While it is not news that veteran performer/director Lexington Steele has a Facebook page (even your mother has one, and we’re friends), the owner of Mercenary Productions had to wade through 80 impostors in order to establish pages for himself and his company.
“One of my frat brothers — who I’ve known since 1991 — was duped into friending a fake Me,” said Steele.
Porn performers are often the target of cybersquatters – Steele himself won back the domain lexingtonsteele.com in 2005 from a Russian firm – but rarely have the legal or financial resources to get their names back. Cybersquatters can register dozens of domain names for under ten bucks each, put up some Google ads or affiliate links, and have a good chance of at least making their money back if the domain name is sufficiently recognizable.
But performers are reluctant to fight the squatters because they are hesitant to file grievances using their real names.
This is less of a problem now, because many performers have signed up with larger web design companies to manage their web presences. Not only that, but the value of individual porn star sites has gone down with the priliferation of free content online.
Cybersquatting 2.0
But you could call Steele’s Facebook dilemma Cybersquatting 2.0, because he is competing with entities who didn’t even pay an up-front charge to impersonate him, and who don’t stand to profit financially.
“I understand there are many people who want to live vicariously through me,” Steele said, ” but I still don’t condone or appreciate the fans that have taken it this far.” In addition to the 80 Facebook impostors, Steele found two Twitter accounts attributed to him.
But does it really matter if the real Steele or 80 fake ones post the same status updates, “Grasping both hips of Sophie Dee and pushing nine inches through them”?
Steele is going to wait a while before he challenges the impersonators. “Of course, Facebook, Twitter and these other sites are another way to build my name and the corporate brand of Mercenary Pictures,” Steele said. ” I haven’t engaged them because my plate is full every day. Being available through these sites is important and I will make time.”
- Buy “Lex on Blondes 6” here
Previously on Porn Valley Observed: Steele to domain hijackers – you get squat See also: Lexington Steele on Facebook, Mercenary Pictures on Facebook
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