Our upcoming Killer Bitch film had to change its title to Killer Babe to satisfy a major UK retailer who objected to the word Bitch or B***h or B****. Apparently bitch was considered offensively sexist but babe was/is not. That retailer has now seen what is in the actual movie itself and has backed out of stocking it.

So we are reverting to the original title Killer Bitch, known and loved by many including, I can only presume, Joan Collins.

Meanwhile, indecision still reigns in the labyrinthine corridors of the BBFC (the British Film Censors). They had their normal screening of the movie by a single Examiner... then an uncommon second screening for other Examiners... then a third screening for the BBFC's Director... and they still couldn't reach a decision... So now there will be a fourth screening for the BBFC Chairman this week and, allegedly they will then decide on Friday or Monday. Frankly, if they are going to have this many screenings to this many people, I think the least they could do is buy a copy.

But, as a result of all this delay, the release of the DVD has been put back to Bank Holiday Monday 3rd May, coincidentally 24 hours after the British Erotic Awards Film Day on 2nd May.

Update: News of the World Recommends Killer Bitch

21st March 2010. Based on article from newsoftheworld.co.uk

Ultra-violent rape scenes starring Jordan's husband Alex Reid are to be cut from his new movie. Reid's gangster gore-fest Killer Bitch is currently with the BBFC, who will demand some of the sickest scenes are cut if the movie is to get even an 18 certificate.

Among the 'sickening' scenes, cage-fighter Alex was seen stripping co-star Yvette Rowland down to her red and black lingerie before straddling her. A fully naked Reid then grabs Yvette in a stranglehold and throttles her, swearing and grunting in front of the cameras.

The 'sick' rape scene prompted Jordan - real name Katie Price - to demand Alex back out of the film and sparked controversy after she revealed she was the victim of rape in response to the criticism.

A movie insider said: They are looking at making cuts to the scenes Alex is involved in, which many on the film find unfair as the storyline is very hard hitting and realistic. It was an aggressive rape scene but the woman ends up supposedly enjoying it. Alex didn't have any qualms about being naked in front of everyone. It was all very aggressive and he was really throwing himself into the role, grunting furiously. Aside from that there are some other violent scenes. Reid also gets a thumping from other real life hardmen. Some of Alex's scenes will make the final cut and we're all hoping some of the rape scene makes it. But it's the only scene that the BBFC are scrutinising.

Our source added: Many people who worked on the film fear it is too violent for release. Alex's fight scenes are all in the film, and not subject to cutting. They are very brutal scenes, especially a fight with Alex and 'Stormin' Norman Buckland, the new Guv'nor of unlicensed British boxing and former bare-knuckle champion. It was a real heavy duty fight, regardless of the camera being present.

The long running refusenik for an adult ratings for games has resigned from his post of South Australia's Attorney General. He will continue to represent his constituency of Croydon though.

Based on article from australiangamer.com

Despite winning his election (Gamers 4 Croydon only gained about 1% of the vote), Michael Atkinson has decided that amount of trouble his position has brought him isn't worth the effort anymore - and it's not just the R18+ debacle that has brought him down. He's also had trouble trying to bring in a law that would censor people from using Fake names online. That one backfired when his example of a Liberal sock puppet turned out to be a real person living in his constituency.

So while G4C may not have won their seat, they still seemed to have managed to achieve one of their aims. Let's hope the new Attorney General sees reason and the R18 debate can be put to rest.

The increasingly popular mixed martial arts fights of the Ultimate Fighting Championship have come under fire from the Bavarian television censors.

The Bavarian TV censor, Bavarian Regulatory Authority for Commercial Broadcasting (BLM), has issued a preliminary order barring UFC programming from the Munich-based network German Sports Television (DSF).

Zuffa, the UFC’s parent company, will appeal the order and, if unsuccessful there, file a lawsuit in a German court.

DSF has been restricted to broadcasting UFC programming between the hours of 11pm and 6am. since the BLM approved its request to air in March 2009. But now BLM head Dr. Wolfgang Flieger said, The Committee deems these television formats unacceptable by the sheer massiveness of the portrayed violence. In these shows you can witness acts of breaking taboos, such as hitting a downed opponent. These acts contradict the general principle of a public-service broadcasting …

Google's Chinese search engine was defying local law by returning links involving the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and the Xinjiang independence movement, according to a report from NBC News.

NBC was able to access previously-censored links from Google.cn, including the famous 1989 image of a lone man blocking a line of Chinese tanks in Tiananmen Square. A search for tank man in Chinese characters on the search engine returned just one link to the photo - though several are available from the company's engine overseas.

Meanwhile, searching for Tiananmen Square massacre, Xinjiang independence and Tibet Information Network turned up long lists of previously censored results.

NBC did say, however, that search results were erratic and that in some cases, access to verboten sites was indeed denied.

Update: Google to Make Rapid Departure from China

21st March 2010. Based on article from telegraph.co.uk

Google is expected to announce the closure of google.cn by as early as April 10 after the Chinese government refused to acquiesce to demands that it stop self-censorship of the site.

It is understood that Google will continue to operate other services in the country and will maintain its research and development operations.

It is understood that Sergey Brin, who founded Google with Larry Page while the pair were students at Stanford University, has been personally involved with the investigation into gmail attacks and the decision to withdraw from China.

Reports from China said Google will compensate the division's employees following the closure.

The Open Rights Group has revealed that in the last 3 days more than 10,000 outraged citizens have written to MPs demanding a debate on the Music Industry's Digital Economy Bill (DEB).

To the absolute dismay of most outside the music and movie industries, some of the most controversial elements of the Bill are unlikely to receive any major scrutiny and will be dealt with quickly under the so-called wash-up, a short period between the announcement of an election and parliament being closed down.

It's a deeply unsatisfactory and very worrying development, a senior executive from an ISP told The Guardian. The fear is that no one will know what is being cooked-up before it becomes law. It's legislation on the hoof.

But this situation suits the BPI just fine. This week a leaked memo from the BPI fell into the hands of Cory Doctorow which showed that the LibDem amendment – a proposal under the DEB which would allow for websites to be blocked if, essentially, the BPI didn't like their activities – was in fact written by the BPI. Very cosy.

But the controversies don't end there. Doctorow also received an internal document prepared by the BPI's Director of Public Affairs and prospective Labour parliamentary candidate, Richard Mollet. In the document he admitted that the only reason the DEB had a chance of passing is because MP's are resigned to voting on it without debate.

Translation: if MPs got to debate the Bill, they would tear it to unrecognizable pieces as they realized what terrible rubbish it really is, wrote Doctorow.

According to Jim Killock at the Open Rights Group, UK citizens aren't leaving anything to chance with 10,000 of them having written to their MPs in the last three days to demand a debate on the Digital Economy Bill: It is outrageous for corporate lobbyists including the BPI, FAST and UK Music to demand that MPs curtail democracy and ram this Bill through Parliament without debate, says Killock, adding: The British people did not elect UK Music and the BPI to write our laws.

How the fuck are we expected to know how old she is?

The Statutory Instrument bringing into effect (among other things) the provisions of the Coroners and Justice Act regarding prohibited images of children has now been published.

The start date for these provisions will be April 6th 2010.

The Dangerous Cartoons clauses are found in Part 2 Chapter 2 of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009, also see explanatory notes.

Two resolutions dealing with violent videogames have been passed by the Switzerland's National Council.

The first resolution, proposed by Christian Democratic Party member and National Councillor Norbert Hochreutener, would make it illegal to sell PEGI 16 or 18-rated games to minors.

The second resolution, backed by Social Democrat Evi Allemann, called for a complete ban of violent and adult-themed videogames.

Alleman's proposal passed on a 19-12 vote. A translated passage from Alleman's motion states:

The Federal Council is asked to submit to Parliament a statutory basis, which allows the manufacture, touting, importation, sale and distribution of game programs, to prohibit, in which cruel acts of violence against humans and humanlike creatures for the game success.

The passing of the motions will now set off the process of drafting laws to implement the two motions.

One of the world's most popular English-language news publications will not be distributed in Thailand this week because of an article on the nation's monarchy.

In an email issued to subscribers, the UK-based magazine The Economist, said that due to the sensitive nature of the publication's coverage of the Thai monarchy, the March 20th edition will not be distributed in the South East Asian country. There were no indications that the online edition of The Economist would be affected.

The article in question examines concerns in Thailand over the question of potential royal succession and how it relates to recent political unrest in the country.

Friday's self-censorship by The Economist marks the fourth time since late 2008 that the publication has been pulled from circulation in the Thai kingdom over a story about the nation's monarchy.

Sweden's nasty injustice minister, Beatrice Ask, wants families to know if their husbands or fathers are suspected of buying sex.

It is a little like being shamed on the town square, the government minister said in at a seminar on Thursday.

Ask made her controversial statements at a parliament seminar on prostitution on saying that a sex-buyer's family and friends should be informed: I could imagine having envelopes in a very garish colour and sending them home to people suspected of this offence. I think that the worst thing which can happen to many of them who are out there buying sex, is that someone in their circles finds out about it.

Speaking to the Aftonbladet tabloid Ask conceded that the garish envelope idea was perhaps not the best idea in practice, but defended the idea in principle: In practice maybe we can't have coloured envelopes, but we have to show who they are and let those around them know, she said to the newspaper.

Ask now plans to discuss the idea with her colleagues.

A new service that automatically screens out content unsuitable for children from DVDs launches in the UK this weekend.

The service, ClearPlay, uses technology integrated into DVD players to filter out violence, language and other material unsuitable for a general viewing audience. ClearPlay seamlessly skips and mutes censored content based on seven categories that can be set to meet viewing preferences. The system works with hundreds of films already released and new ClearPlay Filters are made available within 48 hours of a popular DVD or Blu-ray disc release date.

ClearPlay's seven filter categories enable viewers to screen out content for religious reasons or to exclude sexual content.

ClearPlay International CEO Andrew Duncan said: We're very excited about the launch of ClearPlay after several years of careful development work. What we know from our research is that parents are concerned about inappropriate content but don't like the conflicts around censorship at home. One of the biggest disputes over TV choices comes from arguments with kids about whether something is suitable for watching or not. ClearPlay effectively ends the important but tiresome debates and enables families to get on with more important debate about who makes the popcorn.

DVD players with ClearPlay technology have just become available in France and will appear on the market in the UK in July.

The technology is also adaptable to video on demand services and ClearPlay is currently in talks with digital TV operators in the UK about a potential launch on their platforms.

A team of ClearPlay censors work behind the scenes to develop filters for each film. The filters are tested and coded and material, including images, language and violence are carefully censored from the film.

ClearPlay director Skip Riddle added: Cleary there are some films that don't lend themselves to filtering but the vast majority do. Often the aspects of a film that give it a 15 certificate are connected with a few very short sequences or a bit of bad language. ClearPlay is perfect for these films.

Mass Lobby for Libel Law Reform
House of Commons
Tuesday 23rd March from 2pm

This Tuesday 23rd March we are organising a mass lobby of MPs for libel law reform at the House of Commons from 2pm. Some of the parties are wavering - they don't want to commit to reforms unless they are under pressure to. We need everyone to help to bring that about before manifestos are published and Parliament rises for the election. Can you come to a mass lobby in the House of Commons on Tuesday 23rd at 2pm? This is the closest we've been to fundamental libel law reform in a century, but we need everyone to help it succeed.

Come to the Cromwell Green entrance to the Houses of Parliament. You will have to allow about 20 minutes to pass through security and to get to Committee Room 15 between 2 and 3pm. We will hear from high profile Champions of the campaign on why the political parties need to commit to reform libel laws which are unjust, against the public interest and an international menace and, we hope, from spokespeople for the parties on justice matters. Your MP may be there if you wrote to them. We can ask them en masse what they are doing to get a manifesto commitment for libel law reform or you can ask them personally.

Freedom v. Security
The Marquis of Granby pub, 41 Romney Street, LONDON SW1P 3RF
24th March, 2010 at 06:30pm

DOUGLAS MURRAY (Centre for Social Cohesion) and ALEX DEANE (Big Brother Watch) go head to head to debate Freedom v. Security at the launch of a new series of regular monthly Free Spirits debates (organised by The Freedom Association) in the heart of the Westminster Village.

FREE ADMISSION.

Open to all.
Cash bar.
Voluntary collection to help cover costs.

The directors of the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (CalOSHA) Standards Board have voted unanimously to form an advisory committee to study the possibility of requiring condoms to be used in adult movie production.

The board's vote capped a civil but contentious public meeting, where present and former adult performers spoke of their experiences on adult sets, and advocates from AIDS Healthcare Foundation (whose petition to the board prompted the meeting) as well as former performer Shelly Lubben's Pink Cross Foundation added their own spin on what several referred to as a health care crisis affecting the adult industry.

The Association For Television On Demand (ADVOD) has confirmed a series of senior appointments as it takes over video on-demand regulation from Ofcom.

Ofcom has now officially handed over statutory powers to independent body ATVOD for supposedly light touch regulation of online video, including all consumer protection standards and guidelines for taste, decency and sponsorship requirements.

In response, ATVOD has restructured its operation. Former deputy chair of Ofcom's consumer panel Ruth Evans has been appointed to lead the organisation as its new independent chair.

Aside Evans, the five-strong ATVOD board includes former Channel 4 News editor Sara Nathan, Advertising Association chief executive Tim Lefroy, ASA Council member Nigel Walmsley and broadcasting compliance specialist Ian McBride. Sky's Daniel Austin, BT's Simon Milner, Virgin Media's Simon Hunt and Five's Chris Loweth will provide the ATVOD board with an industry perspective.

The organisation has further hired Pete Johnson as its new chief executive, after he previously managed VOD and packaged media regulatory policy for the BBFC.

This is a landmark moment for video on-demand services in the UK which offer programmes that are comparable to those shown on traditional TV channels, said Johnson, who will outline ATVOD's regulatory policy on March 25 at IPTV World Forum: On UK services, children will be protected from the most extreme content, and for the first time use of product placement and sponsorship will be subject to controls and restrictions.

Recent Ofcom research suggests that there are around 150 operators on the UK market that meet the statutory criteria for providing TV-like VOD services. All providers must now contact ATVOD before April 30 to outline their service propositions, with any firms meeting the criteria required to pay a fee based on the overall cost of regulating the sector. ATVOD said that it will soon launch a six-week consultation with Ofcom into the fee structure, in which all stakeholders will be able to have their say.

MediaWatch-UK have just published their Spring Newsletter.

They are leading of the lack of an effective age verification method for post-watershed TV programmes which are available 24/7 on iPlayer and the like.

Mediawatch-UK contend that Audio Visual media law mandates age verification:

If an on-demand programme service contains material which might seriously impair the physical, mental or moral development of persons under the age of eighteen, the material must be made available in a manner which secures that such persons will not normally see or hear it.

But their argument was easily countered by Ofcom who said that:

they consider there is no requirement under these Regulations for broadcasters to use protections for post-watershed content because material which has previously been broadcast on television without regulatory intervention is, by definition, not ‘material which might seriously impair’.

Mediawatch also highlight their legal contention that the infliction of point in the TV series Balls of Steel is a matter for the police:

Mediawatch-UK has been working with a lawyer whose legal opinion is that, whilst this infliction of pain may not have been in breach of the Broadcasting Code, it may well have been in breach of the Offences Against the Person Act regardless of whether or not the performers consented to this abuse.

Mediawatch printed this story as an ongoing campaign but it must have just missed the deadline that police quickly dismissed their notion and said that a criminal investigation was not appropriate.

Mediawatch also have a  piece about the strong language review by the BBFC. But nothing the BBC will ever do can keep Mediawatch happy with their uncompromising view:

We do not think strong language should be used at all before the watershed or in programmes likely to appeal to children. We believe the strongest swearwords should be barred at all times. Can there ever be a justification for using them? Are there really no other words which would suffice?

Lads mags also come under the nutter spotlight. Mediawatch are running a campaign to get MPs to sign up for:

Early Day Motion 412 from edmi.parliament.uk

That this House believes that politicians, retailers, publishers and distributors have a collective responsibility to protect children and young people from displays of sexually graphic material that they are not emotionally equipped to deal with; calls for an urgent review of existing guidelines drawn up between the Home Office and the National Federation of Retail Newsagents; further believes that such a review must consider the availability of sexually graphic publications to children and young people, the positioning of these publications on the shelves of retailers, and the potential for concealing these publications in bags and consider the question of age-rating such publications; and further believes that failure to follow the revised guidelines could lead to calls for legislation covering all aspects of the availability and display of sexually graphic material to children and young people throughout the retail and publishing industries.

It is currently signed by 149 censorial MPs

More than 60 years after Paris shut its famed maisons closes, or brothels, an MP from President Sarkozy's UMP party is campaigning to legalise them again.

Chantal Brunel, who was appointed last month to head the national watchdog on sexual equality, is arguing that crime would be cut and sex workers would benefit from sexual services centres similar to those run by most of France's neighbours.

A national poll by the CSA agency found that 59% of the French public approved the reopening of the regulated brothels that were a fixture of French life and culture until they were abolished in 1946. The proposal was supported by 70% of men and 49% of women. Only 13% of women were opposed, with 38% undecided, according to the poll for Le Parisien newspaper.

The idea is not to go back to the situation before 1946. I propose that we should consider the creation of places where the purchase of sexual services would be possible with medical, legal and financial protection, Ms Brunel said. Her campaign is outlined in a book to be published this month and comes after controversial results from a previous attempt to curb prostitution.

A tough law introduced by Sarkozy in 2002, when he was Interior Minister, created an offence of passive soliciting, allowing police to charge any woman deemed by her appearance to be seeking custom in public, even if she makes no approach to potential clients.

The Sarkozy law has resulted in the removal of prostitutes from the boulevards of Paris and other towns, driving them to more dangerous back streets, parks and on to the internet, campaigners say.

Ms Brunel is part of a working group at the Interior Ministry that is assessing the impact of the law and looking at policies among France's neighbours. Her proposal has yet to elicit a response from the Government.

An advertising campaign for tampons is rejected by US television networks for daring to include the word vagina

For years, advertising for tampons and sanitary products have been shrouded in nebulous euphemism. So what happens when a US tampon-maker drops the coy messaging and goes straight for the jugular. Its ad gets banned by the major US television networks for mentioning the word vagina.

Even when the company substituted down there for vagina, two of the networks still wouldn't run the ad, so the company was forced to drop the idea altogether.

The Association of Buddhist Relations have said that the film Nark Prok (Naga Hood) gave Buddhist monks a bad image and vilified the religion as a whole.

The association's chairman Adisak Wannasin said he would lodge a petition with the Thai Culture Ministry asking it to review its decision to allow the film to be screened.

Adisak said the film included inappropriate images like showing three men dressed as monks touching women - an act that is forbidden under the discipline of monkhood. According to the screenplay, the three saffron-clad men are bandits planning to rob a temple.

Somkiat Sorralump, a member of the House committee on religions, arts and culture, said his panel would take drastic action if the film ended up getting screened. He said the panel believed the movie was meant to make Buddhism look bad. The producers want to destroy Buddhism, he added.

One small section of a crowd of 40,000

David Beckham might not be going to the World Cup in South Africa this year, but 40,000 hookers will be. That is literally what a headline on the NBC sports website claims: 40,000 hookers making their way to South Africa for World Cup.

Other media outlets have been a bit more PC: 40,000 prostitutes to enter South Africa, says the UK Daily Telegraph; 40,000 prostitutes bound for South Africa, says the New York Daily News. Apparently many of these hookers will be trafficked into South Africa against their will, forced into a life of grimy prostitution for the satisfaction of drunken football fans.

...Read the full article

The Motion Picture Association of America has relaunched its film ratings website, www.filmratings.com, with enhanced features.

The official website of the Classification and Ratings Administration (CARA) features an expanded printable database of films rated all the way back to 1968, when the ratings system was created. Users can search by title, year of release or rating.

Other features include detailed explanations of the process and history of the system, ratings definitions, answers to frequently asked questions and a place for parents to sign up for Red Carpet Ratings, a free weekly email service that provides ratings information on current films.

The outgoing chairman Dan Glickman said the purpose of the revamped site is to bring added transparency to the ratings process.

The sole purpose of the ratings system is to provide parents with clear and concise information about the content of a film in order to help them determine whether a movie is suitable for their children. We overhauled our film ratings website so that we can continue to provide additional clarity, enhanced information and added transparency about the system to maximize our communication with parents.

All of our film raters share one essential attribute: parenthood! Each time we rate a movie we ask the primary question, 'What would I want to know about this film before I decide to let my child see it?' Joan Graves, chairman of CARA, said in a statement. Our goal is to help make parents' jobs easier, by providing clear information about films so parents can make choices for their kids according to their values, keeping in mind their children's individual sensitivities. It's a responsibility we take seriously, and we are excited to have a more user-friendly website to provide information to parents on the ratings process and about the ratings themselves.

The site also features a section on the MPAA's Advertising Administration, which ensures that movie advertising is appropriately placed before the right audience. Every film that is submitted for an MPAA rating is required to have its advertising approved by the Advertising Administration before it is displayed to the public.

The Advertising Administration reviews about 60,000 pieces of film advertising annually, including theatrical, home video and online trailers; print ads; radio and TV spots; billboards; posters; and other promotion materials.

A TV ad for the Government's Act On CO2 campaign showed a young girl being read a bedtime story by her father. Gentle, sorrowful music played throughout. The voice-over stated There was once a land where the weather was very very strange. There were awful heat waves in some parts and in others terrible storms and floods. Images in the storybook showed a cartoon horse, pig, sheep and other animals staring in dismay at a dried up river bed and a cartoon rabbit crying at the sight of it. The voice-over continued Scientists said it was being caused by too much CO2, which went up into the sky when the grown-ups used energy. The storybook showed black smoke rising up from an urban scene, from cars on the road and people's houses, and forming a cloud of CO2 in the shape of a monster in the sky. The camera panned to the father and daughter reading the story together. The voice-over continued They said the CO2 was getting dangerous, its effects were happening faster than they had thought. Some places could even disappear under the sea and it was the children of the land who would have to live with the horrible consequences. The storybook showed a flooded town with people clinging to the roofs of buildings and cars in the rain and a cartoon cat floating on an upturned table and a dog sinking under the water. The voice-over continued The grown-ups realised they had to do something. They discovered that over 40% of the CO2 was coming from ordinary every day things like keeping houses warm and driving cars, which meant if they made less CO2 maybe they could save the land for the children. A child in the picture book switched off a light in her house. The little girl turned to her father and asked Is there a happy ending? A voice-over stated It's up to us how the story ends. See what you can do. Search online for Act on CO2.

Many viewers complained that (amongst other more political issues) that

• the theme and content of the ad, for example the dog drowning in the storybook and the depiction of the young girl to whom the story was being read, could be distressing for children who saw it
   
• the ad should not have been shown when children were likely to be watching television;

ASA Assessment: Not upheld

The ASA acknowledged that some complainants were concerned that their children or grandchildren had been upset or worried by the ad. However, we also noted the ad had been given an ex-kids restriction by Clearcast, which meant that it should not be broadcast in or around programmes specifically made for children and should, as a consequence, avoid younger children watching television on their own.

We acknowledged that the subject of climate change was routinely taught in schools and was already a matter of public discussion amongst all age groups, and considered that the animated storybook imagery in the ad was likely to indicate to adults and children alike that this was a narrative about what could happen rather than what would happen.

We considered that, whilst the ad might be alarming for some young people who saw it, the storybook presentation, which featured line-drawn animals and showed the story being read by an adult, was likely to ameliorate that.

We concluded that, when shown in the context of the timing restriction applied by Clearcast, the ad was unlikely to cause harm or undue distress to children.

A Minnesota lawmaker wants state employees to stay out of hotels with violent porn while traveling for work.

A bill sponsored by Democratic Senator Tarryl Clark of St. Cloud could prohibit spending public dollars at in-state hotels or meeting facilities that provide their customers with pornographic materials that link sex with violence. Non-violent adult movies would be OK.

The bill gets a hearing in a Senate committee on Wednesday.

The Department of Administration would keep a directory of approved facilities to help employees plan travel.

Update: Unanimous

11th March 2010. Based on article from politicsinminnesota.com

A bill that would prohibit state employees and elected officials from spending public dollars at hotels that offer customers access to violent pornographic movies has passed unanimously out of a Senate committee.

The measure, introduced by Sen. Tarryl Clark, DFL-St. Cloud, cleared the Senate's State and Local Government Operation and Oversight Committee and will proceed directly to the floor.

The legislation allows for state employees to ignore the prohibition if there's no porn-free facility available. But they're required to provide a written explanation as to why they opted to stay in a hotel providing access to pornographic materials. The legislation defines that term as a sexually explicit image or performance that objectifies or exploits its subjects by eroticizing domination, degradation, or violence.

Only one person testified against the bill. Francis Jenkins White told legislators that sexual role play involving blindfolds or handcuffs is perfectly natural and should not be regulated in any way by the state. The bill is a classic case of trying to regulate someone's thoughts and desires, he said.

The only senator who expressed some misgivings about the legislation was Claire Robling, GOP-Jordan. She noted that pornography is all over the Internet and that the legislation would do little to limit access to such materials. Someone coming in with a computer could still be viewing it, Robling said.

Update: Voted Down in House Committee

18th March 2010.  Based on article from business.avn.com

A Minnesota House committee has voted down a bill that would have prevented state employees from using state funds at hotels or meeting facilities in the state that provide pay-per-view violent porn for guests.

The bill, HF 3287, which was introduced on March 1 by Larry Haws was taken up by the State and Local Government Operations Reform, Technology and Elections Committee, but didn't make it out.

The Senate version, SF 2861, was introduced in late February by Tarryl Clark, and passed the State and Local Government Operations and Oversight Committee last week.

Language from the House version included:

Constitutional officers, members of the legislature, an agency and its employees must ask if a facility is a preferred site and must use a preferred site when selecting lodging or facilities for state employees traveling on state business and when selecting facilities for conferences, meetings, education or training sessions, and similar events in Minnesota sponsored by state agencies unless:

Preferred site means lodging that can demonstrate, upon request, that it has adopted clean hotel policies and procedures;

Clean hotel policies and procedures means reasonable policies and procedures that eliminate within the facility the availability of sexually explicit work with depictions of sexual conduct that objectifies and exploits its subjects by eroticizing domination, degradation, or violence.

The Senate version awaits a final vote.

You might think that French officials would have raised their glasses in celebration of a project to create the first Gallic television channel dedicated to wine. Instead, they appear intent on driving the station into exile, possibly to Britain, after deciding that it will fall foul of the toughest laws on alcohol promotion outside the Muslim world.

Edonys, a private group which hopes to start broadcasting later this year, has been warned by France's Higher Audiovisual Council that it will receive authorisation only if it drops plans for programmes featuring wine-tastings and expert discussions. The broadcasting authority deemed these illegal under a law that prohibits all direct or indirect propaganda in favour of alcoholic drinks on television.

However, the station is refusing to amend its schedule and executives are now looking for a base outside France. Britain, Luxembourg and Belgium are among the options.

He said that the station would instead target wine-lovers in Belgium and other francophone countries with looser regulations. He said that Edonys also intended to start broadcasting English-language programmes for the UK and Northern European countries next year. It is likely to be a pay channel available by cable or satellite.

Comrades is a 1986 UK drama by Bill Douglas

The BBFC passed the 2009 BFI DVD 15 uncut

Previously the BBFC cut 3s from the 1987 cinema release and 1989 Virgin video for a PG certificate.

From cuts details on IMDb

• Cut during a scene hinting at oral sex between McCallum and his dog.

Although the Polish government said it had abandoned the idea of blocking web sites with supposedly dangerous content, it is still seems determined to censor the internet.

Deputy Finance Minister Jacek Kapica has come up with an alternative solution to the online betting problem, which would enable him to exercise absolute control over the web, say critics. Kapica's idea is to create a special unit within the customs service, which would control the web and block sites if a court decided that they contained 'dangerous' content or would enable internet users to gamble online, according to the Dziennik Gazeta Prawna daily.

The censors would be appointed by the Finance, Justice and Infrastructure Ministries.

The minister's idea is, in fact, a return to the previous government's proposal to create a black list of web sites with dangerous content which should be blocked. The proposal was severely criticized by internet users who claimed that the draft bill would violate the freedom of expression on internet. After the protest PM Donald Tusk assured internet users that the government would abandon the idea and in the future consult them on legislation concerning internet.

You would think after all these years on the internet we would have figured out how to deal with basic jurisdictional issues, but there are still plenty of countries who think that the laws in their country can reach over borders and be applied to people and websites in completely different countries, just because they don't like it.

The latest such example involves the guy who runs Encyclopedia Dramatica, which might be simply described as... 4chan's version of Wikipedia. However you want to describe it, it's filled with content you probably don't want your mom looking at. But, it's quite an institution at this point.

But it turns out that the Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission (HREOC) is upset about a deliberately offensive article about Aborigines, and is threatening to take the site's operator, Joseph Evers, to court. The thing is, the stuff on Encyclopedia Dramatica are deliberately offensive to pretty much everyone. That's the point. But the nice thing about the internet is that if you don't like that sort of thing, you can avoid it. Furthermore, Evers is in the US and isn't breaking any US laws.

It also turns out that Encyclopedia Dramatica is apparently on Australia's secret censorship filter list.

The Icelandic Parliament is debating a bill proposing a ban on striptease in Iceland to be effective on July first.

An evaluation by the Capital Region Police states that around a hundred foreign women come to Iceland annually to dance at strip clubs and that it has proven difficult to determine whether they are being forced into such practices. Presumably that is simply because there is no evidence that these women are forced into stripping.

The evaluation concludes that clubs should not be permitted to organize striptease on the grounds of human rights, the public's interest and policing.

The parliament's General Committee concludes that in light of the information from police authorities it is highly likely that some of the women working in strip clubs in Iceland don't enjoy full personal rights and are possibly victims of human trafficking or other abuse.

The bill therefore proposes the abolishment of a legal exemption which permits clubs to stage striptease for profit. An unequivocal ban on striptease and profiting from the nudity of employees or other attendees of clubs is recommended, the report said.

Minister of Social Affairs presented an action plan against human trafficking last March to put a ban on operating strip clubs and purchasing sexual services. After the presentation of the action plan, MP for the Left-Greens Atli Gislason presented a bill on banning the purchase of sexual services, which is backed by other MPs from the government parties and the 'Progressive' Party.

The Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) and the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP) have launched new UK Advertising Codes, following a comprehensive review and a full public consultation.

Consumer protection and social responsibility have been maintained at the heart of the Advertising Codes to ensure that all ads are legal, decent, honest and truthful. Key changes include:

• The creation of a single Broadcast Code for TV and radio in place of the existing four – making it more user-friendly, clearer and joined-up.
• An over-arching social responsibility rule for TV and radio that will afford greater protection to consumers.
• Further commitment to protecting children:
• A new scheduling rule for TV and radio keeps ads for age-restricted video games away from children's programming.
• Strengthened data protection rules for children, prevent marketers collecting data from U12s without parental consent.
• A new section in the Broadcast Code on environmental claims to provide greater clarity for advertisers and the public.
• Relaxation of the TV scheduling restriction on condom advertising. They can now appear pre-watershed but must be kept away from the youngest viewers (U10s). Ads must also comply with the strict rules on taste and decency and socially responsible advertising.

This was the first ever concurrent review of all the Advertising Codes in nearly fifty years of their history. The thorough process involved assessing more than 400 pieces of legislation and 30,000 consultation responses. Participants included a wide range of stakeholders such as Government, parents and children's groups, consumer protection bodies, regulators, charities and religious organisations, as well as the industry. The responses helped shape CAP and BCAP's views and the final Advertising Codes.

The new Codes will come into force on 1 September 2010, allowing advertisers nearly six months to familiarise themselves with the changes and ensure campaigns comply with the new rules. CAP and BCAP are also providing a comprehensive range of training and advice resources for all those involved in commissioning, producing or publishing ads to help make sure they comply with the rules.

Citing a supposed violation of its terms of use, social website Facebook has removed the group page of the pro R18+ organization Grow Up Australia.

A message from Facebook, while not specific, offered that groups that are hateful, threatening or obscene are not allowed. Additionally, Facebook removes groups that attack an individual or group, or advertise a product or service. The group had boasted around 37,000 members before its removal.

While a logical guess might theorize that members of the group had posted hateful comments about a certain South Australian Attorney General, Grow Up Australia wrote that it did not believe that any administrator-provided content had provoked the ban, and that it had also been vigilant in moderating member content.

The group has setup a Facebook Fan Page while it attempts to lobby Facebook to reinstate its group page.

Some of Japan's leading anime artists have voiced their opposition to a government proposal to outlaw sex and violence in children's comics and impose an age limit on anyone buying sexually explicit anime.

Headed by such well-known figures in the industry as Fujiko Fujio A, the creator of Hattori the Ninja and the Laughing Salesman, and Tetsuya Chiba, who draws the Tomorrow's Joe manga, the artists told reporters in Tokyo that the law would affect their freedom of expression.

Machiko Satonaka, another manga artist, said that the proposed legislation, created by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, pertains to freedom of expression and is open to a variety of interpretations. She added that she was horrified that the city government was planning to regulate comic characters because no one is actually being harmed.

The city assembly, which will vote on the proposed law on Friday, wants to restrict comics and animated images that contain sexually provocative depictions of nonexistent minors - an ambiguous concept that is taken to mean characters that people could reasonably assume to be minors, based on their appearances.

The new law would require the manga and animation industry not to sell works that depict sexual situations involving minors while also identifying works that depict rape and other violence as harmful materials and restrict minors' access to such comics.

Those tuning into This Morning, eager to see their favourite cookery and fashion features, were instead confronted by two couples simulating sex live on air.

In one scene a young couple were shown testing out how to have sex when there is a height difference, while an older pair revealed the best positions to adopt when one party is tired.

It then featured a short interview with 23-year-old Dannii Frost, who complained she had never had an orgasm with her partner of three years. Although presenter Philip Schofield kept a straight face as the spectacle unfolded, it was too much for co-host Holly Willoughby, who spent most of the time giggling and pulling faces.

But not everyone was laughing last night. A few viewers have turned to internet message boards and to media groups to complain about the ITV daytime programme, which is dedicating much of its output this week to dealing with viewers' sexual problems and questions.

Vivienne Pattison, director of MediaWatch UK, said: I've had people ringing in to complain about this and they are right to do so. Lots of people were offended. This was broadcast well before the watershed and when young children are likely to be watching. It is not appropriate. ITV have crossed a line here.

However Schofield was unrepentant, writing on his Twitter page: I am loving the "outrage" at This Morning's sex week. It was all perfectly decent and you got two warnings. And he warned that the rest of the week would cover sex toys, sexual taboos and infidelity.

Update: Ofcom's Position

17th March 2010. Based on article from broadcastnow.co.uk

Ofcom is not planning to investigate viewers complaints about This Morning's sex-themed week, Sex Up Your Life.

The regulator confirmed this morning that complaints had been made about models simulating sex positions on the morning television programme. A spokesman said there were no plans to investigate the complaints, which focused on the suitability of the show pre-watershed.

The UK TV Censor, Ofcom, has issued a final warning about the sexy content of the Tease Me babe channels

Bang Channels Ltd is licensed by Ofcom to provide the services known as Tease Me, Tease Me 2, Tease Me 3. Bang Media (London) Ltd is licensed by Ofcom to provide the service on Freeview known as Tease Me TV.

Ofcom has recently published in Broadcast Bulletins 151, 152 and 153 various breaches of the Broadcasting Code against each of Bang Channels and Bang Media. Ofcom also published various breaches of Condition 11 (retention and production of recordings) of their Licences. Since these breaches were serious and repeated, Bang Channels and Bang Media were warned that Ofcom was considering these contraventions for statutory sanction.

Despite these published findings, Ofcom is concerned that Bang Channels and Bang Media are continuing to transmit content that is in breach of the Code in that it appears similar in nature to that already found in breach of the Code on a number of occasions.

Ofcom therefore on 12 March 2010 issued formal directions against each of Bang Channels and Bang Media requiring them:

• to comply forthwith with the Broadcasting Code (in particular sections 1 and 2) and Condition 11 of their licences (retention and production of recordings);
• to stop transmitting forthwith any content which is materially similar to that already found in breach of the Broadcasting Code by Ofcom; and
• immediately to confirm these actions to Ofcom in writing.

Failure to comply with a Direction given by Ofcom could give rise to consideration of a statutory sanction and may result in the revocation of relevant licences.

Don't smoke kids. Smoking addles the brain and you may turn into a barmy researcher

The analysis of hundreds of films released in the past decade found that young Britons see more cigarette use in movies than their US counterparts because the UK censors judge more films to be family friendly.

Researchers warn that the more smoking adolescents witness onscreen, the more their chances of taking up the habit increases, with those who see the most tobacco use about three times more likely to start smoking than those who watch the least.

The study, compiled by Dr Christopher Millett of Imperial College London and Professor Stanton Glantz of California University, advocated an overhaul of the ratings system: Awarding an 18 rating to films that contain smoking would create an economic incentive for motion picture producers to simply leave smoking out of films developed for the youth market.

The researchers assessed the number of onscreen smoking or tobacco occurrences in 572 top grossing films in the UK between 2001 and 2006, including 546 screened in the United States, plus 26 high-earning films released only in the UK. They then divided the total box office earnings of each film by the year's average ticket price to calculate the estimated number of tobacco impressions delivered to audiences for each film.

Among the films assessed, over two thirds featured tobacco. Of these more than nine out of ten were classified as suitable for adolescents (15 or 12A) under the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) system.

The study, which will be published in Tobacco Control, found that in all, 5.07 billion tobacco impressions were delivered to UK cinema-going audiences during the period, of which 4.49 billion were delivered in 15 and 12A rated films. Because 79% of the films rated only for adults in the US (R) were classified as suitable for young people in the UK young Britons were exposed to 28% more smoking impressions in 15 or 12A rated movies than their US peers.

Dr Millett said: The decision to classify a film as appropriate for youths clearly has economic benefits for the film industry. A film classification policy that keeps on-screen smoking out of films rated suitable for youths … would reduce this exposure for people under 18 years of age and probably lead to a substantial reduction in youth smoking.

However, Sue Clark, spokeswoman for the BBFC, said imposing an 18 rating on films which feature scenes of smoking is not going to happen.

She said: Sometimes smoking is included in a film for reasons of historical accuracy.The only time we would consider stepping in is if we felt a film was actively promoting smoking. But I have never seen a film that did that.

Wikileaks have published a 2008 U.S. counterintelligence investigation into WikiLeaks.

It reports: The possibility that current employees or moles within DoD or elsewhere in the U.S. government are providing sensitive or classified information to Wikileaks.org cannot be ruled out.

It then suggests a plan to fatally marginalize the organization. Since WikiLeaks uses 'trust as a center of gravity by protecting the anonymity and identity of the insiders, leakers or whisteblowers, the report recommends The identification, exposure, termination of employment, criminal prosecution, legal action against current or former insiders, leakers, or whistlblowers could potentially damage or destroy this center of gravity and deter others considering similar actions from using the Wikileaks.org Web sit.

A man was told to hide his T-shirt because airport security staff claimed the slogan it bore was an incitement to terrorism.

Lloyd Berks arrived at Gatwick Airport wearing a trendy white Levi Strauss T-shirt sporting the phrase Freedom or Death in turquoise lettering. Beneath the slogan is a picture of a skeleton dressed in armour.

The Gothic imagery is common on the high street but 'security' officers decided it was threatening and told the father of two, who was travelling with his partner and two young children, to turn the T-shirt inside out. The man obliged but he has accused the airport of being over-zealous and attacking civil liberties.

Berks was stopped at a security checkpoint by Gatwick staff. They said airlines might be worried by my T-shirt because its "threatening". I thought they were joking at first. I was with my family. I was hardly a terrorist risk. And the T-shirt is trendy, not an incitement to terrorism. I've never heard of anything more ridiculous. It's an attack on people's civil liberties. What has happened to common sense? Have people forgotten how to use it?

Dylan Sharpe, campaign director of Big Brother Watch, said it was yet another example of how paranoid we have been made by terrorism: This is a sad example of the terrorism paranoia which increasingly affects every part of public life. T-shirt slogans do not imply malicious intent and the pathetic security officers should have known better.

A spokeswoman for Gatwick Airport has since apologised. She denied the airport had a policy on T-shirt slogans. She said: London Gatwick does not apply a policy relating to appropriate or inappropriate T-shirt slogans worn by passengers passing through airport security. While safety and security are our highest priorities, we also expect staff to apply common sense and judgment.

Baris Yarkadas, the editor of the online newspaper Gercek Gündem (Real Agenda), is facing up to five years in prison at a trial that started on 3 March 2010.

Proceedings were initiated in response to a complaint brought by the president's office. He is charged with insulting President Abdullah Gül under article 299-2 of the criminal code for failing to remove a comment posted by a reader.

We call for the immediate withdrawal of this baseless charge, Reporters Without Borders said. It is incomprehensible that Yarkadas should be accused of insulting the president when he did not himself write the comment, which was anyway neither rude nor insulting. This prosecution is indicative of a desire by the government to intimidate and silence its critics.

The reader accused President Gül of allowing his Armenian counterpart, Serzh Sargsyan, to defy him. Bravo, you have trampled on the honour of the great republic of Turkey, he wrote.

Yarkadas is facing other prosecutions. He is charged with offending Nur Birgen, head of the Institute for Forensic Medicine's expertise section, by reporting allegations that human rights NGOs have made against her.

Dermot Ahern, the Irish Justice Minister, is proposing a referendum this autumn to remove the newly-introduced offence of blasphemy from the Irish Constitution, along with two other referenda that the government is already committed to.

Atheist Ireland, which tirelessly campaigned against the law that made Ireland the laughing stock of the Western world, revealed that the Minister told the Sunday Times:

I was only doing my duty … there was an incredibly sophisticated campaign [against me], mainly on the internet.

And that there had been:

A lot of nonsense about that blasphemy issue and people making me out to be a complete right-winger at the time … I was only doing my duty in relation to it, because clearly it is in the constitution.

AI thanks everyone who has helped to make the campaign against this new law as effective as it has been to date. It is now important we maintain the pressure on this issue to ensure that the referendum happens as proposed and, more importantly, that it is won.

AI added: We reiterate our position that this law is both silly and dangerous: silly because it is introducing medieval canon law offence into a modern plularist republic; and dangerous because it incentives religious outrage and because its wording has already been adopted by Islamic states as part of their campaign to make blasphemy a crime internationally.

A final decision on a blasphemy referendum rests with the cabinet, but if Ahern remains justice minister after this month's reshuffle, he is likely to propose that it be added to the autumn list. The government is already committed to referenda on children's rights and establishing a permanent court of civil appeal.

A new government commercial currently running on one of Britain's most popular radio stations is selling one thing -- fear -- by encouraging Londoners to report their neighbors as terrorists if they use cash, enjoy their privacy, or even close their curtains.

That chap at no 17 has closed his curtains again!

The advertisement, produced in conjunction with national radio outlet TallkSport, promotes the anti-terrorist hotline and encourages people to report individuals who don't talk to their neighbors much, people who like to keep themselves to themselves, people who close their curtains, and people who don't use credit cards.

This may mean nothing, but together it could all add up to you having suspicions, states the voice on the ad, before continuing We all have a role to play in combating terrorism (we're all indentured stasi informants for the government).

If you see anything suspicious, call the confidential anti-terrorist hotline... if you suspect it, report it, concludes the commercial.

A television channel that showed footage of a model's naked breast as part of its coverage of a fashion show by the late British designer Alexander McQueen is to be taken off the air in India, according to government officials.

Fashion TV, which broadcasts internationally via satellite and cable systems, has been suspended for nine days, India's Information and Broadcasting Ministry said.

The offending programme, shown last September, depicted women with nude upper body which was offending [sic] against good taste and decency, a ministry statement said. The visuals were found to be obscene, denigrating women and were not suitable for children and unrestricted public exhibition, it added.

The Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCP) has called for internet images that "romanticise" self-harm to be removed after 50% rise in young people being admitted to hospital for deliberately cutting themselves.

There were 1,758 admissions for self-harm with a sharp object among people under 25 in 2004-5. This rose to 2,727 in 2008-9, according to the BBC research.

Dr Margaret Murphy, chair of the RCP child and adolescent faculty, said: The RCP is seriously concerned at the recent growth in the number of internet sites featuring images and video footage of young people engaging in self-harm and, in particular, websites which appear to promote self-harm.

A woman lay injured at the bottom of a mineshaft for six hours because health and safety rules banned firefighters from rescuing her.

Crews could only listen to Alison Hume's cries for help because regulations said their equipment was for saving themselves but not members of the public, an inquiry into her death heard yesterday.

The revelation sparked fierce criticism of the health and safety culture among rescue services, with the Fire Brigades Union saying crews were being put in an impossible position.

Mrs Hume was trapped 60ft below ground after she fell down the disused mineshaft 120 yards from her home in Galston, Ayrshire. Fire crews were called to the scene and a fatal accident inquiry heard that a firefighter had volunteered to be lowered down to rescue her.

But a memo from Strathclyde Fire and 'Rescue' chiefs four months earlier had banned the use of rope equipment for lifting members of the public to safety, the inquiry was told.

Mountain rescue experts eventually freed Mrs Hume six hours later, but she died after suffering a heart attack as she was taken to the surface.

Christopher Rooney, the first senior fire officer at the scene, admitted it would have been possible for his crew to have rescued Mrs Hume from the shaft, had it not been for the memo.

During the hearing, solicitor Gregor Forbes asked Rooney: On the basis of the manpower and equipment that you had available, is it your view it would it would have been possible for the firefighters to have brought the person to the surface before the mountain rescue team? He replied: Yes, I believe so.

Forbes said: Your position is that, while you were supplied with safe working-at-height equipment, while this could be used to bring up firefighters, it could not be used to bring up a member of the public. Rooney told the inquiry at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court: Yes, that's correct. All 18 firefighters at the scene were trained and capable of using the equipment, he added.

A senior MSP yesterday criticised the increasing imposition of health and safety rules on front-line rescuers. Scottish Tory deputy leader Murdo Fraser said: Of course, the safety of rescue workers has to be a major consideration. But a strict adherence to health and safety rules in such circumstances should not prevent life-saving action.

Update: Rescued by Common Sense

15th March 2010. Based on article from thescotsman.scotsman.com

Fire services will be told to follow new non-bureaucratic guidelines and take a sensible approach to hazardous incidents under a new policy unveiled by the Health and Safety Executive.

HSE chiefs said the guidelines aimed to ensure firefighters could do their jobs properly without employers flouting safety legislation. Brigade unions welcomed the ruling, saying a balance had to be struck between safety rules and allowing fire crews to do their job.

But one MP called for a complete overhaul of safety guidelines and their impact on rescues after the conclusion of a fatal accident inquiry into the death of Alison Hume.

Her family hit out at the fire service for failing to get Mrs Hume out of the shaft, after senior fire officers ruled they did not have proper procedures in place to lift her out.

The case has sparked criticism of a health and safety culture among rescue services and calls for a shake-up of existing rules. The new guidelines make it clear that fire services do not need to eliminate all risks in rescue situations.

Fire brigades and union leaders have backed the new rules, which acknowledge the principle that managers and firefighters need to make decisions in dangerous, fast-moving, emotionally charged and pressurised situations.

I've written and co-produced The Infidel, a movie about a Muslim who discovers that he was born a Jew, which comes out on April 9. As part of the build-up to the movie, the company behind it is running an online competition called Which Religion Is Funniest?, a nationwide search for the best religious joke.

All this will hopefully provoke, if not necessarily answer, all those questions that are worth asking when comedy and religion meet: when does a religious joke become a racist joke? Can a comedian joke only about his or her own religion? Is it the culture or the religion that is being laughed at? Is religion being laughed at, or with? And the big perennial, where do you draw the line?

Well, one place where you might perhaps draw the line is before you get killed. In Life of Brian times, making a film that some people thought was offensive to their faith led to nothing more frightening than a late-night TV argument with Malcolm Muggeridge and the Bishop of Southwark; now, as Theo van Gogh can't tell you, blasphemy can have much more serious consequences. Because The Infidel is about Muslims and Jews, it's created around me a certain amount of what I might describe as God!-what-he-is-thinking-about?-ness. I don't personally feel that the movie is offensive to either community, but that didn't stop Simon Schama, who was at one of the early screenings, saying to me afterwards: I adored it. So funny. Get some security.

...Read the full article

Scotland Yard has received a complaint about a Channel 4 alternative comedy series in which two men inflict pain on each other for fun.

The programme – Balls Of Steel – features Michael Locke and Matthew Pritchard, who perform masochistic acts including giving each other electric shocks and stapling paper to their tongues.

The pair – who go under the name Pancho and Pritchard, The Pain Men – are shown trying to outdo other performers to win an audience vote. The Pain Men. In one episode, entitled Kitchen Nightmares, one of them pressed raw onion into the open eyes of the other. In a further scene, called School Discipline, one of them beats the other's buttocks with a whip.

43 complaints were previously made to the TV censor when the shows were first televised, Ofcom ruled Channel 4 had not breached its code.

Nutter group Mediawatch-UK claims Channel 4 has breached an 1861 law which forbids people from inflicting bodily harm on each other, even by consent.

The nutters have now written to the Metropolitan Police asking the force to investigate further. But Scotland Yard said a criminal investigation was not appropriate.

A TV ad for durex Play O, a gel for women, depicted the facial expressions of a number of women who were experiencing sexual ecstasy but who appeared to be singing an aria. The ad closed with a pack shot while the voice-over said Feel like never before. durex Play O. Pleasure enhancing gel for women. durex play. All you need.

The ad was cleared by Clearcast with a post-11pm timing restriction. Issue

Two viewers, who saw the ad at approximately 10pm on Channel 4, challenged whether it was offensive and unsuitable for broadcast.

ASA Assessment: Not upheld

The ASA noted that the viewers saw the ad after 10pm but were of the opinion that it was unsuitable for broadcast at any time. We acknowledged the viewers' concern, and appreciated that advertisers and broadcasters needed to be aware of the sensitive nature of ads for this type of product. We considered that this ad was not overtly graphic, contained no explicit material and was unlikely to cause offence, provided it was scheduled appropriately.

We understood that the post-11pm scheduling restriction applied by Clearcast would have helped to avoid exposure to viewers under the age of 12 years. We noted, however, that Channel 4 had broadcast the ad shortly after 10pm in the first instance and shortly after 10.30pm in the second instance. We checked the audience index figures for those ad breaks in the relevant programmes, and noted that they did not attract a significant proportion of younger viewers, and concluded that neither programme had demonstrated a particular appeal to younger children.

Although the ad was broadcast by Channel 4 earlier than Clearcast's scheduling advice, in consideration of the child audience index figures for the ad breaks and surrounding programmes, we considered that it had been scheduled appropriately and was unlikely to cause offence to viewers.

The Enemies of the Internet list drawn up again this year by Reporters Without Borders presents the worst violators of freedom of expression on the Net: Saudi Arabia, Burma, China, North Korea, Cuba, Egypt, Iran, Uzbekistan, Syria, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, and Vietnam.

Some of these countries are determined to use any means necessary to prevent their citizens from having access to the Internet: Burma, North Korea, Cuba, and Turkmenistan – countries in which technical and financial obstacles are coupled with harsh crackdowns and the existence of a very limited Intranet.

Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan have opted for such massive filtering that their Internet users have chosen to practice self-censorship. For economic purposes, China, Egypt, Tunisia and Vietnam have wagered on a infrastructure development strategy while keeping a tight control over the Web's political and social content (Chinese and Tunisian filtering systems are becoming increasingly sophisticated), and they are demonstrating a deep intolerance for critical opinions. The serious domestic crisis that Iran has been experiencing for months now has caught netizens and the new media in its net; they have become enemies of the regime.

Among the countries under surveillance are several democracies: Australia, because of the upcoming implementation of a highly developed Internet filtering system, and South Korea, where draconian laws are creating too many specific restrictions on Web users by challenging their anonymity and promoting selfcensorship.

Turkey and Russia have just been added to the Under Surveillance list. In Russia, aside from the control exercised by the Kremlin on most of its media outlets, the Internet has become the freest space for sharing information. Yet its independence is being jeopardized by blogger arrests and prosecutions, as well as by blockings of so-called extremist websites. The regime's propaganda is increasingly omnipresent on the Web. There is a real risk that the Internet will be transformed into a tool for political control.

In Turkey, taboo topics mainly deal with Ataturk, the army, issues concerning minorities (notably Kurds and Armenians) and the dignity of the Nation. They have served as justification for blocking several thousand sites, including YouTube, thereby triggering a great deal of protest. Bloggers and netizens who express themselves freely on such topics may well face judicial reprisals.

Other countries, such as the United Arab Emirates, Belarus and Thailand are also maintaining their under surveillance status, but will need to make more progress to avoid getting transferred into the next Enemies of the Internet list. Thailand, because of abuses related to the crime of lese-majesté; the Emirates, because they have bolstered their filtering system; Belarus because its president has just signed a liberticidal order that will regulate the Net, and which will enter into force this summer – just a few months before the elections.

In what could be a legal test case, 19-year-old Nathan Michael Wilkie faces a charge of offensive behaviour after Asutralian police arrested him when he was listening to music by underground rapper Kid Selzy on his car stereo, the Herald Sun reports.

The Warrnambool Magistrates' Court heard he was listening to lyrics such as "shut your fucking mouth bitch, fucking motherfucker".

The court was told the arresting officers found the music offensive and derogatory to females.

Wilkie allegedly told officers: You're a joke, go do some real police work.

The man is believed to be the first person charged under Australian law with offensive behaviour for listening to music.

Through his lawyer, Amanda Chambers, Wilkie plans to plead not guilty when his case continues on June 11.

Police are expected to play Kid Selzy's latest album, The Creepshow, at the next hearing.