Porntifications

Posted by mikezillion at March 23rd, 2007

I’m not sure how I feel about this one. I didn’t like the wording of the Child Online Protection Act one little bit, but I did support the objectives. Now an 84-page ruling from U.S. District Judge Lowell Reed in Philadelphia has decreed the proposed law unconstitutional for two key reasons: the wording was sufficiently over-broad to have a chilling effect on free speech, and the approach was not the least restrictive and most effective method available.

I have to agree. Any law banning all speech which is considered “harmful to minors” in a given medium leaves much too much room for interpretation. On the other hand, kids just aren’t mature enough to be exposed to some of the adult themes in legitimate pornography. That is a concern we all need to take into consideration when we make any information public. The judge in this case recommends use of modern filtering technology as a more appropriate technique. While flawed at best, filtering technology does allow publishers to use their good will and best judgment to tag information. What the filtering companies do with the tags is another issue….

Posted by mikezillion at March 22nd, 2007

According to some scientists, the origins of human morality may be biological. This is based on observations of selfless and empathetic behavior among social apes, with no apparent objective other than preservation of the social grouping. There is no mention of obscenity as a recognized immoral and antisocial impulse, but it is made clear that religion has no apparent roots in biology. Is that perhaps only due to the human capacity to carry information beyond the lifespan of the oldest member of a society?

Posted by mikezillion at March 16th, 2007

I’ve been watching with horror as the news of officially-ordered presidential loyalty lists for federal prosecutors, and the subsequent firing of seven competent attorneys at the pleasure of the president, leaked out to the media. I knew it was bad, but I had no idea it was this bad. Now it seems that my overactive senses of doom and paranoia are getting another boost from evidence that there was an anti-porn agenda in this mess as well. 2008 can’t come soon enough for me!

At least there was a little amusing news about obscenity prosecutions and other political hypocrisy to lighten my mood today.

Posted by mikezillion at March 13th, 2007

I’ve always been a big supporter of labeling. I don’t want kids exposed to adult material, and I have to trust their parents to keep them away by providing the necessary tools. Labels are a great tool. But one of the iconic divas of adult entertainment, Susie Bright, now has me rethinking my approach. Her recent blog about the NSFW label on the web, and how inconsistent it is with media standards in print and television, revives my initial indignation about v-chip technologies and other label-based limitations on information distribution. In particular, the ease with which feminist writings are labeled NSFW irks me. Thanks for the reminder, Susie!

Posted by mikezillion at March 3rd, 2007

This clip from Bill O’Reilly, the unlinkworthy right-wing television shock jock, speaks for itself. My buddy Jack over at the Gay Porn Blog has raised the question of whether Bill or his staff members might have “borrowed” some of the media used in this report from Jack’s fine publication. (Well, it’s fair use, if not fair and balanced.) Personally, I’m just disappointed to hear Ms. Alioto and Mr. Newsom for disavowing knowledge and support for public recognition of one of the city’s undisputed institutions, Colt Studios.

Posted by mikezillion at February 21st, 2007

I’m not linking to it, but an anti-pornography campaign is releasing a new movie called Traffic Control, all about the need to combat the rise of internet pornography. To listen to the folks behind this campaign, it’s clear their agenda is getting in the way of their interview techniques. The group is using former-porn-star-turned-activists Shelley Lubben, aka Roxy, as their case study. The filmmakers claim that one porn producer told Lubben that he targets adult websites at children, with keywords that will attract searches from under-age web users. If so, that’s the one guy we need to get rid of, so the rest of us–the vast majority of us–can get on with our legitimate and socially relevant work!

Posted by mikezillion at February 19th, 2007

This quote caught my attention. Mehmet Ali Çevrim, head of the Kayseri Craftsmen and Artisans Association, said that he didn’t know why the only adult shop in a Turkish city was being shut down, but opined that “there must be a good reason.” This is often the logic that supports the undermining of social rights all over the world. If it isn’t your responsibility to know why it’s happening, just assume that it’s being done according to the rules, right? But really, how often is that actually the case when you find out what went on behind the scenes? The key is to ask. If it seems unreasonable, do something. And closing down the only adult store in a city when the owner is following all the local regulations sounds unreasonable.

Makes you wonder about what’s happening in Pittsburgh, as the government closes the last adult cinema in the city, the Garden Theater, via eminent domain, over the first-amendment objections of the owner, George Androtsakis.

Posted by mikezillion at February 14th, 2007

We just received yet another disappointed letter from a customer, asking why (oh why!) we can’t ship our adult DVD’s to Texas. Local regulations make it possible for Texas to reach out and arrest us right here in San Francisco if we ship products which violate local community standards across state lines, so we err on the side of caution. Now two new bills being proposed in that state would tax adult businesses to fund sex crime reduction efforts. Nobody is making any direct connection between consuming adult media and committing sex crimes, but vague comments about objectification of women seem adequate to justify the tax. I just hope that such a tax also establishes that adult entertainment is officially sanctioned by the Texas government, so we can sell to all those Texan porn lovers.

Posted by mikezillion at February 12th, 2007

I love studies like this. The Journal of Political Economy just published a study by Felix Oberholzer-Gee and Koleman Strumpf which claims that the 80 million unit decline in CD sales in 2002 could not have been the direct result of online file sharing. There simply wasn’t enough music traded, no matter how the numbers are sliced. The music industry has been blaming piracy for declining sales, and using the argument to justify more and more draconian digital rights management schemes. Isn’t it just possible that the quality of the content has an impact on the sales volume, too?

Posted by mikezillion at February 9th, 2007

I have always loved the old armory building on 14th street. I walk or drive past it pretty frequently on my way downtown, and I’ve always harbored a secret fantasy about buying it. Well, the folks at Kink.com are living my true fantasy, and it only cost them $14.5 million. Of course, local residents (always eager for an opportunity to get some press attention) are protesting the goings on behind those stately brick walls. It’s not as if they really know what’s going on there, unless they’re logging onto the website and downloading the videos and pictures at night, while protesting their creation by day. But that’s just silly, isn’t it?