PRESIDENT’S PICK FOR HIGH COURT
WASHINGTON, DC -- The big story this week is President Bush’s nomination of Judge John G. Roberts Jr. to replace Justice O’Connor on the Supreme Court. Confirmation by the Senate appears likely, since the response by Democrats in the Senate has been reserved. Apparently, many liberals see Roberts as less scary than some of the other candidates Bush might have selected.
         By all accounts Roberts is very conservative. However, court-watchers such as The New York Times’ Linda Greenhouse and The New Republic’s Jeffrey Rosen opine that Roberts is likely to take an incremental approach to the law -- with respect for precedence, in the mode of Sandra Day O’Connor -- rather than participating in the uprooting of settled rights under the law as sometimes advocated by Justices Scalia and Thomas. If true, that’s hopeful news for those of us who fear a drastic role back of civil liberties under a court with a conservative majority.
From Linda Greenhouse, The New York Times, 7/20/05
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/20/national/20legal.html
And from Jeffrey Rosen, The New Republic, 7/21/05
http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=20050801&s=rosen080105
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LAP DANCE BAN PROPOSED
       LOS ANGELES, CA -- City Councilman Tony Cardenas has introduced a motion which would, in effect, ban lap dancing in the city. Two years ago the council backed away from a similar ban when exotic dance club owners threatened to sue. The clubs gathered signatures on a petition and organized towards a citywide ballot measure.
       This time around the city may be in a stronger position for a fight. The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in January upheld an ordinance in La Habra, California, that required dancers to remain at least 2 feet away from customers. Cardenas says he plans to use the La Habra law as a model.
       Also, according to Councilman Greig Smith, who seconded Cardenas’ motion, the city is in better financial health than in 2003 and in a better position to fight off an attempt by club owners to challenge the ban.
       No date has been set for the council to consider Councilman Cardenas’ proposal.
From KNBC-TV, 7/14/05
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8567623
And from Steve Hymon, Richard Fausset The L.A. Times, 7/14/05
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/
la-me-council14jul14,1,6703437.story?coll=
la-headlines-pe-california&ctrack=1&cset=true
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FTC CHARGES ADULT COMPANIES UNDER CAN SPAM ACT
WASHINGTON, DC -- The Federal Trade Commission, invoking the “Can Spam Act,” has charged seven adult Internet entertainment groups with sending illegal emails through affiliate programs. The FTC said the messages were not prominently marked ‘’sexually explicit,’’ did not include a mechanism for consumers to opt-out of future emails and did not include a postal address, all required under the Can Spam Act.
       In a settlement, four of the companies have already agreed to pay civil fines, the largest, $650,000, to be paid by BangBros.com, which owns Ox Ideas. APC Entertainment, which operates AdultPlayersClub.com, agreed to pay $220,000. Pure Marketing Solutions and Internet Matrix were tagged for lesser amounts. Settlement agreements, it should be noted, do not constitute an admission of guilt.
      “Under the Can Spam Act,” said the FTC, “the defendants are liable for the illegal spam sent by their affiliates because the defendants ‘initiated’ the email by paying others to send it on their behalf.”
      The companies that were not a part of any settlement include Cyberheat/Top Bucks, Impulse Media Group; and T. J. Web Productions. The FTC has asked the Justice Department to file civil lawsuits against the companies, which could involve fines for “every violation” of the Can Spam Act.
     Cyberheat strongly denied knowingly participating in email campaigns that violated the Can Spam Act.
      “We have been explicit in our communications that we have zero tolerance for webmasters who do not comply with FTC regulations and the Can Spam Act,” said the company. “In our case, the FTC has admitted that they are attempting to make our company liable for affiliates who have broken the Can Spam law and violated our terms. We are confident that we have done due diligence to banish Can Spam violators and that the law clearly is on our side.”
From Rhett Pardon, Xbiz.com, 7/20/05
http://www.xbiz.com/news_piece.php?id=9598
And from an FTC Press Release, 7/20/05
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2005/07/alrsweep.htm
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“PROGRESSIVE” INTERNET BILL CONSIDERED
       WASHINGTON, DC -- A bill, presently in a draft stage, is being developed by Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark). Tentatively titled “The Internet Safety and Child Protection Act of 2005,” Lincoln’s bill would require age verification prior to the display of adult entertainment materials on a Website, including teasers, thumbnails and other free content prior to the purchase of a subscription. Third party processors would only be allowed, under the tentative provisions of the bill, to process age-verified credit card transactions.
        The process, under the bill as drafted, would be supervised by the Federal Trade Commission, and enforced under the FTC’s unfair or deceptive acts and practices provisions. Adult entertainment falling under the bill, called “regulated pornographic Websites” in the draft ordinance, would be defined as those Websites required to maintain documents under 18 U.S.C., section 2257.
       The bill would also provide for an excise (sales) tax in the amount of 25% [!] to be levied on all such adult entertainment Websites. The resulting revenues would be earmarked for various government and private programs dedicated to protecting children from sex crimes or supporting Internet safety programs and the like.
       Lincoln’s draft bill is based in large part on a report by a progressive group called the Third Way Culture Project. This group seeks to “realign” public policy debates by taking a fresh look at cultural problems from a progressive rather than conservative perspective. The Third Way report, “The Porn Standard: Children and Pornography on the Internet,” takes the adult Internet to task for allowing children to have easy access to adult materials. The report touts age verification systems such as credit cards. (Scant mention is made of the Supreme Court decision in Ashcroft v ACLU (2004) on the Child Online Protection Act (COPA), which would have criminalized so-called harmful matter online unless Websites used an age verification system such as credit cards. The court, in a 5-4 decision, sent COPA back to lower courts to determine if filtering technologies were not a less restrictive alternative.)
       The Third Way report contains a number of factual errors and is dated in important respects. For example, the report contends that elements of the adult Internet industry directly target children for viewing online pornography. This impression is apparently based on the now abandoned “per-click” payment model for affiliates, which at one time encouraged affiliates to generate traffic whether paying customers were included or not. Connor Young of YNOT.com interviewed the report author Shawn Barney, who conceded that adult Internet representatives had not been consulted in the preparation of the report.
       Free Speech Coalition is compiling data to refute erroneous information in the report and will offer that information to Senator Lincoln’s office through FSC’s D.C. lobbyist.
From Connor Young, YNOT.Com,7/19/05
http://www.ynot.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file
=news_article&sid=9597
And from Lincoln bill draft and Third Way Reports
URL’s not available

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VERDICT IN CORRUPTION CASE HURTS INDUSTRY
       SAN DIEGO, CA -- In a much publicized case, City Councilmembers Michael Zucchet and Ralph Inzunza, as well as Las Vegas lobbyist Lance Malone, have been convicted of conspiracy, extortion and fraud. The case involved schemes to trade money in exchange for efforts by the councilmembers to repeal a city law banning touching between dancers and patrons in exotic dance clubs. Secret tape recordings of meetings between the three convinced the jury that their schemes crossed the line between politics as usual and criminal behavior.
       X-Press has not covered this case during the many months of scandal and trial because it involved corruption issues rather than censorship. However, the guilty verdicts come six months after the U.S. Ninth Circuit upheld laws requiring exotic dancers to remain two feet away from customers, and during a time when the Los Angeles City Council is considering a new ordinance which would essentially ban lap dancing. Opponents of lap dancing, we are forced to note, have the wind in their sails with both legal and political factors helping their cause.
From Greg Moran, Kelly Thornton, Union Tribune, 7/19/05
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/probe/20050719-9999-1n19cityhall.html
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FBI UP TO ITS OLD TRICKS
       NEW YORK, NY -- Using the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), the ACLU has caught the FBI in the act of spying on a range of non-violent groups, including the ACLU, Greenpeace, United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ), Code Pink, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee and the Muslim Public Affairs Council. The FBI has amassed more than 1,100 pages of documents on the ACLU but claims that it needs nine more months to process the documents before releasing them under FOIA requirements for public disclosure.
       “We now know that the government is keeping documents about the ACLU and other peaceful groups -- the question is why,” said ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero.
       We are urging the court to order that these documents be turned over immediately,” he added. “If the FBI has nothing to hide, it should release the documents promptly. The government’s claim that it needs nine more months to turn over these documents is a stalling tactic,” Romero said.
       The ACLU has been able to obtain a copy of the FBI report on United for Peace and Justice, a national peace organization that coordinates non-violent protests. A memo from Sept. 4, 2003, about Internet sites that were promoting protests at the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York was addressed to counterterrorism units in Boston, Los Angeles and New York. A Website blurb promoting the protest was cited by the FBI as evidence of the intended illegal nature of the protest.
       Said the blurb: “Imagine! A million people on the street, representing the diversity of New York, and the multiplicity of this nation­community organizers, black radicals, unions, anarchists, church groups, queers, grandmas for peace, AIDS activists, youth organizers, environmentalists, people of color contingents, global justice organizers, those united for peace and justice, veterans and everyone who is maligned by Bush’s malicious agenda­on the street­en masse­an overwhelming, festive, and poignant showing with the entire world bearing witness.”
       “Why is this being labeled as counterterrorism when it’s nothing more protests at a political convention, a lawful First Amendment activity?” Romero asked.
       We think it was the “grandmas for peace” that put it over the top.

From an ACLU Press Release, 7/18/05
http://www.aclu.org/SafeandFree/SafeandFree.cfm?ID=18784&c=206
And from an FBI Counterterroism report on UFPJ, 9/4/03
www.aclu.org/SafeandFree/SafeandFree.cfm?ID=18781&c=206
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PUBLIC SHAME AS A CENSORSHIP TOOL
       ORISSA STATE, INDIA -- Police here raided the screening of an adult entertainment movie and proceeded to force audience members -- some as young as 17 -- to do push-ups in a public square, and to promise not to watch such films again. Parents were called to observe the punishment. The idea was to use shame to keep patrons away from theaters that show illegal movies. Exhibiting adult entertainment is illegal in India, but it is nonetheless screened in many cinemas. Police have tried other tactics to stem the flow of adult entertainment. All have failed. It remains to be seen if push-ups have the desired effect.
From The Daily Star, 7/19/05
http://www.dailystar.com/dailystar/news/84732.php

UpComing Events

JULY 26-28, -- VSDA's Home Entertainment 2005, Bellagio Resort, Las Vegas, NV, http://show.vsdahomeentertainment.com

AUG 5-6 – Internext, Hollywood, FL., www.Internext-expo.com

AUG 23-25, – Annual Gentlemen’s Club Expo, Madalay Bay Resort, Las Vegas, NV http://www.exoticdancer.com/expo.php