Editor Tom Hymes will moderate.
Although representatives from dot-xxx registrar-hopeful ICM Registry LLC plan to be in the audience, they will not be on the dais.
“Unfortunately, I am unable to attend the shows in Vegas as I am in Washington DC for some high-level meetings regarding the impending contract with ICANN,” ICM CEO and President Stuart Lawley told YNOT. “It is, however, a pity that, again, the FSC chooses to organize and populate what they refer to as a “discussion panel” on dot-xxx without extending an invite to ICM, so that the benefits and new revenue-generating opportunities presented by dot-xxx can be discussed in an open forum.”
AEE and Internext attendees who wish to obtain more information about FSC-sponsored meetings and events or wish to make an appointment to chat with FSC representatives during the shows may [EMAIL=joanne@freespeechcoalition.com]email[/EMAIL] Cachapero.
For more information about FSC’s goals, commitments and other programs, visit FreeSpeechCoalition.com.
