18 U.S.C. §2257 statement

1Who produces this material

GayStash produces nothing. It is an index: every entry is a link to a work created, produced and hosted by somebody else, on a site that is not ours. We do not film, commission, edit, upload, host, encode or store any depiction. We store a URL, a title, tags, and who added it.

Because we never possess the material, we never possess, and cannot lawfully be given, the identity documents that 18 U.S.C. §2257 record-keeping is built around.

In short: we index links. The producer of each work is the site it lives on.

2Why no records are held here

Under 28 C.F.R. §75.1(c)(4), activity limited to transmitting, routing, providing connections for, or storing material at another person's direction does not make someone a producer for §2257 purposes. Indexing a third-party URL is that activity.

Many sites in this category publish a §2257 notice stating that records are maintained at an address. Where the operator holds no records, that statement is false, and a false compliance statement is a worse position than an accurate exemption statement. This page is the accurate one.

In short: the obligation attaches to producers. We are not one, so we say that rather than claim records we do not have.

3Where the records are

For any work indexed here, the §2257 custodian, if the work is subject to §2257 at all, is the producer, and their statement is published by the site hosting it. Every record page names its source host and links to it, so the chain from an entry to the responsible party is one click and is never hidden.

In short: follow the source host named on any record; their statement governs.

4What we do instead

Not being a producer does not make age a someone-else problem. What runs here:

• Everyone depicted in indexed material must be 18 or over. This is a condition of submission and of using the site.
• Any user can report any record, and reports about a minor are handled ahead of everything else.
• On becoming aware of anything suggesting a minor, we remove it, report it to NCMEC under 18 U.S.C. §2258A, and terminate the account, whoever posted it and however long they have been here.

In short: no records to keep. An 18+ rule, a report route that jumps the queue, and NCMEC reporting when we find something.

5Reporting something

If you believe anyone depicted in indexed material was under 18, report it immediately. Do not attach or re-send the material.