Did you know porn movies are illegal?!?

drummer20

I just found this out,
I was thinking of setting up an "adult" store.

I was in the process of getting a license from
the IFCO to sell DVDs when I thought maybe I should clarify
that it is adult DVDs I was looking to sell.

It turns out that they simply wont classify pornographic material,
they have no rating system for it, and it is illegal to sell DVDs
which have not been classified by the IFCO.

Meaning while there is no law against porn, it is
still illegal due to the confines of the Irish classification system,
they told me the UK has an R-18 rating for adult material,
and they will not classify anything which has a UK R-18 rating.

I knew we were a bit backwards, but this seems like madness.

Kintarō Hattori

You need to go here sir:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=1193

5, 4, 3, 2, 1...... until it's moved.

Gear9992

Even if you did open the shop, I doubt you'd get much business, with the internet and all

drummer20

Yeah but Porn DVDs sell more than regular DVDs and someone has to be buying them, I figure some just aren't that internet savy, I can still stock other products.

but DVDs are simple and will generate a profit.

Alot of older people arent too familiar with the internet and
some people just like the feel of a sleazy porn store. (I'm guessing here)

Still seems rather shocking in this day and age, even DVD's brought in from other countrys either online or on your person could be confiscated!!

Mountjoy Mugger

I find that hard to swallow....

Mena

In a country, in 2009, that has just made blasphemy a crime punishable by a €25,000.00 fine, you're surprised they've built in a convenient loop-hole to ensure the selling of pornographic DVD's is illegal?

minidazzler

There is no business in selling pron anymore. Not in stores at least.

Even if you are making it you need a good hook.

I have mine for when I get investors for my Pron Company.

It's Called Eirotica© and that will be my hook.

You read it here first people, this is my idea, patent pending, so keep your grubby hands off.

Oh The Humanity

How are high street shops like Tower and Anne Summers allowed sell it then?

MikeC101

My understanding is that the DVDs themselves are not illegal to possess, as long as they don't contain any acts that are illegal in the state. It's just the sale, as they don't carry an IFCO certification, which they're required to. But IFCO won't certify them. Stupid situation.

They can't be confiscated from an individual who has them for their own personal use - the thread title is incorrect and misleading, hardcore porn movies are not, in of themselves, illegal in Ireland.

drunkymonkey

Mountjoy Mugger wrote: »

I find that hard to swallow....

.......tumbleweed

MikeC101

Oh The Humanity wrote: »

How are high street shops like Tower and Anne Summers allowed sell it then?

They don't, do they? At least I don't think Tower sell hardcore porn. The stuff in Ann Summers may be exempt if it's classified as educational - "how to" videos and so on, rather than outright porn.

The actual sex shops selling them just get raided by the Gardaí occasionally.

drummer20

regardless of weather there is buisness or not,
I still find it a little ridiculous that it is illegal.

I can sit at home and look at porn all day, buy porn on streaming sites,
pay for subscriptions, even buy DVDs illegally which undoubtedly wont be stopped by customs, yet I cannot buy from an Irish provider.

It could even be a real boost to the economy to loosen up on this,
there could actually be eirotica porn, we could have a whole industry,
worldwide sex is worth in the region of something like $60 billion USD.

shouldnt we be entitled to a piece of the pie?

drummer20

MikeC101 wrote: »

My understanding is that the DVDs themselves are not illegal to possess, as long as they don't contain any acts that are illegal in the state. It's just the sale, as they don't carry an IFCO certification, which they're required to. But IFCO won't certify them. Stupid situation.

They can't be confiscated from an individual who has them for their own personal use - the thread title is incorrect and misleading, hardcore porn movies are not, in of themselves, illegal in Ireland.

Sorry if it is misleading you could be right here,
I havent done alot of research into the case of individual ownership.

sub-x

drummer20 wrote: »

regardless of weather there is buisness or not,
I still find it a little ridiculous that it is illegal.

I can sit at home and look at porn all day, buy porn on streaming sites,
pay for subscriptions, even buy DVDs illegally which undoubtedly wont be stopped by customs, yet I cannot buy from an Irish provider.

It could even be a real boost to the economy to loosen up on this,
there could actually be eirotica porn, we could have a whole industry,
worldwide sex is worth in the region of something like $60 billion USD.

shouldnt we be entitled to a piece of the pie?

I would agree with you 100%

MikeC101

drummer20 wrote: »

Sorry if it is misleading you could be right here,
I havent done alot of research into the case of individual ownership.

The film censor has said it's ok for unrated films to be brought into the country by individuals and so on - though he wasn't directly referring to porn, as porn itself isn't illegal it would be included under the blanket of "unrated".

A stupid situation - being dealt with in a typical "pretend it's not there" manner by IFCO.

raindog.promo

I just opened a store on Caple St. It's called Eirotica. Come along and check it out!

stuartfanning

Interestingly the Irish Censor had given an 18 certificate to the uncut version of Caligula. So there is hope!

See this thread.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=184970&page=5

Ruu_Old

There was a music shop in Navan that used to sell it, the shop could be long gone though (Da Groove/The Element).

the_syco

raindog.promo wrote: »

I just opened a store on Caple St. It's called Eirotica. Come along and check it out!

Is it next to the two other porn shops near the Liffey?

Liber8or

I find this slightly confusing, because Chartbusters (when they were still in operation) rented Adult movies, so surely they can sell them too? If that is the case then I do not see why you can't set up a similar business...

I only know this, because I work in Xtra-vision and a fair few customers come up to the counter asking if we rent "Blue" movies.

sub-x

the_syco wrote: »

Is it next to the two other porn shops near the Liffey?

First glance at that I thought it said "In on the Liffey"I think its called,thats a gay knocking shop

Oh The Humanity

MikeC101 wrote: »

They don't, do they? At least I don't think Tower sell hardcore porn. The stuff in Ann Summers may be exempt if it's classified as educational - "how to" videos and so on, rather than outright porn.

The actual sex shops selling them just get raided by the Gardaí occasionally.

Tower has a section though.....maybe its just soft porn....

Anne Summers stuff is not deffo not educational, unless you count in lesbo gang bangs etc as educational.

dlofnep

I doubt you'll get many people trying to **** their way through a recession..

MikeC101

Oh The Humanity wrote: »

Tower has a section though.....maybe its just soft porn....

Anne Summers stuff is not deffo not educational, unless you count in lesbo gang bangs etc as educational.

Well...educational to some extent!

MikeC101

Liber8or wrote: »

I find this slightly confusing, because Chartbusters (when they were still in operation) rented Adult movies, so surely they can sell them too? If that is the case then I do not see why you can't set up a similar business...

I only know this, because I work in Xtra-vision and a fair few customers come up to the counter asking if we rent "Blue" movies.

You sure it wasn't just soft porn in Chartbusters though?

heinrichaussler

I reckon that every time the Censor bans a movie, he should be made to shoot himself in the head, by virtue that he too is an adult, just like the rest of him, but has viewed said movie.

Failing that, a beheading on Grafton Street would be gift.

Wazdakka

dlofnep wrote: »

I doubt you'll get many people trying to **** their way through a recession..

Isn't that what everyone is doing?

whadabouchasir

dlofnep wrote: »

I doubt you'll get many people trying to **** their way through a recession..

Why not?

Also Starring LeVar Burton

Oh The Humanity wrote: »

Tower has a section though.....maybe its just soft porn....

Anne Summers stuff is not deffo not educational, unless you count in lesbo gang bangs etc as educational.

How is that NOT educational?

K-9

Oh The Humanity wrote: »

Anne Summers stuff is not deffo not educational, unless you count in lesbo gang bangs etc as educational.

training purposes?

Miguel_Sanchez

Liber8or wrote: »

I find this slightly confusing, because Chartbusters (when they were still in operation) rented Adult movies

They'd always have certs though so they had to be passed by the censor. There's no way Chartbusters would have gotten away with renting a large amount of DVDs that didn't have certifcates.

galwayrush

People are too hard up the wrong way to afford to rent the movies anymore.:rolleyes:

rossie1977

this is a country where playboy, f**king playboy was banned until 1995, where A Clockwork Orange was only unbanned in 2000 :eek: where Meet the Feebles is still banned

are you that surprised OP that hard core porn is banned

JupiterKid

Ireland reamins one of the most socially backward countries in the developed world.

Let's not kid ourselves - Ireland is in no way socially progressive. All we've done is converge with Western norms in social mores over the last 20 years from being a deeply backward Catholic theocracy.

This situation by IFCO needs to be legally challenged.

Insect Overlord

rossie1977 wrote: »

this is a country where playboy, f**king playboy was banned until 1995, where A Clockwork Orange was only unbanned in 2000 :eek: where Meet the Feebles is still banned

are you that surprised OP that hard core porn is banned

Stanley Kubrick had that film withdrawn in Britain and Ireland because of copy-cat attacks in England after the film first came out. It was only unbanned after he died and his family gave permission for it to be shown/sold again. Nothing to do with Irish censorship.

Tar.Aldarion

How do other places here sell them then?

I've heard they do

^^

irish_bob

MikeC101 wrote: »

They don't, do they? At least I don't think Tower sell hardcore porn. The stuff in Ann Summers may be exempt if it's classified as educational - "how to" videos and so on, rather than outright porn.

The actual sex shops selling them just get raided by the Gardaí occasionally.

correct and i know from other people that if you order hardcore porn over the internet from america, it is inspected by customs and can ( though rarely ) be siezed , someone i know who ordered such a dvd got a shock when it arrived in the post , the package was open ( customs ) and it was obvious the postman know what a dirty fecker the recipient was , que , red faces and avoidance of mr postman for about three years

true story

K4t

It would want to be a damn good video for me to buy it in a shop when I can get an unlimited amount of free porn on the internet tbh.

Nevyn

Yup anything which is hard core ie had exposed female genitals or an errect penis won't get certified. There are ways around it with art club liecnes but it's very dogy and the garda can raid at any time and impound the stock.

The only way to do it is to aim for niche fetish markets which main stream internet porn doens't cater for which doens't have to have cúnts, cocks and 'money shots' in it.

JupiterKid

This country is so backwards at time it makes me despair...:mad::(

citizen_p

there in the local video shop..... always funny looking at the names they give them.

MagicMarker

Selling porn when it's freely available?

It's the likes of the OP who has this country in recession with their stupid fúcking ideas. OP, you should become a politician, you'll fit right in.

MikeC101

Thaedydal wrote: »

Yup anything which is hard core ie had exposed female genitals or an errect penis won't get certified.

It's not quite that simple - for example "9 Songs" got an 18s rating in Ireland, uncut, featuring several examples of the above.

It seems to be along the lines of if something has "artistic merit" then it can feature explicit sex and still get rated.

netwhizkid

Thaedydal wrote: »

Yup anything which is hard core ie had exposed female genitals or an errect penis won't get certified. There are ways around it with art club liecnes but it's very dogy and the garda can raid at any time and impound the stock.

The only way to do it is to aim for niche fetish markets which main stream internet porn doens't cater for which doens't have to have cúnts, cocks and 'money shots' in it.

How come Bruno is showing in the Cinemas here so? and will probably also launch on DVD and Bluray in a few months despite that.

MikeC101

MagicMarker wrote: »

Selling porn when it's freely available?

Right yeah, due to all the free porn on the internet, nobody in the world pays for porn.

Yet somehow adult videos still make an estimated $500 million to $1.8 billion per year in sales. That's DVD and video sales.

Or do you think companies are making movies for free, never getting a return on them, and somehow continuing to make them?

Dennis the Stone

netwhizkid wrote: »

How come Bruno is showing in the Cinemas here so? and will probably also launch on DVD and Bluray in a few months despite that.

If I remember correctly, Bruno didn't have any erect penises.

Insect Overlord

BigMentalDisease wrote: »

If I remember correctly, Bruno didn't have any erect penises.

Yup, just a big spinning floppy one...

Nevyn

netwhizkid wrote: »

How come Bruno is showing in the Cinemas here so? and will probably also launch on DVD and Bluray in a few months despite that.

Money, film production companys have to pay to have a film certified and it's by the length of the film.

Dennis the Stone

An File wrote: »

Yup, just a big spinning floppy one...

Exactly, just a big spinning floppy one.

MikeC101

Thaedydal wrote: »

Money, film production companys have to pay to have a film certified and it's by the length of the film.

But it isn't simply money - IFCO just won't certify anything that they consider porn.

For example, they certified 9 Songs - a limited release so €3 a minute to have it certified, 69 minutes (heeheh) long, so €207 euro. Hardly a massive amount.

As a longer and mainstream release, Bruno would cost €12 a minute, so more cash certainly.

I'm not sure what you're saying though, is it that IFCO are willing to classify movies that they'll get a lot of money for?

challengemaster

drummer20 wrote: »

there could actually be eirotica porn, we could have a whole industry,
worldwide sex is worth in the region of something like $60 billion USD.

shouldnt we be entitled to a piece of the pie?

Some people already got at that pie and ate WAY TOO MUCH. You'd be hard to find anyone to even look at that porn for free, nevermind selling it. Jaysus lad, take a look around... :eek: