Porn Industry Preparing For More Scrutiny.

The $10 billion U.S. pornography industry, primarily based in the San Fernando Valley and a major contributor to the local economy, is mobilizing to fend off what it calls an unavoidable legal attack from the Bush administration.

Specifically, industry executives and their advisors are concerned that the assaults will be similar to the obscenity prosecutions mounted a decade ago, during the administration of Bush's father.

That assault, called Operation Wormwood, resulted in prison sentences for three porn industry principals as well as several million dollars in fines and forfeitures that pushed several companies into bankruptcy.

"(Porn industry executives) need to have cash on hand as a legal war chest, because part of the design of these prosecutions is to make then as incredibly expensive as possible," according to L.A. attorney Jeffrey J. Douglas, a board member of the Free Speech Coalition, the porn industry's trade organization.

Bracing for the new administration, the industry mounted a letter and e-mail writing campaign opposing John Ashcroft's nomination to be U.S. Attorney General.

"We need your help," reads the plea on the FSC's Web site. "Our industry will almost certainly be adversely affected by the appointment of any right-wing, religious conservative as Attorney General of the United States. But John Ashcroft is surely one of the worst possible appointees. ... Tell your senators that you are opposed to the confirmation of John Ashcroft as United States Attorney General and that you expect them to vote against the appointment."

Gloria Leonard, a onetime adult-film actress who now is president of the FSC, is urging all member companies to make sure the materials they put out "fall within the parameters of what we think of as acceptable mainstream sexuality."

Specifically, they are being warned to avoid distributing any materials that could be proven to violate the "contemporary community standards" test for obscenity set out by the U.S. Supreme Court in its 1973 Miller vs. California decision.

Leonard is also reminding members to take particular care that all the federal government's required paperwork has been done, as mandated by the record-keeping requirement of Section 2257 of Title 18 of the U.S. Code.

Prompted by the Traci Lords scandal in the 1980s, when the most popular young hardcore actress of the day was found to be underage, Section 2257 requires the industry to keep model and actress "releases" and proof of two forms of picture identification on hand for all performers.

Senior executives with some of the San Fernando Valley's largest porn companies declined comment last week, but other industry sources seem convinced that a federal legal assault is imminent. "The only real question is the magnitude and the virulence," attorney Douglas predicted.

But at least three factors will make targeting pornography more difficult during the George W. Bush presidency.

* First, much of today's pornography is coming directly into homes via the Internet, with much of the most objectionable porn originating outside the United States.

* Second, non-hardcore, but very suggestive and sexual programming is available every night on nearly every TV channel, with shows such as HBO's "Sex & the City," Showtime's "Queer as Folk" and Fox's "Temptation Island." That makes the adult industry seem that much more mainstream and a "community standards" prosecution that much harder to win.

* Third, and perhaps most importantly, the porn industry's biggest players have lucrative satellite, cable and pay-per-view contractual links to Fortune 500 companies. For example, AT&T Corp. and General Motors Corp. both derive substantial profits from distribution deals with porn channels, and with major hotel chains that offer X-rated pay-per-view movies.

"AT&T is probably the biggest pornographer in the world," Douglas said.

While neither confirming nor denying that claim, AT&T Broadband spokesman Steve Lang said, "We have a very diverse audience with diverse interests, and we try to provide programs that appeal to them. We trust them to make decisions for themselves."

As for what impact the incoming Bush administration might have on future adult entertainment revenues, Lang said, "I'm not going to speculate."

A spokesman for GM-controlled DirecTV, when asked the same question, declined to comment.