Porn Now a Staple of Big Business
Many people still think of porn as something still mostly limited to small
shops in seedy neighborhoods or something kept in the backrooms of
video-rental stores. Unfortunately, those days have been swept away by the
rapid advance of technology, which has made wide and virtually anonymous
porn distribution possible.
Worldwide profits from pornography top $56 billion a year, and well over
$10 billion of that is earned in the United States, according to a new
report from Concerned Women of America. Lured by easy profits, a surprising
number of Fortune 1000 firms have entered the market and rapidly have begun
to dominate all but the most lurid corners.
While defending DirecTV's decision to provide hard-core porn, a senior
manager at DirecTV claimed, "We do have standards. We don't show violence
or underage, that kind of thing." I guess we are supposed to be thankful
that DirecTV still possesses enough decency to keep sadistic torture movies
and child pornography off its network.
Not too many years ago, AT&T stock was such a safe store of value that it
was known as the "widows and orphans" stock. Since telecom deregulation,
AT&T management has appeared intent on destroying as much of this wealth as
possible. After losing billions on its foray into the cable business,
management became desperate to improve cash flow. This has caused them to
adopt methods that would have made the widows and orphans shudder. Cable
may have been a bad investment, but it did offer one road to improved profits.
For more read http://www.insightmag.com/news/320491.html
High Court To Hear Web Porn Appeal
[AP] Washington - The Supreme Court said yesterday it will decide if the
government can restrict Internet surfing at public libraries, the third
case pitting free-speech concerns against efforts to shield children from
online pornography to reach the justices.
The court will resolve whether federal funding can be stripped from
libraries that don't install filters on computers to block sexually
explicit Web sites. The decision would affect more than 14 million people a
year who use public library computers to do research, send and receive
e-mail, and, in some cases, log onto adult sites.
A three-judge federal panel in Pennsylvania ruled last spring that the
Children's Internet Protection Act violates the Constitution's First
Amendment because the filtering programs also block sites on politics,
health, science and other nonpornographic topics.
The judges recommended less restrictive ways to control Internet use, such
as requiring parental consent before minors are allowed to log in on an
unfiltered computer or having a parent monitor a child's Web use.
Lawmakers have passed three child protection laws since 1996, but the
Supreme Court struck down the first and blocked the second from taking
effect. Those dealt with regulations on Web site operators. Legislators
tried a new approach with the 2000 law, arguing that it should be able to
regulate government property. They directed any appeals to go straight to
the Supreme Court after a trial before a three-judge panel.
The court also agreed to decide whether the government can withhold
information on some gun purchases and crimes, including details of database
checks like those used to track weapons in the sniper case.
The Bush administration, backed by the National Rifle Association and a
police group, says that confidential records are needed to safeguard
investigations and protect people's privacy.
At issue is the scope of a federal public information law, which allows
reporters and other outsiders to get unclassified government records that
officials would not otherwise release.
The court refused a request by Mississippi and 20 other states that want to
clarify what campaign speech is so states can more closely regulate it. The
Supreme Court is expected to get drawn into a much bigger campaign finance
case next year involving challenges to the new federal law.
