It started with a patient testing positive for HIV. AIM Healthcare quarantined the performers who had been exposed to “Patient Zeta” and Vivid and Wicked shut down production until tests could be completed. Patient Zeta came forward and advocated for condoms in porn.
The clinic was operating under the wrong license and didn't provide all the necessary information when it applied for the correct one. A bunch of personal information on thousands of porn stars was leaked to the Internet. And the Centers for Disease Control said the porn industry was being less than cooperative with its investigation into Patient Zeta's infection.
And now, finally, the clinic appears to have closed its doors. AIMCheck.net, the site the clinic maintained which directors accessed to check porn stars' STD status, is no longer running. The Free Speech Coalition is trying to help the porn industry find another way to effectively test and track porn stars. And they're vilifying the AIDS Healthcare Foundation for insisting the porn industry be made safe.
Correct us if we're wrong, but we're thinking the actors' and actresses' safety should be the primary concern. We don't much care who's on top of it, so long as they're doing their job the way they should.
The clinic was operating under the wrong license and didn't provide all the necessary information when it applied for the correct one. A bunch of personal information on thousands of porn stars was leaked to the Internet. And the Centers for Disease Control said the porn industry was being less than cooperative with its investigation into Patient Zeta's infection.
And now, finally, the clinic appears to have closed its doors. AIMCheck.net, the site the clinic maintained which directors accessed to check porn stars' STD status, is no longer running. The Free Speech Coalition is trying to help the porn industry find another way to effectively test and track porn stars. And they're vilifying the AIDS Healthcare Foundation for insisting the porn industry be made safe.
Correct us if we're wrong, but we're thinking the actors' and actresses' safety should be the primary concern. We don't much care who's on top of it, so long as they're doing their job the way they should.
There's a lot more to this story... frankly, you're presenting the AHF side of things, which is somewhat distorted. First, Patient Zeta seroconverted on a condom set, and has changed his story several times, most notably after AHF got hold of him.
The license fiasco was attributable to simple paperwork errors that were in process of being corrected when AHF "outed" them. Sloppy on AIM's part, but dispicable actions from AHF.
The personal information was not from AIM's database being compromised; the data that is on the site is not the same data as in AIM's database (for instance, AIM does not track "porn" names, the main thrust of the leaked information). The data on the leaked site corresponds much more closely with information collected by producers, known as 2257 information -- essentially, the records that the government requires producers to collect. Clearly, there is someone with a vendetta against the industry who had access to records that they shouldn't.
With regard to porn stars being less than cooperative, if a government agent appeared at your door and demanded personal health information (and presented to warrant nor any authority to collect this information), what would you do? There's a reason that AIM was developed, and they had been performing this function quite well for years. When there was an outbreak, as you state, they were the party that informed everyone and quarantined the affected models. Let's leave the government out of porn production, okay?
Not to put too much a fine point on it, but AHF (and its director Michael Weinstein) has been on and continues to push an agenda that is contrary to what the industry wants, what consumers will pay for, and what is actually safe. When condoms are only used for genital penetration, it leaves a whole host of other avenues for STD transmission. If we rely exclusively on condoms (as the gay side does) it is only a matter of time before another HIV seroconversion takes place on the set, and this will be squarely on Weinstein's shoulders. AHF is making the industry more dangerous in a quest to push it out of California and eventually, out of the country.