January 12, 2000 04:03am
Las Vegas Hosts Web Sex Convention
Source: AP
by: Angie Wagner
(LAS VEGAS, NV) - Retired schoolteacher Jean Winslow looked a bit out of place amid the scantily clad women at a convention devoted to Internet sex. But she is as much a part of the industry as anyone else.
The 67-year-old Winslow and Mike Price, a longtime friend, sell adult videos and marital "education" shows on the Internet.
"There's money to be made," Winslow said Tuesday as she and Price walked the aisles of the ia2000 show.
Girls who barely fit into their shirts and some who didn't roamed the show floor promoting their Web sites. Nude pictures of women were plastered virtually everywhere. "Internet fulfillment," one booth advertised. "Cheap sex" boasted another.
This industry has drawn the attention of Congress, which has had difficulty trying to regulate the Internet. The Supreme Court two years ago ruled that a 1996 law intended to keep pornography off the Internet violated the First Amendment. The law sought to make it a crime to put "indecent" or "patently offensive" words or pictures online where they could be found by children.
The Justice Department has appealed a ruling barring a 1998 law that requires commercial Web sites to collect a credit card number or an access code as proof of age before allowing Internet users to view online material deemed "harmful to minors."
No one here appeared to have second thoughts about selling sex online.
"To us it's a business. It's a business of buying and selling. It's just that we have unique products," said Hal Tupler, owner of Action USA, a Las Vegas company that sells CD-ROMS with links to 500 adult Web sites.
"I don't gamble. I don't drink. This keeps my mind active," he said.
Peddling adult videos is a far cry from teaching music in San Diego, but Winslow and Price, a former attorney, knew they could make money doing something their friends don't even know they do.
"Sex sells," Price said.
There were more than 5,000 people here looking to strike deals, buy the latest technology or link domain names and Web sites. This was definitely an industry affair, with tickets to seminars and the booths costing $275 each.
Not everything was about sex - one booth offered tips on how to avoid online credit-card fraud - but it was by far the dominant issue.
"Sometimes we even forget the camera's there," explained Avian, 25, one of five strippers who have their every move broadcast over the Internet.
The girls live in a house and have their rent, bills and food paid for. They make money by going into chat rooms with paying customers. It's $4 a minute for a private chat and $16.95 a month for access to the Web site.
"It's good money and we meet a lot of nice guys out there," Avian said.
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