Porn on College Campus to be legislated out?

In reality, that statement is like saying cafeteria food is shite. The big issue I read about while down in DC this weekend was a local sen. Andrew P. Harris (R-Baltimore County) got wind of the University of Maryland’s film screening event of “Pirates II: Stagnetti’s Revenge,” and is proposing a budget amendment which adds that any public university that allows the screening of a triple-X film would forfeit state funding for that year.

The University originally caved and canceled the showing, then a student uproar ensued and the showing is back on; not because of the forbidding of porn but the rights issue of political representatives pushing regulation on morality grounds. The GOP has been largely hypocritical when it comes to standing up against the “Nanny state” issues but pushing hard against adult related freedoms like sex and pornography.

Pornography has been shown on college campuses, other than in the locked dorm rooms of the male population but when “Deep Throat” made the original rounds. Why was the university showing this film? I suppose no one comes out any more to the Student Union, as one student claimed “Campus is gay and only the freshman have zero social life to spend their time hanging around there”. Porn is the way to bring back campus pride maybe?

Pirates II is probably one of the biggest budget porn movies (from the tailor below), and it’s been screening all over the country at Universities including Fresno and Davis University. It of course has a plot aka those parts most men fast forward through and it’s being shown to legally allowed persons over 18.

The most ironic thing about this is Mr. Harris’s campaign to ban the movie has provided millions in free publicity to the producers and he’s succeed in at least doubling the audience for this movie than originally planned had he just left well alone. The more you tell kids you can’t do something, human nature kicks in and becomes even more curious.

I hope you’re hearing this chica’s style

If you haven’t heard this track yet, you may not be listening for it, but you’re certainly missing out. “Paper Planes” popped off as the third single from M.I.A.’s latest album Kala released in August of this year. It’s not the best track on the album, but it’s certainly catchy and full of controversy as hosts of shows (MTV, SNL, Late Night) censor her song because of the gun shots…

Here’s the “uncensored” video and M.I.A.’s comments after about other versions passing the net (check out the B-boys cameo at the end – vid shot in Brooklyn):

“THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A CENSORED VERSION!!!!! IF U SEE IT PLEASE REMOVE! I WILL NEVER CENSOR THIS SONG.” ~ M.I.A.

Rolling Stone just named it the top album of the year. If you don’t have M.I.A. … why?… well pick them up or hit me up for a place to dwnld.

YouTube Rejected my video

I had uploaded a great compilation of videos I took for the recent UP Open match of Blake vs Federer. Apparently the United States Tennis Association has banned the use of this content on YouTube. This kind of censorship I can’t understand. I have always had a problem with organization’s “right” to retain usage and distribution of live entertainment or shows, even if the content is not for commercial or for-profit use. Yes, I took pictures and video of the tennis match however, in reviewing the USTA’s terms of use, there is no mention of use of material taken at the event for personal or non-commercial use. Therefore their request is over reaching.

Even bigger problem I have is that the USTA’s view on this censorship does not benefit them in the slightest. In fact any promotion of the USTA and its events should be considered positive in that Tennis is not a very popular sport in the US and promotions of such events would only result in spreading the excitement and viewership of the sport to only USTA’s gain.

Unfortunately, the USTA does not want me to promote the sport and thus they are only hurting themselves by blocking the use of my personal video of the match. Quite unfortunate, I think I’ll just play golf now…

Below is the message I received from YouTube, and I will repost the video shortly.

Dear Member:

This is to notify you that we have removed or disabled access to the following material as a result of a third-party notification by United States Tennis Association claiming that this material is infringing:

Blake vs Federer US Open 2006: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaOXwsPWAGU

Please Note: Repeat incidents of copyright infringement will result in the deletion of your account and all videos uploaded to that account. In order to avoid future strikes against your account, please delete any videos to which you do not own the rights, and refrain from uploading additional videos that infringe on the copyrights of others. For more information about YouTube’s copyright policy, please read the Copyright Tips guide.

If you elect to send us a counter notice, to be effective it must be a written communication provided to our designated agent that includes substantially the following (please consult your legal counsel or see 17 U.S.C. Section 512(g)(3) to confirm these requirements):

(A) A physical or electronic signature of the subscriber.

(B) Identification of the material that has been removed or to which access has been disabled and the location at which the material appeared before it was removed or access to it was disabled.

(C) A statement under penalty of perjury that the subscriber has a good faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification of the material to be removed or disabled.

(D) The subscriber’s name, address, and telephone number, and a statement that the subscriber consents to the jurisdiction of Federal District Court for the judicial district in which the address is located, or if the subscriberis address is outside of the United States, for any judicial district in which the service provider may be found, and that the subscriber will accept service of process from the person who provided notification under subsection (c)(1)(C) or an agent of such person.

Such written notice should be sent to our designated agent as follows:

DMCA Complaints
YouTube, Inc.
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Email: copyright@youtube.com

Please note that under Section 512(f) of the Copyright Act, any person who knowingly materially misrepresents that material or activity was removed or disabled by mistake or misidentification may be subject to liability.

Sincerely,
YouTube, Inc.

Copyright © 2006 YouTube, Inc.