I have a little website idea... If it will contain a bunch of adult links and possibly some embedded adult videos do i have to display some kind of warning "over 18/21" landing page/message? No adult files will be hosted on the actual site. Are there any other implications? Thanks!
Yes in Britian all website containg content which is of adult nature, or could be seen as offence must contain prior warning.
If you can't verify that the models on your site are over 18 and you're in the US (and possibly some other jurisdictions) you could be fined and/or thrown in jail for providing child porn. If you don't own the videos/pictures you could be sued for copyright infringment on top of being fined and/or thrown in jail. So it basically boils down to stay away from porn unless you do your research on the laws and have all the required documentation in case the authorities ask. You need a 2257 in order to post pornographic images. If you just have links then you're fine.
So what you are saying is that every adult website must have an 18+ warning? What is the penalty if you do not?
Most adult sites don't have to have any classification or compliance from what I have read, Freedom of speach still reigns on the net and I have seen some outregious sites that are still around, ones that represent the KKK who propose still killing black people and the feible. Porn in my eyes is not needed but it is still better then some of these other sites.
what if the owner is in not the US and the servers and the registrar is not in the US, and its not being hosted in the US, then do you have to worry ?
You have to follow the laws on the country that you're in (whether that be physically or just hosted is another debate). If you're not in the US, your server isn't in the US and your registrar is not in the US then you don't fall under US law.