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Free Speech X-Press
Delivering Weekly Censorship Updates to the Adult Industry

Vol. VI, No. 24, April 30, 2004 -- A Member Service of the Free Speech Coalition
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Free Speech X-press is researched and edited by Kat Sunlove and Layne Winklebleck.
Copyright 2004 Free Speech Coalition. Permission to reprint granted to FSC members; please give credit.
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VISIT OUR WEBSITE FOR FSC MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION
http://www.freespeechcoalition.com
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SAVE THE DATE! NIGHT OF THE STARS - JULY 24
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ADULT STORE VS CITY IN LEGAL MANEUVERS
NEW ALBANY, IN -- Two weeks ago X-Press reported that the owners of New Albany DVD, an adult video store (in Indiana, not Kentucky as we originally reported New Albany is just across the Ohio River from Louisville) had filed suit against a new adult businesses ordinance, claiming it violated the U.S. Constitution (see Video Store Sues City, 4/16/04). Recent news reports seem to support the store’s arguments. The sequence of events is as follows:
New Albany DVD opened for a few hours on February 19, after it had requested a final inspection of its remodeled building by a city building inspector. The inspector came to the store that morning but for some reasons refused to inspect it. The store opened on schedule anyway, but that evening the City Council passed a moratorium on new adult businesses, and city ordered the store closed. A few days later the store sued in federal court, after which the city responded by arguing it couldn’t sue because the business didn’t have a certificate to operate from the state. The business then got an operating certificate from the state; however the city responded by enacting a new ordinance, including zoning requirements which meant the store couldn’t operate at its established location, which is near a church and houses.

Could it be the city is unconstitutionally targeting this particular store? It will be up to both federal and state courts to untangle the issue.
From Ben Z. Hershberg, The Louisville Courier-Journal, 4/26/04
http://www.courier-journal.com/localnews/2004/04/
26in/B1-alb0426-8154.html

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CONDOMS PRIMARY PROTECTION IN BRAZIL
SAO PAULO, BRAZIL -- Associated Press writer Alan Clendenning has reported on the critical reactions of Brazilian adult video performers to the recent HIV infection of an American adult star after shooting unprotected sex scenes with more than a dozen Brazilian women. The systematic testing protocols used by the American adult industry to prevent the spread of HIV are considered expensive and unreliable in Brazil, according to Clendenning. The Brazilian adult video industry, Latin America’s largest, has long depended on condoms for prevention against HIV. Testing is not required.

Darren James, the American actor who contracted the virus, apparently in Brazil, “took a risk that many Brazilian actors won’t," said Evaldo Shiroma, who heads the Brazilian Erotic Industry Association.

Brazilians are more accepting of erotic films with actors using condoms, according to Clendenning, because the government’s internationally renowned HIV prevention program has handed out millions of free condoms annually for years and bombarded the country with advertisements encouraging their use.
From Alan Clendenning, The Associated Press, 4/26/04
http://www.newsday.com/business/investing/wire/sns-ap-
brazil-porn-destination,0,1548167.story?coll=sns-ap-investing-headlines

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FIRST PROSECUTIONS UNDER CAN-SPAM ACT
DETROIT, MI -- Federal prosecutors have charged four individuals with e-mailing fraudulent sales pitches for weight-loss products, the first people charged under the government’s new “can spam" legislation. The four, Daniel J. Lin, James J. Lin, Mark M. Sadek and Christopher Chung, are accused of disguising their identities in hundreds of thousands of e-mail sales pitches and delivering e-mails by bouncing messages through unprotected relay computers on the Internet.

Authorities said their company sold a weight-loss patch under the corporate names AIT Herbal, Avatar Nutrition, Phoenix Avatar and others. The FTC told U.S. postal investigators they had received more than 10,000 complaints about unwanted e-mails sent by the company.
From The Associated Press, 4/8/04
http://www.azcentral.com/business/articles/0428internet-spam28-ON.html

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COUNTIES PLAN HARD-NOSED ORDINANCES
CAMPBELL AND KENTON COUNTIES, KY -- From the Association of Club Executives (ACE) Newsletter comes this story of proposals for regulation of Northern Kentucky exotic dance clubs put forward by Eric Kelly of Duncan Associates, a Texas consulting firm. After table-dance “research" at local clubs, Kelly’s “findings" led him to advise new ordinances which would raise stages by two-feet and require that all clubs pay an annual $3,000 licensing fee. In addition, customers and dancers could no longer socialize and must remain 5 feet from one another, with no tipping allowed.

Ordinances modeled on these ideas has now won preliminary approval in both Campbell and Kenton Counties.
“If the counties want a fight then they came to the right arena," said Jeff Willis of Viva La Foxx Cabaret. "No longer will the Adult Entertainment Businesses in the northern Kentucky area stand by and let our governments walk all over us."

Six clubs in the area have banded together to fight the ordinance and have hired ACE advisory attorney Louis Sirkin of Cincinnati for a court battle, said Willis.
From the ACE Newsletter, Volume 3, Number 7, 4/26/04
www.acenational.org

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FINE PRINT IN SPAM LAW NOTED
CYBERSPACE, USA -- Although the U.S. Can-Spam Act has often been described as pre-empting all state anti-spam laws, a little noticed clause prevents the Act from pre-empting state laws that prohibit “falsity and deception" in commercial e-mails. In other words, states are free to keep certain portions of their existing anti-spam laws, or even form new ones.

America Online, avowed enemy of spammers, understands this loophole and has worked closely with lawmakers in several states over the past few months to produce anti-spam bills that fit under the Can-Spam clause. One of those bills was recently approved by the Maryland House and Senate and is now awaiting the signature of the governor.

"There is an additional level of enforcement," said the bill’s co-author, Maryland Delegate Neil Quinter. “If the federal government shows disinterest or can’t enforce the law, the state can step in."
From Wired.com, 4/23/04
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,63181,00.html?tw=wn_polihead_8

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FTC “SEXUALLY EXPLICIT" AG FACES SCRUTINY
WASHINGTON, DC -- Constitutional analysts continue to debate the provision of the Can-Spam act which requires spam with sexually explicit content to have the words “sexually explicit" in the subject line. The requirement must pass a series of constitutional tests, some lawyers said.

"Any kind of labeling requirement is susceptible to a challenge of restriction of speech," said attorney Thomas Julin.
"A fundamental flaw in the labeling approach taken by the statute is that it is designed to promote filtering by the [Internet service providers] and takes control away from the end user," said the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT), a Washington-based privacy advocacy group. “The FTC should consider whether the labeling provisions of the Can-Spam act could be implemented in such a way as to provide the user with information about the nature of the content of the e-mail without allowing ISPs to make that choice."
FromThe Washington Times, 4/28/04
http://www.bcentral.com/articles/isyn/default.asp?newsid=20044287

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INTERNET-ACCESS TAX BILL DEBATED
WASHINGTON, DC -- A permanent ban on Internet-access taxes is presently being debated in the U.S. Senate. A bill proposes to extend the moratorium on Internet access taxes that expired in November. The House already has passed an extension of the ban, and President George W. Bush supports a permanent moratorium. City officials are swamping Senators with letters and calls -- with much at stake. A permanent ban on Internet-access taxes could cost city treasuries in the state an estimated $836 million a year. 128 California municipalities have written to Senator Feinstein with their concerns.

"It was a deluge," Feinstein said. “I had never had that kind of opposition from California cities before in my 12 years in the Senate."

Equally intense, however, is the pressure from telecommunications companies, high-tech firms and others who feel it is essential to keep the Internet tax-free.
From Lisa Friedman, Washington Bureau, 4/29/04
http://www.dailynews.com/Stories/0,1413,200~20954~2114714,00.html

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UpComing Events

MAY 12-16, 2004, Lifestyles, Princess Hotel, Alcapulco, www.Lifestyles.org

MAY 16 Jenna Fund fundraiser, Hard Rock Cafe, Las Vegas, www.adultfund.com

JUN 9-12 Cybernet Expo, San Diego, CA www.cybernetexpo.com

JUN 18-20, 2004 Erotica L.A., Los Angeles, CA http://www.erotica-la.com/

JUL 7 11, 2004 -- Lifestyles West, Stardust Hotel, Las Vegas, http://lifestyles-convention.com/

JUL 24, 2004 Night of the Stars Sheraton Universal Hotel Los Angeles, CA - 866-FSC-9373

JUL 25 FSC’s Bob Tremont Memorial Golf Tournament, Sylmar, CA, 818-348-9373

JUL 26-28 ANME, Sheraton Universal Hotel, Los Angeles, CA - 818-772-0100

AUG 13-15, 2004 Internext -- Westin Diplomat , Hollywood, Florida www.Internext-expo.com

Subscriptions to Free Speech X-Press are FREE to FSC members. Contact us at Sunlove@direcway.com or 800-476-7813.