by
violet 
If you have ever been AIM (Adult Industry Medical Foundation) tested for any reason, whether or not you are a sex worker, porn performer or “porn star” your personal and private information has been published publicly at so-called “Porn Wikileaks” (pornwikileaks.com). That website is, in fact, a copy of Wikileaks with the word “porn” added in its place. The database exploit contains information belonging to over 15,000 people.
The person or persons behind “Porn Wikileaks” has published stage names, real names associated with any stage names, addresses and other private information with the clear intent to do harm.
Their stated motivation is, “To get the gays out of straight porn and illegal gay pimps that have ruined porn and shut it down making condoms mandatory by the government now. The fag loving has got to stop. California is full of gay Mexicans and now they can even marry which is so wrong.”
As of this posting, there is a new section on the site called “Category:High Risk HIV: To get put in this section you are either gay or you fuck fags.” This section lists people in the database who are straight, gay male and especially queer or transsexual.
The news is being reported in mainstream media widely, with many factual errors, includes insulting language toward victims of the database exposure, and does not include information for those who have questions or might need help.
This post aims to provide accurate information and rational, non-judgmental discussion and resources. I am reaching out through my channels for legal resources that can be recommended.
Below is an email from my SFSI colleague, sex positive activist, sex educator and HIV prevention tester and counselor Miss Maggie Mayhem. I am publishing it in full with her express permission in the interest of urgency, as the website includes Google Maps that include home addresses.
I’m Maggie Mayhem. I am among the 12,000 (and counting) lucky porn performers to have had my full legal name published on the website PornWikiLeaks.
I am writing because throughout the course of the day I have been receiving many personal emails from people in our own local community who had an AIM blood draw only once in their life to attend a party at a porn studio and even went to the trouble of wearing a mask to protect their identity. Some of them are finding out that their names are among those listed. There are only roughly 1,200-1,500 performers actively working in the San Fernando Valley at this present moment but the leaked database contained 15,000 names.
Whether or not someone identifies as a porn performer is irrelevant to the leak. Anyone who has ever had an AIM panel may have been included in the list. The code on the PornWikiLeaks website automatically fills in this sentence: “STAGE NAME born FULL LEGAL NAME is a pornographic whore and Hooker.” It is possible that SFSI might receive calls from people looking for help or support with the fallout of having their name attached to phrase like that, especially when it was pulled from a confidential medical testing database. The media is also stirring up a frenzy about the situation and quite a bit of misinformation.
I wanted to pass this email along so that we SFSI volunteers are aware of the size and scope of this problem and can hone our sexuality resource skills to respond to the situation if people call asking for information. It’s a complicated situation and it may sound confusing on the phone from a caller without a bit of a background on what is happening. As always, it is not our role to provide counseling or advice on the hotline itself. What we can do is what we’re best at – connecting people to the right resource and only passing along accurate and up-to-date information to our callers.
Here is some additional information:
- Individuals who have been tested by AIM at any draw station and at any point in time but who do not (yet) see their name posted should contact the AIM clinic directly and request that their name be removed from the database. AIM has not yet reported how this information was leaked and it may be helpful to have it be deleted from the database, especially if someone has retired from the business.
- Home addresses are *NOT* kept in the AIM database. Many “Porn Wikileaks” entries contain not just names, but also addresses, family information, copies of state ID’s, and Google maps images of their homes. This information has been sought out separately and appears to be personally vindictive in nature.
- The website has been getting immense traffic and has frequently been down or slow moving. At SFSI we may receive calls from someone worried about whether or not they are on the database but cannot actually access it to find out. The database is organized by stage name and many performers have noticed that the stage name listed for them is one that they have not used for years.
- There are portions of the PornWikiLeaks website that hint at a potential release of HIV and STI status. At this point in time, no information about STI or HIV status has been released despite rumors in the media to the contrary. Nevertheless, it is patently obvious that the person behind this is not operating in a reasonable and rational manner and there are hints that the website is interested in releasing this kind of medical information.
- AIM has publicly announced that they are investigating the leak and that they will press charges against the perpetrator to the fullest extent possible.
- Despite the many rumors about how this database was accessed and how long AIM has known about a potential security breach, there is no confirmed and definitive information about how exactly this information about how this happened at this time. It is also important to note that hundreds of porn producers have had access to this database as well.
- Many people will be looking for sex worker specific resources for support, advice, and counseling. AASECT is a wonderful resource but don’t forget to keep St. James, SWOP, and other sex worker support networks as well.
Thanks for reading this. As I wrote at the beginning, my name was on that list as well as that of my partner and many of my closest friends. Consider this my thanks in advance for any information and support you offer to anyone affected by this criminal invasion of privacy, harassment, and exposure to danger.
Anyone who would like to suggest resources, please do in the comments or contact me privately and I’ll post them here. I do approve anonymous comments.
