COME CELEBRATE FREE SPEECH IN CALIFORNIA
        It’s time to mark your calendar to attend our acclaimed lobbying training program, Celebrate Free Speech Lobbying Days (CFSLD), next spring in Sacramento, California. The dates are Monday and Tuesday, April 18 and 19, and as always, space is limited.
        The two-day event will include a full-day of political action training for participants, as well as our hugely popular cocktail reception for legislators and staff. In addition, this year we are adding a Community Forum to the schedule, where the public will be invited to join adult industry professionals and speakers from the Capitol in a discussion of issues of concern regarding free speech and adult entertainment.
        Deadline for applications is Friday, March 18, 2005.  Call the Legislative Affairs Office at 1-800-476-7813 or e-mail Sunlove@direcway.com for more information and an application form.
CFSLD continues to be an incredibly inspiring and empowering activity for those who attend and is a great staff development opportunity for industry leaders. Don’t miss it in 2005!
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HIGH COURT TO DECIDE INTERNET PEER-TO-PEER ISSUES
WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to take a case involving potentially far-reaching effects on Internet technology. The case involves whether file-sharing software companies can be held legally responsible for copyright infringement on their networks. After winning in the legal battle with the Napster peer-to-peer (P2P) network, studios and labels in 2001 went on to sue Morpheus and Grokster, also file-sharing services, for copyright infringement.
        The newer P2P services, however, are different than Napster, in that they do not involve a centralized file-swapping service, but rather, simply provide software which users can put to use for various purposes, some legal, some not. Lower courts have held that this shields them from legal responsibility, thanks to precedents going back some twenty years to a case called the Sony-Betamax decision. That influential decision established that VCR’s are legal despite their ability to copy TV shows and movies. The key variable has been whether or not technology that can be used for piracy is also capable of “substantial non-infringing uses.”
        “Grokster and StreamCast are not significantly different from companies that sell home video recorders or copy machines, both of which can be and are used to infringe copyrights,” wrote federal court Judge Stephen Wilson in the case under review.
        Some analysts fear that a Supreme Court ruling aimed at reining in file-swapping could have unintended impacts on future product development.
        “There’s a lot more at stake here for the technology industry than for the copyright industry,” said Fred von Lohmann, an Electronic Frontier Foundation attorney. “This case will not be determinant of the future of peer to peer around the world, but it will be determinant of the future of a whole host of future digital products.”
From John Borland, CNET News.com, 12/10/04
http://news.com.com/Supreme+Court+to+hear+P2P+case/2100-1027_3-5487491.html
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LAW TO BAN SOME VIDEO GAMES FOR KIDS
CHICAGO, IL – Governor Rod Blagojevich has proposed legislation which would prohibit the distribution, sale, rental and availability of mature video games to children younger than 18. He wants to make it a misdemeanor for businesses to sell violent and sexually explicit video games to minors.
        “We’re talking about violent games that use realistic depiction of human-on-human violence, video games that include dismemberment and disfigurement, video games where the kids control the process,” Blagojevich said. He said he decided to crack down after hearing about the new video game “JFK Reloaded,” which puts the player in the role of President Kennedy’s assassin.
        The governor faces resistance from retail merchants.
        “This is not just about video games. This is about the government asking their taxpaying, tax-generating and employing companies to do what parents should be doing. It’s wrong,” said David Vite, president and chief executive officer of the Illinois Retail Merchants Association, representing 23,000 stores statewide.
        The governor also faces resistance from the courts. Federal judges have struck down similar laws. A federal judge in July struck down Washington State’s ban on selling some violent video games to minors, calling it a violation of free speech because it banned violence against police officers but not other depictions of violence, and too broad because it was unclear what games would fall under the ban.
From Maura Kelly Lannan, Associated Press, 12/16/04
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/aptech_story.asp?category=
1700&slug=Video%20Games%20Blagojevich
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EMPLOYEES FORCED TO TESTIFY AGAINST STORE OWNERS
LAFAYETTE, LA – Obscenity charges have been filed against the owners of two adult video stores here after employees agreed to testify against the store owners as part of their plea bargains. The employees, who earlier pleaded guilty to charges of distribution of harmful material to minors, are being offered probation rather than jail time.
        The store owners include Edward Burleigh Jr., who owns The Video Place, and Emmette Jacob Jr., owner of Le Video Store.
        Le Video has been in business for 20 years, according to Jacob. However, argues St. Martin Parish prosecutor Chester Cedars, that doesn’t make the business legal.
From Associated Press, 12/9/04
http://www.katc.com/global/story.asp?s=2664851
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NO POLE DANCING SANTAS IN STORE WINDOW
SANTA CRUZ, CA – Controversy arose here when Camouflage, a downtown lingerie store, came up with plans for exotic dancers wearing Santa Claus-themed outfits to do pole dances in a show that would be visible through the store window.
        When the Sentinel published an article about the plans, officials and the public were outraged. Levine quickly backed down and agreed to cover three-quarters of the front window with butcher paper during the show. However, Levine and the Santa dancers from Goddess Exotic say the controversy was overblown. Pole dancing has caught on as a popular exercise class at many gyms, they said.
        “A window display is such a huge part of Christmas,” said Jessica Pyle, pole dancer and part-owner of Goddess Exotic. “We thought it would be neat for it to come to life. We naturally thought of using a pole because that’s what we do. But when you put a pole in the picture, it raises eyebrows and brings out the puritanical in people.”
From Shanna McCord, Santa Cruz Sentinel, 12/17/04
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2004/December/17/local/stories/02local.htm
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COPS CLOSE DOWN NUDE MUSICAL REVIEW
ATLANTA, GA – A musical revue which ranks as the 10th longest-running off-Broadway show in New York City history has been shut down here because it includes extensive nudity and the Armory bar does not have an adult entertainment license. The Amory Bar manager, Doug Youngblood, said police overreacted. He said the show, “Naked Boys Singing,” had been running since August and is theater, not adult entertainment.
        The three plain clothes officers who investigated the show, watched part of it, then proceeded to shut it down, did not agree.
        “You have to investigate,” explained police spokesman John Quigley, “and if what you’re seeing may be considered adult entertainment, I suppose they feel it needs to be shut down.”
From the Associated Press, 12/12/04
http://www.kfmb.com/story.php?id=1534
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ADWARE WARS
SEATTLE, WA – In a strange twist, two online marketing companies are fighting over computer users who may not know that either companies’ adware, also called spyware, is on their machines. Avenue Media, a parent company of SexTracker.com, is suing DirectRevenue, claiming that the competing adware company is installing software on unsuspecting computers that, in addition to running its own pop-up ads, uninstalls the Avenue Media pop-up ads program, leading to losses for Avenue Media of more than $7,000 per day.
        In response to the lawsuit, DirectRevenue said that its licensing agreement with computer users allows it to remove other adware programs.
        Actually, computer users may not have accepted or seen a license agreement from either of the companies, according to Benjamin Edelman, a Harvard law student and computer expert.
        Edelman has never before heard of a spyware removing another spyware. However…“There is a war being waged by these spyware companies, and mostly they are trying to get onto users’ computers. But there is a consequence of them being too good at that war -- in particular, if too many of them get on your computer, your computer becomes worthless.”
        Given that, Edelman said, some adware companies may be inclined to eliminate the competition.
From John Cook Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 12/9/04
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/202969_adware09.html
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UpComing Events

JAN 6 – FSC Annual Membership Meeting, 10:00 AM, Sands Expo, Room 106, Las Vegas, NV
 
JAN 4-6 – Internext, Mandalay Bay Resort, Las Vegas, NV
  http://www.internext-expo.com/.html
 
JAN 6-9 -- AVN Adult Entertainment Expo, Las Vegas, NV www.homeentertainmentevents.com

MAR 18-20 – Adult Expo USA, L.A., CA http://www.adultexpousa.com/
 
APR 18-19 – CELEBRATE FREE SPEECH LOBBYING DAYS, Sacramento, CA, 800-476-7813
 
JULY 26-28,  -- VSDA's Home Entertainment 2005, Bellagio Resort, Las Vegas, NV, http://show.vsdahomeentertainment.com