By: Geoffrey Yonil

The porn industry finally got its own Wikileaks. What does this necessarily mean? I mean, in an industry that’s practically built on transparency, how the hell can they have their own Wikileaks scandal going on? Well, it’s quite simple. The Netherlands-based site, while using the original Wikileaks’ motto and plagiarizing their mission statement, one anonymous administrator of the site claims, “Our goals with making the adult industry less corrupt and more open is kind of like the real Wikileaks.” But like many others who’ve seen the site, I’d have to say that no, it’s nothing like the original. Of course, they can spout off idealism and goals left and right, but its actual application seems to me corruptive to the porn industry—which is weird to say, since I imagine porn stars and producers and whatnot are already pretty impetuous and terrible people. But somehow, Porn Wikileaks accomplished it.

How did the site accomplish this? They hacked a patient database at a private clinic that tests for STDs almost exclusively to the porn industry, which is pretty sticky. From the database, the site’s administrators were made privy to thousands upon thousands of names, addresses, emails, phone numbers, etc. of many porn stars. You mean to tell me that Chocolat Roxxx isn’t the name of a real person? Amazingly enough, porn stars are able to discern some level of privacy; and perhaps part of the reason they use pseudonyms is the recognition that someday they might want their names to be separate from their past career of getting nailed by forty guys in forty minutes—kinda like strippers. But what Porn Wikileaks seems to reaffirm is that the porn industry uses pseudonyms most importantly to keep creepy stalkers at bay.

Yes, since the inception of the site many porn stars have been hunted down, stalked, harassed, among many other things, and all because of this one site. Heck, some of the actors/actresses (if they can be called such) have reported that family photos have been posted on the site as well, and that now their families are starting to be harassed. That anonymous administrator’s claims seem to lose its meaning when the families of these people start to get involved—or at least I believe so. When one of the stars went to the FBI to get the site shut down just like the other Wikileaks, they told her they couldn’t do anything since it was hosted in the Netherlands. They could probably do something, but it’s Porn Wikileaks. They’re not giving out any state secrets; so who gives a damn, right? I mean, to a certain extent, many of us are probably telling ourselves already that these people probably deserved it on some level. But they don’t. Whatever your stake (or lack thereof) in the porn industry, we must remember that these people are actual people—which, though it sounds obvious, is surprisingly ignored. If it’s allowed for a group of people’s medical records to be openly perused illegally, then who’s to say that the Average Joe isn’t next? First porn stars, then little Susie. That’s how it always works.

And if not to protect the rights of these porn stars, the site should be shut down for its inflammatory commentary on homosexuals. Yes, much of the site’s content is merely the contributors bashing gays in the porn industry all day long, claiming that they’re ruining the business. I could probably point to many other factors as to why their industry is failing right now, but hey, whatever. For this reason, many believed that it was Donald Carlos Seoane—aka Donny Long—who’s an ex-porn star not out of choice but because no one wants to work with him. A horrible philosophy on life, Seoane, before leaving the industry and moving to Thailand in exile, was openly hostile against gays in the industry and his banishment only confirmed his hatred towards the entirety of porn. He’s told reporters though, that while he’s not the originator of the site, admits that he’s supportive of their message and anti-gay attitudes.

So no, no Porn Wikileaks.  You cannot be legitimated just because you have the almighty power of copy-and-paste and claim to be just like the original Wikileaks, because you’re not. Wikileaks was intended to be a site to uncover information that could directly affect the people it was being kept from, and championed transparency as a form of power to the people. On the other hand, Porn Wikileaks stole private information from a clinic (which is pretty unsavory to begin with) and used it to bash people they didn’t like on an individual basis, especially gays. Big difference. Wikileaks never had a ‘side’, but was merely a conduit for the information to flow from. While I myself am a supporter of transparency, I would not go so far to say that I cared about these porn stars and their industry. Porn Wikileaks merely seems to prove that transparency should be used responsibly and that the porn industry ruins everything.