This newsletter is
sent free of charge to FSC members and supporters. For
personal contact, call 1-800-476-7813.
Free Speech X-Press
Delivering Weekly Censorship Updates to the Adult Industry
Vol. VI, No. 33, July 9, 2004 -- A Member Service of the
Free Speech Coalition
__________________________________________________________
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.
__________________________________________________________
VISIT OUR WEBSITE FOR FSC MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION
http://www.freespeechcoalition.com
__________________________________________________________
ONLY TWO WEEKS UNTIL NIGHT OF THE STARS!
What if we gave a party and everybody came? This year’s Night of the Stars,
“A Fantasy Ball," is shaping up to be just that, a great big party with the
“kings and queens of adult entertainment" in attendance.
Juli Ashton, our Mistress of Ceremonies, has been joined
by Adam Glasser as Master of Ceremonies for the festivities.
Our honorees include some of the
biggest names in the industry, as well as rap pioneer Luther “Luke" Campbell,
who will receive a Celebrity Freedom Fighter award for his free speech battles.
Good tables and even sponsor banners (through 7/16 only),
themed to the Renaissance court environment, are still
available but time is running short, so don’t
wait. E-mail us TODAY at FSC@freespeechcoalition.com or call 866-FSC-9373
and Neva
will be happy to take your reservations.
__________________________________________________________
GROUP SEEKS TO OVERTURN PATENTS
SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
attorney Jason Schultz and a coalition of volunteer lawyers,
researchers and software experts formed by the EFF hopes
to overturn 10 Internet and software-related patents that
the group says are so sweeping they threaten innovation.
Among the targeted patents is one the coalition dismisses
as “laughably broad" a patent owned by Acacia Research
of Newport Beach, CA, which covers, or so
Acacia describes it, systems for “the transmission and receipt of digital
content via the Internet, cable, satellite and other
means." Acacia has filed patent
infringement lawsuits against adult entertainment websites and, more recently,
against nine cable and satellite television providers.
Schultz said his team of volunteers hopes to uncover evidence
that other companies had already developed the concepts
covered by the patent. If it
finds such
“prior art," as it is known, the EFF will ask the patent office to invalidate
Acacia’s patent. However, Schultz acknowledges that a lack of documents
can frequently make it difficult to discover such evidence
in the case of software
and Internet systems.
“A lot of software code is done, dumped and never documented," Schultz
said.
From Ian Austen, The New York Times, 7/5/04
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/05/technology/05domain.html
__________________________________________________________
NATIONS DISCUSS SPAM PROBLEM
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND -- The United Nations International Telecommunications
Union has concluded a three-day meeting here and will issue
some of the first guidelines on how nations can work together
to fight spam. Those attending the meeting said they are
one step closer to signing a treaty that bans spam worldwide.
The majority of spam now is sent or routed from one country
to another, making the enforcement of most anti-spam laws
nearly impossible without international cooperation.
Some attendees said they were concerned that the report
will not present anything concrete or binding and will
fall short of establishing rules that will get
spam under control in two years, as some organizers had predicted this week.
Others said this week’s conference was an encouraging start, because it was
the first time that an international group of this size has met to discuss
the spam problem.
From Tim Lemke, The Washington Times, 7/9/04
http://www.washtimes.com/business/20040708-094843-3455r.htm
__________________________________________________________
DANCE CLUBS OBJECT TO NEW ORDINANCES
OAKLAND PARK, FL - City Commissioners here have passed
new ordinances banning alcohol sales, full nudity, and
contact
between dancers and patrons in exotic dance clubs. They
also limited future clubs to areas zoned mainly for industrial
uses. Club representatives said the measures would put
them out of business. However, City Attorney D.J. Doody
said the laws are “to regulate, not prohibit."
Ibiza Dance Club and Cafe owner Michael Crocco said before
his business opened, the building was occupied by Baja
Beach Club, an 18-and-over bar with a neighborhood
reputation for rowdiness. Crocco said Ibiza, which opened last year, has
had fewer problems and police calls.
“No bottles on the lawn, no stabbings, no shootings. It’s
a legitimate operation," he said. “It’s one of the
best-run places in Fort Lauderdale."
From Daniella Aird, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, 7/8/04
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-cnude08jul08,0,3918638.story?
coll=sfla-news-broward
__________________________________________________________
“GAY” REMARKS BY JUDGE PROTECTED SPEECH
GEORGE COUNTY, MS -- The Mississippi Supreme Court has ruled
that the First Amendment protects comments of County Judge
Connie Glenn Wilkerson, who had written as follows to a
local paper expressing his opinion about a California law
that grants gay partners the same right to sue as spouses
or family members:
“In my opinion, gays and lesbians should be put in some type of mental institute
instead of having a law like this passed for them."
The Mississippi Judicial Performance Commission had asked
the Supreme Court to publicly reprimand and fine Judge
Wilkerson. However, the high court, in
a 5-2 decision, said Wilkerson’s letter constituted religious and political/public
issue speech specially protected by the First Amendment.
Said Justice George C. Carlson Jr. in his dissent:
“There can be no doubt that the judge in today’s case made
demeaning remarks in a public letter...expressing bias
or prejudice against a targeted sector
of the population which includes individuals who may be expected to come
before his court. His off the bench, but highly public conduct, implies
an inability
to fairly hear all segments of the community."
From Jack Elliott Jr., The Associated Press, 7/2/04
http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040702/NEWS01/40702006
__________________________________________________________
GOOD NEWS/BAD NEWS IN SURVEY
WASHINGTON, DC - The First Amendment Center, in collaboration
with American Journalism Review magazine, has completed
their annual State of the First Amendment survey. 1,000
respondents were interviewed by telephone in May and June.
The results are mixed.
On the plus side, American support for First Amendment
freedoms is back at pre-9/11 levels. Just 30 percent
of those surveyed agreed with the statement,
“The First Amendment goes too far in the rights it guarantees," with 65
percent disagreeing. The nation was split evenly, 49 percent
to 49 percent, on that
same question two years ago.
On the other hand, 49% of respondents would have current
daytime-and-early-evening regulations regarding references
to sexual activity extended to cover all
24 hours; and 54% would extend those regulations to cable, which currently
is
not covered by FCC rules.
From a First Amendment Center press release, 7/1/04
http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/news.aspx?id=13573
__________________________________________________________
BRAIN DAMAGE FROM PORN -- PROOF SOUGHT
SALT LAKE CITY, UT - An organization called The Lighted
Candle Society has been formed to finance scientific research
and distribute information about the “devastating impact
of pornography upon the mind." Establishing scientific
proof could come with the help of functional magnetic
resonance imaging, or fMRI, according to Chair John L. Harmer.
The
endeavor is expected to cost $3 million over a two-year
clinical trial.
Judith Reisman, president of the Institute for Media
Education, believes fMRI research will give scientific
proof that pornography is addictive, physically
damaging and linked to eventual anti-social behavior. Armed with such proof,
the billion-dollar adult entertainment industry could be brought down in
the same way as Big Tobacco, Harmer hopes.
From Jennifer Toomer-Cook, Deseret Morning News, 7/13/04
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,595062868,00.html
__________________________________________________________
NEW CARD LETS KIDS SEE R-RATED MOVIES
PEORIA, IL - The GKC movie theater chain here has begun
issuing R-Cards, so that children under 17 years old can
view any
R-rated movies they want without being accompanied by a
parent or adult guardian. All that’s needed is for a parent
or adult guardian to pay a $2 fee and sign up for the program.
The theater chain calls it “automatic consent."
Parents who sign up no doubt regard the R-Card as a convenience
because they don’t have time or interest in accompanying
their kids to films rated inappropriate
for those under 17. However, others consider the R-Card to be a blatant abdication
of parental duties and worry that the idea might catch on at other theaters,
undercutting the effectiveness of the R rating.
From Dann Gire, Chicago Daily Herald, 7/6/04
http://www.dailyherald.com/suburbanliving/suburban_story.asp?intID=381742
__________________________________________________________
ANOTHER STATE SPAM BILL CONSIDERED
DETROIT, MI - Governor Jennifer Granholm is expected to
sign a law creating a state-run registry of e-mail addresses
modeled after “do-not-call" lists. The law will make it
illegal
to send pitches to e-mail addresses on the registry for
porn, gambling, tobacco, drugs or any products children
can’t legally purchase. Violators could be fined $5,000
per e-mail and forfeit their computers. Fines would pay
to operate the list and prosecutions.
It’s unclear, however, whether such laws slow the flow
of spam. Michigan and 32 other states already have anti-spam
laws on the books. So does the federal
government. Its “Can-Spam" law took effect in February and criminalizes
fraudulent pitches, and sexually oriented messages that
aren’t clearly marked. A study
released recently by Vircom, a Montreal company, claims that less than 1
percent of unsolicited e-mail complies with federal law.
From Joel Kurth, The Detroit News, 7/4/04
http://www.detnews.com/2004/technology/0407/04/d01-202622.htm
__________________________________________________________
UpComing Events
JUL 7 - 11 -- Lifestyles West, Stardust Hotel, Las Vegas,
http://lifestyles-convention.com/
JUL 14 - 16 - VSDA’s Home Entertainment 2004, Venetian
Hotel Casino, Las Vegas, NV
www.homeentertainmentevents.com
JUL 24 - Night of the Stars - Sheraton Universal Hotel,
Universal City, 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 8, 2004 - Fit For a King, John C. Holmes - 60th
Birthday -- Hollywood, CA (818) 501-6139
AUG 13-15, 2004 - Internext -- Westin Diplomat,
Hollywood, Florida - www.Internext-expo.com
AUG 31-SEPT 2, 2004 -- Gentlemen’s Club Owners Expo
and Exotic Dancer Fan Fair, Mandalay Bay Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas,
NV - www.ExoticDancer.com
Subscriptions to Free Speech X-Press are FREE to FSC members.
Contact us at Sunlove@direcway.com or 800-476-7813.
Kat Sunlove
Legislative Affairs Director
Free Speech Coalition
P.O. Box 907
Cool, CA 95614
530-888-1554
