The Free Speech Coalition announced today some huge news. They helped performers were having their real names, home addresses date of birth, and other information posted on a website. They lawyered up and used the California privacy act to get the information removed.

CA Penal Code 653.2 makes it a crime to publish personal identifying information about someone without their consent for the purpose of harassment.

653.2.  (a) Every person who, with intent to place another person in reasonable fear for his or her safety, or the safety of the other person’s immediate family, by means of an electronic communication device, and without consent of the other person, and for the purpose of imminently causing that other person unwanted physical contact, injury, or harassment, by a third party, electronically distributes, publishes, e-mails, hyperlinks, or makes available for downloading, personal identifying information, including, but not limited to, a digital image of another person, or an electronic message of a harassing nature about another person, which would be likely to incite or produce that unlawful action, is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in a county jail, by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000), or by both that fine and imprisonment.

This is major news for all females in the adult industry for years who have faced this kind of trouble.

Here is the full statement from the FSC about the incident.

A doxxing site that once hosted the legal names and addresses of over one thousand adult film performers has been forced to remove that content following pressure from the Free Speech Coalition. The site first began posting the legal names, addresses, birthdates and other private personal information of adult performers in 2018.

A performer whose information was posted on the site alerted the FSC in January 2022. FSC determined the site was in violation of California law — CA Penal Code 653.2 — which makes it a crime to publish personal identifying information about someone without their consent for the purpose of harassment. A review of the hosting provider’s Terms of Service showed that, by violating the law, the site was also in violation of the terms.

FSC Executive Director Alison Boden then contacted the hosting provider, alerting them to the law and the TOS violations. Shortly thereafter, the site removed all information related to performers.  FSC has petitioned Google and other web services to delist the site entirely. Should the site appear again, Boden says FSC will again work to get the information removed.

“With the legal and technical help of FSC members and staffers, we were able to get this long-standing site removed relatively quickly,” says Boden. “I want to thank Lotus Lain, Corey Silverstein, and Jeffrey Douglas for working with me to find a solution to a problem that, unfortunately, keeps rearing its head for our industry. There are no permanent fixes, but that doesn’t mean we’re powerless. As an industry, we should never doubt our ability or resolve in the face of threats like this.”

You can follow the Free Speech Coalition on Twitter at @fscarmy.