In March of 2019, Jessica Drake took to social media to spread an ugly rumor about the Talent Testing Service (TTS) claiming they were collecting biometric data, which could then be harvested and sold.
It prompted this statement by the FSC.
Several performers, both privately and via social media, expressed concern over the weekend about the new Medical History Questionnaire (MHQ) and the retinal scan. The FSC is also looking to clarify the purpose of a retinal scan that TTS has been performing. This biometric technique, a form of “digital fingerprinting,” has been criticized by privacy advocates and has already prompted state legislation in Washington, Texas, and Illinois to regulate its implementation.
Instead of issuing that public statement they could have just called TTS and cleared it up but instead, they played right into the Jessica Drake drama and that statement made by FSC made it look like her claims had some legitimacy. They did not.
To be clear it was pretty much just Jessica Drake and the FSC making these claims. Almost nobody else cared about it. But that issue aside, more than a year has gone by since they cleared up any confusion caused by Jessica Drake’s comments about them, which big surprise, turned out to be false.
AVN and XBIZ did stories to clear up the confusion and drama Jessica Drake caused but the subject has recently resurfaced and I wanted to make sure that everyone knew the truth.
Early last year TTS invested an insane amount of money (I think it was something like a quarter of a million dollars) to update their security to better secure all medical and personal information of any performer who uses their testing facility. This is something they did on their own behalf (not because they had to). And as a result of this security upgrade, they stepped in a world of drama because people like Jessica Drake and her friends went on the attack.
Now I for one think we should say thank you TTS for investing in better securing our data. I’m sorry that people like Jessica Drake and the former head of the FSC accusing you of harvesting our biometric data to sell off to the highest bidder. Shame on both of them.
It only takes one hacker to get ahold of your medical records or personal information and post it on the internet for all the world to see. Trust me, I’ve had this happen to me. It’s not fun. The same person didn’t just post my legal name, and home address but they also posted the names of my family members, their addresses, and phone numbers as well.
TTS wanted to step up security to prevent this from happening to anyone who used their service. This I respect the hell out of TTS for!
Here are the official statements by Sixto regarding the eye scan security feature.
XBIZ was contacted today by Talent Testing Service’s President Sixto Pacheco who explained that the machines used by TTS for eye scans actually perform iris scans and not retinal scans.
This means that unlike what Jessica Drake told everyone, they do not offer biometric stored retinal scans.
Next, TTS spoke with AVN and this is what they had to say about the medical health questionnaire. Despite that the FSC said, has nothing to do with gathering or harvesting biometric data to sell off to the highest bidder.
“As a facility that caters to the specific needs of the adult industry, our MHQ helps us determine what specific health problems our program participants may be exposed and are at increased risk to,” said Sixto Pacheco, President & CEO of TTS. “For close to 15 years, TTS has always complied with, federal, state and local laws and regulations, including but not limited to HIPAA regulations. We have never sold, rented, leased or given away any information regarding any of our patients, talents and/or donor/participants (D/Ps)—and never will.”
Medical questionnaires are actually quite common. I went to a dermatologist a few weeks ago and I had to fill one out.
As you can clearly see, TTS and the Free Speech Coalition have had issues going back for years. It mostly all politics. CET and FSC go hand and hand and TTS was always the outsider.
I remember when TTS added the HIV antibody test for performers for free so that nobody who was HIV positive could sneak in and pass the testing system while on certain suppression medications. FSC threw a shit fit over this but TTS stood their ground and added the test for free for all performers.
As a result, CET had to follow suit.
TTS got a lot of shit over this by the powers that be over at the FSC but they didn’t care. They did it for the performers. They felt that a performer has the right to know if a person they are about to have sex with was HIV+ or not.
Under the previous system, it was possible to trick the system and some people were in fact HIV positive and still performing. TTS stopped that.
But not without taking a lot of heat over it.
These kinds of flair-ups have happened more than a few times over the past few years and that’s why it’s really no surprise to me that TTS has decided, at least for now not to be part of the FSC Pass system.
I really hope now that the FSC has a new head (Michelle), they will be able to work out their differences and moving forward, have a fresh start for the good of the industry.
I really believe that Michelle, unlike the past heads of the FSC has the best intentions for our industry, and well, I believe in her. Something about her I just like. I don’t know what it is. I just get a really good feeling about her.
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