OK in the aftermath of all the mess from the last couple of weeks here is what you should have learned.
Your real identity is everywhere If you think you can do porn and nobody will ever know your real name you are seriously mistaken. Thanks to the 2257 laws your real name goes out to hundreds of people who get screeners, people who really shouldn’t have that info and totally misuse it. It has happened at least three times that I know of that 2257 info has ended up on a website.
That said all someone has to do is google your real name and some other info and poof…there you are. Theres your facebook/linkedin/twitter/myspace/whatever page under your real name that your family follows you on. Nowt hey google your friends and followers…poof now they know everyone and they can send them all links to your porn.
If you are in porn and you don’t want your family to know, you have to go to extraordinary lengths to hide it, and even then if someone is determined you will fail.
Your best bet, is don’t hide it, tell everyone, family, friends, everyone. Don’t brag but don’t be ashamed of it.
Don’t post pictures of you or your friends or family on the internet
Don’t leave email trails all over the place emails can be used to find the forums you post in, your social networking pages, everything.
Consider ANYTHING and EVERYTHING you post on the internet to be public information, because IT IS!
Before you make that twitter account or facebook account or post that photo of you and your sister or whatever…ask yourself: Would I like to see this on a site like PWL?
If the answer is no…don’t post it.
13 Responses
As someone who has been a victim of identity theft TWICE, I urge everyone to protect their identity EVERYWHERE, especially online.
I still have a few credit issues I’m trying to clear up from the last person who pulled that number on me. It’s not as easy to undo the damage as you’d hope it would be, and it is a very slow process.
I have to agree with your advice. Here is one piece of advice I have given several people on ADT that posted they were considering entering the industry. It is simply if you have to hide your job, it isn’t the right job for you.
mharris you are correct
and dwb can tell ya…you think getting pwl info cleared is a pain…try dealing with identity theft….
@mharris – I agree with that. If you have to hide it, you probably shouldn’t be doing it in the first place. And it WILL come back to haunt you eventually.
On the other hand, it’s a good gauge for who really cares about you and who doesn’t. Honesty is best. My family stuck by me, a few friends disappeared. Good riddance.
I would like to push back just a little on the notion that, “if you have to hide it, you shouldn’t be doing it.”
This was an argument we all saw endlessly reiterated on PWL: “If these stupid porn whores are so ashamed of what they’re doing, then they shouldn’t be doing it!”
I think we have to be very careful when we propose our own version of this same cliche. After all, there are LOTS of things that people do, and do PROUDLY, even as they do NOT want their identities publicly revealed.
To take just a single example, people proudly wrote and published dissident texts during the McCarthy era–and yet they tried very hard to keep their identies secret. They tried to hide their identity not because they were ashamed of what they were writing, but because they feared the retaliation of a frankly ignorant and intolerant public, and an even more ignorant and intolerant government.
Whistleblowers, controversial artists, clandestine government agents, and many other individuals have a keen interest in trying to keep secret their identity, even as they proudly carry out the work they do.
So I would ask that we be careful not to emulate the vicious rhetoric of PWL–lets not tell people that if they feel inclined to hide their identities, then they shouldn’t be doing this work in the first place. That’s simply not true. Instead, we should advise members of the adult entertainment community of the RISKS involved–the risk that identities will be revealed, etc. But I don’t think our message should be, “Unless you are completely open about it, you shouldn’t be doing it…” That is far too PWL-esque for me.
And I would add to that: “bragging, optional.” 😀
SlavojLiraut
I think you make a good point, and a valid one. I would still caution anyone entering this business that it’s impossible to stay anonymous and work in mainstream porn. If that would cause problems in your life you have to accept that going in.
When I interview girls to shoot for me I warn them of this and I also tell them absolutely no drugs or alcohol on my set. Period.
I tell them if they have to get fucked up to do this they have NO business doing this.
This is kind of a better safe than sorry approach I admit….Im guessing by your name that you dont live in the USA, sex work is far more stigmatized here than in most other countries. Ideally it wouldn’t be an issue for anyone.
regardless great to have you here man…..
Slavo and Mike, I don’t argue your points. However, in this age some relative or friend (or someone you went to school with) will see you on a movie/site and start bragging they know a porn star, possibly putting your legal name out there in the process. I understand an alias is necessary for promotion (We all can figure out that names like Lindsey Lovehands and Ariel X are not legal names) and may assist in their careers but I still don’t think that you should do porn if you don’t want your actual legal name attached to it. Dia Zerva’s situation may be the worst in this regard now that Donny has released her legal name on the Mark Spiegler site he maintains. She retired out of the Marine Corps and could have probably got back in if her legal name hadn’t been released. Now that the military has access to cross-reference her with her porn career that is likely not an option for her due to “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and the difficulty of people into alternate lifestyles (she has done a few lesbian-type scenes if I recall and more kinky scenes than I can count) getting security clearance in the US Government. I think Jack Hammer was also in the military at one time although I don’t know if his legal name was released or not in all of this. I think Dia was smart enough to know that her legal name could get out, but the way it did (c/o Donkey) was dastardly and mean-spirited considering he likely hadn’t ever even spoke to or met her. Bobbi Starr is in a similar situation with her symphony performing career (oboe player), her name was released on the Spiegler site as well and if she wants to move on to a different symphony she may not be able to now as the classical music people are the most conservative in the country in regards to sexuality!
People’s identities get outed and stolen from all walks of life, but it is a good bit of advice. I must have done something to upset you since the only mention I got was a vague, “It has been mentioned that it was bad form for me to post what was “obviously a private email” from Joanne at the FSC to my friend,” and a “you both” in a reference to FSC comments even though I wasn’t referring to the FSC in my comments. I will kindly bow out of here.
Ok. I’m one of the people who ended up on pwl. I have only shot one scene that I had to be aim tested. Obviously that was the one. I always was ok with being discovered by family and friends if they were looking or came across something. That never bothered me. I was and am willing to cross that bridge when it happens. I said when not if so I know it’s almost inevitable. Not a problem. My family and friends know my real name so it’s cool. What the problem was that pwl made it so everyone had a nice connection between my real and performer name by just searching on me. First page on google. I do contract work and I can guarantee that every time someone hires me they at the very least google my name. Bam, there it is, my name and a description of me as a whore.
Now, if a prospective employer came across a shoot and asked me I would be completely honest about what I do and have done and plan to do.I really am not ashamed of porn. I like it and plan on doing more. I have no problem with that. But, to not have to work for that information is what bothers me.
To me it’s not a really big deal to get outed for doing porn but there are a lot of people who have moved on. You can say they never should have done it if they were worried but people do things for different reasons at different times in their lives. Every single porn performer has the right to their own personal details. There are people that would do major harm to these performers. Thinking that their real name would be made public for any wack job to get to them was not really something most of them signed up for.
aww julie you know i love ya…i jjust let folks have their say in the comments and I generally try to stay in the background I get my say on the front page.
Julie as my brother told his new bride on his wedding night
“I love you, if that changes I will let you know”