ErotasOnline

Infobox_Company
company_name = Erotas Online, LLC
company_
company_type = Private
foundation = San Diego, California
location = San Diego, California
USA
area_served = Worldwide
products = Social Networking
Forums
Blogs
Chat Rooms
Online Personals
key_people =
industry = Online Dating
Social Networking
revenue = profit US$
operating_income =
net_income = profit
num_employees =
company_slogan = Connect, Date, Play!
homepage = [http://www.erotasonline.com ErotasOnline.com]

ErotasOnline is an online dating and social networking website designed for both men and women. It is the only adult social networking site allowing for all types of members from straight to gay, and bi-sexual and transsexual members. The firm is headquartered in San Diego, California. [http://www.erotasonline.com/ Erotas Online Website] ]

History

Erotas Online was launched in 2007 by a company called "Erotas Online, LLC" as a "social networking site, just in an adult format." The site serves hundreds of thousands of members across 31 countries in North America, South America, the European Union, Australia, Asia, and is continually expanding. The website is available in English, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, and German.

Characteristics

Erotas Online is similar to MySpace and Facebook in the social networking services it offers such as blogs, forums, chat rooms, online member pages, and instant messaging. The online dating portion of the site is similar to Match.com and eHarmony. However, Erotas Online's adult format caters to different members, such as those found on Fling.com, Adult FriendFinder, Gay.com, Manhunt, and Adam4Adam. The forums section of the site is similar to those found on Craigslist. Third party video, audio, and image posting is offered as well as YouTube and Video Google connectivity.

Membership

Erotas Online offers free membership and the social networking community has members of all sexes and all ethnic groups. Members who upgrade are allowed to post nude photos and many choose to do so.

Reviews

An independent reviewer gave Erotas Online 3.5 stars out of 4 and appraised the site as follows:

Erotas Online offers both men and women a taste of every type of ethnicity, including white, black, latin, Mexican, Asian, or mixed. You can blog, view online personals, chat in the chat rooms, instant message members, or post messages in the forums. [ [http://www.porninspector.com/reviews/review/erotas-online Porn Inspector Erotas Online Review] ]

The positive review for this site is posted on [http://www.porninspector.com/reviews/review/erotas-online Porn Inspector] .

Health Concerns

Various social networking sites have been mentioned as having a possible relationship to the transmission of Sexually transmitted diseases in a news report released by Reuters and subsequently picked up by several major print media publications including "The Boston Globe" and the "Scientific American" as well as online sources such as Yahoo! news and "Medical News Today". [ [http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/01/17/sex_meth_and_internet_spark_new_aids_fears/ "Boston Globe"] ] [ [http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070117/hl_nm/life_meth_dc_2 Yahoo! News] ] [ [http://www.mihivnews.com/prevention_news.htm "Michigan HIV prevention news"] ] [ [http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=61187 "Medical News Today"] ] [ [http://www.sciam.com/print_version.cfm?articleID=FF3D65F00548C4E0C189BB01825F832E "Scientific American"] ]

Regulation

Erotas Online uses the new "Restricted To Adults" label in the metatags of its pages. The RTA label is free to use, voluntary, and universally available to any website that wishes to clearly and effectively label itself as being inappropriate for viewing by minors. The Free Speech Coalition recently endorsed the RTA website label. [ [http://www.freespeechcoalition.com/xpress/X4/ "Free Speech Coalition press"] ] [ [http://www.RTAlabel.org "Restricted To Adults label"] ]

Maryclaire Dale, Associated Press Writer, March 22, 2007 writes:

Federal judge blocks 1998 online porn law.

Software filters work much better than a 1998 federal law designed to keep pornography away from children on the Internet, a federal judge ruled Thursday in striking down the measure on free-speech grounds.

Senior U.S. District Judge Lowell Reed Jr. also said the Child Online Protection Act fails to address threats that have emerged since the law was written, including online predators on social-networking sites like MySpace, because it targets only commercial Web publishers.

"Even defendant's own study shows that all but the worst performing (software) filters are far more effective than COPA would be at protecting children from sexually explicit material on the Web," said Reed, who presided over a monthlong trial in the fall.

The never-enforced law was Congress' second attempt to protect children from online porn. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld in 2004 a temporary injunction blocking the law from taking effect; Reed on Thursday issued a permanent injunction.

The law would have criminalized Web sites that allow children to access material deemed "harmful to minors" by "contemporary community standards." The sites would have been expected to require a credit card number or other proof of age. Read more here: [ [http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2007/03/22/us_judge_blocks_1998_online_porn_law/ "U.S. judge blocks 1998 online porn law"] ] [ [http://www.freespeechcoalition.com/xpress/X11/ "Free Speech X-press: Breaking News"] ]

"Gay & Lesbian News" reports that social networking sites will may soon come under an expanded interpretation of 18 U.S.C. 2257, the Child Protection and Obscenity Enforcement Act and wrote:

anyone with a sexually explicit picture on a social networking site could be considered a secondary producer if the new regulations go into effect, and would be subject to the same type of requirements that the adult Web sites would be under. [http://www.gaylesbiantimes.com/?id=5289 "Gay & Lesbian Times" 01 Feb 2007 "New adult Web site regulations put on hold "] ]

If successfully applied, these regulations would mean that Erotas Online and similar companies would have to keep records proving that individuals appearing in photographs or videos are over the age of 18. They would also have to "The categorize those documents in a meticulous manner", with failure to comply resulting in possible felony charges and prison time.

An attorney for the Free Speech Coalition noted:

It’s just a series of land mines designed to trap the unwary [...] if you file it wrong, if you put it in [the] wrong alphabetical order [...] you’re facing federal prosecution on a first offense with a maximum of five years, [and] a secondary offense [with] a minimum of two years. It’s just insane.

Further, not only the company, but the website's members could be responsible under these same regulation. The same lawyer remarked that if he had a profile on Erotas Online this would mean:

I would have to have a photocopy of my own ID and a list in my home ready for federal inspection, a paper with my legal name, or any name I have ever used under any circumstances [...] the form of ID I provided to myself, the serial number of that that ID and [would have to have it] signed under penalty of perjury. If I don’t have that document or a photo of my ID available 20 hours a week for federal inspection, I’ve committed a felony.

Public Mentions

The commander of the Washington, DC Police Gay & Lesbian Liaison Unit said "We've definitely seen an increase in online dating crimes in the past five years" and added that victims of internet dating crimes are "overwhelmingly men cruising for sex." He also noted that criminals are often technologically savvy and create profiles using fake information and other people's photos, making them difficult to trace. [http://www.washblade.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=7373 "Washington Blade" June 2006, "Online hookup sites see thefts, assaults"] ]

Erotas Online states the firm is limited in how it can respond to incidents of liability and privacy issues, stating "We are not responsible for the content members post on the site. Our Terms and Conditions require members to post content owned solely by them. We try to combat legal issues by not allowing group photos where others faces could be shown. We will make every attempt to remove information if we are contacted by another individual stating content has been posted without their authorization.

Erotas Online does delete profiles of suspected criminals once the company receives a subpoena from the police, but this does not prevent a criminal from creating a new identity and profile.

Notes & References