On password-protecting fic

[emmagrant01]

This issue comes up every now and then, and I want to know if anyone can answer this question:

If I own a web page on which I post my NC-17 fan fiction, clearly labeled as adult-oriented material, am I legally obligated to actively prevent minors from accessing that material? That is, if I know someone who's 16 is reading my fic, am I legally required to do something to prevent them from having access to it?



I keep hearing that I'm not legally obligated to do such a thing, but I'd like to know for sure. Of course, I think password-protecting fic is a waste of time, for many reasons:

1) If someone really wants to read my fic, they'll get around any system I can devise.
2) The more complex my system is, the more time is required from me to maintain it, which detracts from the reason I'm here in the first place --- to read and write fic.
3) The more complex my system is, the more likely it is that adults will inadvertently be prevented from accessing my fic. Some might even decide it isn't worth the trouble, and won't bother emailing me for the password. And I'll admit I do this myself. Unless a fic comes highly recommended, I tend to pass on by if I'm required to register or request a password. Not worth the time and effort, IME. There's plenty of great fic out there.
4) It isn't my job to take care of other people's kids. If your kid has spent the last four hours reading Left My Heart, and you didn't know what they were doing until they asked you what "rimming" was, you're an irresponsible parent. Don't try to foist the blame on me.
5) As jedirita recently pointed out, there is no rating system for literature in the US. If a 15-year-old wants to buy Best American Erotica, they can. We put ratings on our fic as a warning/advertisement/service for our readers. We aren't required to do so, and in the old 'zine days, fics were rarely rated.
6) When I was 13, I was writing fan fiction with mild adult content. This was in the olden days, pre-internet, but I would have loved to have beeen part of an internet fan fiction community back then. I'm incredibly envious of teenagers in fandom today, and I don't want to deny the ones who are mature enough to handle it an opportunity to participate, improve their writing, and read lots of fiction. I've met some amazing writers through LJ who are 16 and 17, and who are doing great work. I'm not going to pretend they don't exist until they pass an arbitrary birthday.



Well, now that I've got that off my chest, what do you think? In particular, if anyone knows what the law is on this, could you advise me? Point me to documentation, even? Thanks in advance.

ETA: belleweather has posted an essay explaining the legal stuff I'm wondering about. Very interesting!

Comments

[alchemia.livejournal.com]

I didnt get thru readign every reply so forgive me if this was stated before. If you don't like using passwords, but want to make your site 'child safe' so to say, you can register your site with a service like SafeSurf. You fill out a survey on your site's content, and are given a code to put on your page. This then allows your site to be blocked by Parental Software.