Delivering Weekly Censorship Updates to the Adult Entertainment Industry
Vol. X, No. 16, April 27, 2007 - A Member Service of the Free Speech Coalition Free Speech X-press is researched and edited by Scott Ross.
Copyright 2007 Free Speech Coalition. Permission to reprint granted to FSC members; please give credit.
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FreedomStreams ’07 Raises Nearly $20K for Free Speech Coalition
CANOGA PARK, CA - The Free Speech Coalition is pleased to express its deep gratitude to HotMovies.com for last month’s one-day fundraising event, FreedomStreams ’07, which raised close to $20,000 for the FSC’s Legal Defense Fund on April 15.
FSC would also like to express its profound appreciation to the studios that participated in FreedomStreams ’07. This year’s event garnered the participation of 69 donors representing 323 studios, including West Coast Productions, Legend Video, VCX, Hush Hush Entertainment, JapanX and SMASH Pictures. All came together under the leadership of National A-1 Internet (dba HotMovies.com), which matched all donations dollar for dollar.
A complete list of participants is available at www.freespeechcoalition.com.
“This is the second year National A-1 has led the way to raise funds through a FreedomStreams event. It took months of preparation and hard work by the staff of HotMovies to enlist the support of their online studios for this special event. We are truly indebted to HotMovies.com,” said Scott L. Lowther, Director of Membership Services for the Free Speech Coalition.
“The concept was brilliantly simple and the end result was a collaborative partnership that is responsible for the largest member-driven fundraising event in FSC’s history to date,” said Lowther. “We couldn’t be more pleased with this result.”
In the past year, the adult entertainment industry has seen a marked increase in government aggression at both the state and federal levels. “The best way to turn that tide is as the unified voice of a unified industry through the Free Speech Coalition. So, again, thank you to everyone,” Lowther said. “It’s more important than ever that we continue to work together to meet our challenges head on.”
Statewide Delegates Visit Sacramento for 'Free Speech Lobbying Day'
SACRAMENTO, CA - Statewide delegates from the adult entertainment industry met with lawmakers in the state capitol for their 10th annual "Celebrate Free Speech Lobbying Day" event.
The advocacy event is sponsored by the Free Speech Coalition (FSC), a 3,500 member trade association for the adult entertainment industry, seeking to make citizen lobbyists for a day, including such adult entertainment members as starlet and former gubernatorial hopeful Mary Carey.
Among the legislation being discussed is Assembly Bill 1551, by Assemblyman Chuck Calderon (D-Whittier), seen throughout the adult industry as yet another barrier to doing business in California.
"Like the motion picture industry, we have to compete against overseas competition which pirates our products and sells them over the Internet," said Diane Duke, Executive Director for the FSC. "More than 50,000 people are employed by the industry in California. Do we really want to compromise those jobs?"
FSC California lobbyist Matt Gray said that the added cost of doing business in California is not the only problem with the proposed legislation. "According to FSC attorneys, this bill is fraught with constitutional problems, and unfairly singles out the industry, while falsely promoting myths about adult entertainment."
The day's events culminated with the Free Speech Legislation Reception, in which lawmakers and their staff will mingle with advocates of free speech.
http://avn.com/index_cache.php?Primary_Navigation=Articles&Action=View_Article&Content_ID=287607
Calif. Porn Tax Proposed; Rate Not Yet Set
SACRAMENTO, CA - A California Assembly bill introduced by Assemblyman Charles Calderon, D-Whittier, is seeking to tax the sale, storage, use, or other consumption of adult materials. The exact percentage of the proposed tax has yet to be determined.
Assembly Bill 1551 would levy a new "sin tax" on adult products and on adult bookstores' gross receipts from the retail sale of adult materials in an effort to combat supposed secondary effects. The bill alleges that the presence of brick-and-mortar adult retailers have negative effects on the community.
Funds from the proposed tax, should it pass, are earmarked for local law enforcement to combat criminal activity commonly referred to as "secondary effects," frequently used by opponents of adult entertainment to further opposition in zoning, legislation and/or taxation. Recent studies researching these so-called "secondary effects" as a consequence to adult entertainment businesses have largely debunked the findings of earlier studies which did not receive proper peer review and/or utilize accepted scientific methodology in conducting the early studies. Despite recent findings in properly-conducted studies, this law proposes to use tax revenues from this bill to increase police patrols in the vicinity of adult stores, programs to address decreased property values resulting in losses in property tax, educational costs, and programs that address related health issues including disease transmission and mental health treatment.
"We still have not determined the percentage of the tax," Calderon's Chief-of-Staff Tom White told XBIZ. "The bill would be amended with that number. First, the state Board of Equalization would determine the fiscal impact of the tax. Once a number is put into play, the board determines what it thinks the revenue estimates are."
White said that he expects the Policy Committee to hold a public hearing on the bill in the next three to four weeks, at which point it would go through various state committees before the full assembly votes. After that, the bill would go to the state Senate, assuming there are no changes. If the bill is amended in the Senate, it would go back to the Assembly.
"According to FSC attorneys, this bill is fraught with constitutional problems," said Matt Gray, FSC's California lobbyist, "and unfairly singles out the industry, while falsely promoting myths about adult entertainment."
http://xbiz.com/news_piece.php?id=22653
Gonzales Confirms Bogden was Fired Over Lack of Obscenity Cases
WASHINGTON, DC - In testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales confirmed that the United States Attorney for the District of Nevada, Daniel Bogden, was fired for failing to take an obscenity case suggested by Brent Ward, head of the Justice Department's Obscenity Prosecution Task Force.
Under questioning from Sen. Sam Brownback, the administration's main congressional proponent for destruction of the adult industry, Gonzales answered a query about the reasons for Bogden's firing that there were concerns about "the energy in [Bogden's] department in this fast-growing district" and about the lack of any obscenity prosecutions. No other reasons were given for Bogden's firing, and Brownback repeated the "obscenity" justification in his summary at the end of his allotted time for questions.
AVN Senior Editor Mark Kernes argues in an AVN.com column that as the entire purpose of the Judiciary Committee's investigation is to find out whether eight U.S. Attorneys (USAs) from various districts around the country were fired for "political reasons," it would seem that Gonzales' statement has just made their case for them, since few policies have been more politically charged in the Bush administration than advancing the religious right's obsession with stamping out all forms of sexually explicit expression.
Brownback also asked about the rationale behind the dismissal of Paul Charlton, the U.S. Attorney (USA) for the District of Arizona, and Gonzales alleged two reasons: Charlton's "poor judgment in pushing forward in a death penalty case," and concerns about "his policy of interviewing targets" of federal investigations a reason that Gonzales admits he came up with "after the fact" of Charlton's firing; no mention of obscenity at all.
Kernes notes that Gonzales' statement hardly comports with Brent Ward's email to Kyle Sampson of Sept. 20, 2006, titled "Obscenity cases," wherein Ward wrote, "We have two U.S. Attorneys who are unwilling to take good cases we have presented to them. They are Paul Charlton in Phoenix (this is urgent) and Dan Bogden in Las Vegas. In light of the AG's [Attorney General's] comments at the NAC to 'kick butt and take names', what do you suggest I do? Do you think at this point that these names should go through channels to reach the AG, or is it enough for me to give the names to you? If you want to act on what I give you, I will be glad to provide a little more context for each of the two situations."
The column questions the likelihood that Ward's written request to Sampson, whom Gonzales testified was the sole person at Justice who put the U.S. Attorneys' names on the list to be fired, that it was "urgent" that Charlton be fired over "obscenity cases," was not a factor in his firing despite Gonzales' testimony that Charlton's failure to "take good cases we [Ward's Obscenity Prosecution Task Force] have presented to them" played no part in his firing?
http://avn.com/index_cache.php?Primary_Navigation=Articles&Action=View_Article&Content_ID=287541
Titan Media Wins Key Round Against Veoh.com
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - XBIZ reports that last week Titan Media's parent Io Group won a victory in their legal battle against a peercasting website, when a federal judge ordered Veoh.com to disclose information on the company's policies and procedures.
The order was made after Titan counsel Gill Sperlein convinced U.S. Judge Howard R. Lloyd of the likelihood of copyright infringement over Veoh's video distribution network relating to numerous Titan Media titles.
In the suit, filed in U.S. District Court in San Jose, Calif., last year, Titan seeks claims of contributory and vicarious copy infringement, alleging Veoh allowed Internet surfers access to the videos, which were later taken down.
Titan claims that the videos - "Boner - Man's Best Friend," "Detour," "Don't Ask Don't Tell," "Island Guardian," "River Patrol," and "Sea Men - Fallen Angel IV," as well as others - were shared over Veoh.
XBIZ was unable to reach Veoh executives for comment at press time. But in previous court motions, Veoh has claimed that it was immune from liability under the "safe harbor" provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, or DMCA.
Veoh's YouTube-like network distributes video clip content in its original format but transcodes to a lower-bandwidth and lower-quality version.
The San Diego-based company recently received extensive media attention after ex-Disney Chairman Michael Eisner joined the board. In April 2006, he was one of the investors, along with Time-Warner, in the $12.5 million second round of financing for Veoh.
With the latest order, Veoh must turn over to Titan crucial information on the company's policies and procedures, including data relating to its Internet traffic and its ability to monetize that traffic.
Veoh also must supply documents on policies over online adult material and ways the company prevents child pornography from being published on their website, as well as papers identifying its networking architecture and how it tracks porn and other content.
http://xbiz.com/news_piece.php?id=22503&searchstring=titan
Lobbying Process 101 - An Example
As Congress strives to pass meaningful legislation in the first half of 2007, we thought we'd shed a little light on a strange but somewhat noble practice that gets quite a bit of attention here in DC. Can you guess what it is? If you instantly thought of the time-tested and often-scrutinized practice of federal lobbying, then you get the prize.
Lobbying Capitol Hill (i.e. U.S. congressman and senators) is an incredibly tricky and complex endeavor, which can run the gamut from coalition building to corporate support to massive letter-writing and call-in campaigns. It all depends on your issue, as different topics/concerns resonate with different elected officials. Take for example an initiative to provide healthier food in grade school cafeterias - sounds like a no-brainer, right? While seemingly easy, wending your way through the support-building maze in Congress is anything but. With our healthy food in schools example, the initial idea could be borne from a concerned citizen or, more likely, a non-profit association that is dedicated to stemming childhood obesity. That group would quickly ally with organic food manufacturers and other healthy food producers and form a coalition of sorts - let's call this one the "Eat Smart Coalition", or "ESC".
ESC would organize quickly, holding numerous conference calls and meetings to identify its message, goals, and friends in Congress. ESC would probably approach congressmen and senators who have large obesity rates in the respective districts or, as is often the case, have healthy food companies headquartered within their constituency. Once ESC finds an adoptive member (or "champion") in Congress to shepherd its cause, it works with that lawmaker to draft a bill that addresses the problem and offers a legal fix. For the purposes of our example, the bill could possibly mandate a nationwide switch to sugarless sodas only in America's public school cafeterias. To spread the word within Congress, ESC would then author a letter from that its champion representative to every other Member of Congress in order to raise awareness and drum-up support. Such a letter is referred to as a "Dear Colleague", and it's a powerful piece of ammunition. Once the Dear Colleague is circulated, ESC would subsequently embark on Hill-wide meetings to promote its goals and gather support, meeting with the staffs of individual offices and committees as well as other industry groups that share the same tenets/initiatives as ESC. For instance, child advocacy groups would be brought in to educate congressional staffs via presentations, briefings, and one-page documents detailing ESC's goals.
As ESC's bill gathers steam, the coalition begins to gear-up for the actual nuts and bolts part of enacting a law: the language in the bill itself. What goes in? What stays out? Who would ever oppose such a meaningful piece of legislation? To find out, tune-in next week…
Submitted by the Raben Group, Washington, D.C.
Special thanks this week to:
Wicked Pictures for sponsoring our Celebrating Free Speech Lobby Days Legislative Reception and to Topco Sales for providing an exceptionally comfortable room for our April FSC board meeting.
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MAY 11-13 - Sex and So Much More Show, Phoenix
JUNE 7-10 - Cybernet Expo, Tampa Bay, Florida
JUNE 22-24 - Erotica L.A., Los Angeles Convention Center
AUGUST 27-30 - Annual Gentlemen's Club Owners Expo, Las Vegas, NV
AUGUST 27-30 - STOREROTICA Convention and Tradeshow, Las Vegas, NV
SEPT 21-23 - ADULTCON, Los Angeles Convention Center
We must not allow the clock and the calendar to blind us to the fact that each moment of life is a miracle and mystery.
-- H. G. Wells
It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.
-- Aristotle
