Live sex website escapes censor

A Christchurch strip club is taking advantage of a legal loophole in censorship laws to introduce the country's first website featuring live sex acts.

The club, Calendar Girls, will launch a website in the next few days on which clients will be able to see a sex worker and issue instructions.

The sexual activity transmitted on the website falls outside publishing and broadcasting laws.

This month, the club advertised for workers for "live internet adult shows" - promising a $660 retainer - and typists with a minimum of 30 words a minute for chat room sex.

Clients will log in to a chat room, and will be able to "move" to a private chat room where the instructions may be issued. The client will also be able to video himself or herself, the images transmitted live by video-streaming technology.

The private chat room site will be encrypted to prevent access by anyone other than the client.

Christchurch-based internet business IVV Systems developed the site over the past 18 months.

Owner James Samson said hundreds of computer experts had been working on the project.

He had bought more than 200 domain names of New Zealand strip clubs and massage parlours, and was planning sites similar to Calendar Girls.

More than 55 per cent of internet use was related to pornography, and he expected the returns on his investment to be phenomenal.

Groups monitoring internet pornography said the website was beyond their scope. IVV Systems had already contacted each organisation to confirm the legality of its plans.

Detective Richard Crowe, of Christchurch, said the website appeared to have a legal status similar to escorting. Police would seek a legal opinion on the its status as a publication, but would only act on a complaint.

The chat room was private, so it was unlikely anyone would complain about its content, he said.

Internal Affairs spokeswoman Pam Fleming said the department had been aware of the plans to set up the site and had consulted the Crown Law Office.

Its legal opinion was that, as the material was to be broadcast live, it could not be regarded as a publication and would not be subject to prosecution over possession or production of objectionable material.

- NZPA