Gay Porn News: XXX Raids in Times Square

Gay Porn News: XXX Raids in Times Square

Gay porn producers don't normally view the federal government as allies. In the past year, nearly a dozen adult companies have been subjected to raids by the FBI looking for record-keeping violations. So on Saturday morning when I got an text message from Owen Hawk with a pic featuring US Marshalls outside a run-down XXX store, I suspected the worst. Who would have guessed that they were there as a team?

Hawk and partner Matthias von Fistenberg from Dark Alley Media, along with the boys at Pitbull Productions, raided a series of adult video stores in Times Square (no doubt sandwiched between ESPN Zone and the Disney Store). The stores were selling counterfeit DVDs from studios including a Hot House, Falcon, Raging Stallion and Jet Set.

With all the hysteria about file-sharing -- as well as the Orwellian sirens-and-flashing-lights "do not share this DVD" segments at the beginning of certain movies -- it's easy to forget that one of the biggest incursions into gay porn producers sales somes from a guy in a back room with a DVD duplicator. It's a good thing Dark Alley got them this month -- you have to wonder if the US Marshalls are going to be as sympathetic when Gaytanamo comes out.