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Agreement Postpones U.S. Porn Site Prosecutions Over Age Recordkeeping

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on June 24, 2005 - 8:14am.
San Francisco -- A last-minute agreement between an adult entertainment industry trade group and federal prosecutors, reached Thursday, has delayed plans to prosecute website operators that offer pornographic images of persons for whom they do not possess proof of age. In anticipation of the crackdown, many porn websites had already removed such pictures from their servers. However, the broad language in the previously rarely enforced federal law 18 U.S.C. 2257 could also be interpreted to include sites that host photos of abuses at the Abu Ghraib prison, and explicit personal ad photos on websites like PlanetOut.com and Gay.com -- which blocked out such pictures on their sites yesterday. Adult entertainment trade group the Free Speech Coalition (FSC) reached a deal with the U.S. Justice Dept. that halts any prosecutions against FSC members until Sept. 7; while other sites remain vulnerable, the FSC said it can accept new members that will be protected under the agreement up until 2:00 P.M. Pacific time on Saturday. Sites that host "vintage porn" created prior to July 3, 1995 are not vulnerable to prosecution under the law. A hearing is scheduled for Aug. 8 to hear FSC's free speech arguments, against the government's insistence that strict enforcement of the law is needed to stem the online trade in child pornography.
tags: Websites | U.S | Postpones | Agreements | Recordkeeping |

Yahoo Pulls Chat Rooms After Report Shows Child Sex Solicitation

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on June 24, 2005 - 8:12am.
Sunnyvale, Calif. -- Yahoo has shut down its user-created chat rooms, following a TV report showing several chat rooms were being used by predators to solicit sex from minors. The KPRC Houston Channel 2 report also found that ads from large companies including Pepsi, State Farm Insurance and Georgia-Pacific appeared on Yahoo Chat pages for rooms with names like "Girls 13 And Under For Older Guys." "As soon as we found out we pulled our ads," Pepsi spokesman Dave DeCecco told Reuters. "We were totally unaware our ads were associated with those chat rooms -- and that was back in April." Yahoo has taken down all chat rooms for the time being, except for those rooms that the company operates itself. ''We began implementing the changes to Yahoo Chat user rooms in the past week," said spokeswoman Mary Osako. "Yahoo condemns the use of Internet tools for illegal activities."
tags: Reports | Yahoo | Chat | Rooms | Sex Solicitation |

Apple: 50 Million Songs Sold on Euro iTunes in First Year

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on June 24, 2005 - 8:10am.
Paris -- Apple announced that its European iTunes music stores have sold more than 50 million songs in their first year in business. However, Apple said the U.S. was still by far its largest market in the world, with U.S. consumers buying nearly six times as many songs as Europeans did since June 2004. Apple launched iTunes in Europe in the U.K., Germany and France last June. Since then, it has opened branches in most other European countries, including Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.
tags: Music | Apple | iTunes | Euro | First Year |

Report: Newspaper Websites Drawing Younger Online-Only Readers

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on June 24, 2005 - 8:09am.
New York -- Newspaper websites are drawing younger readers who don't subscribe to print editions, resulting in larger overall audiences, according to a report from newspaper analysis firm Scarborough Research. The report found that in an average week, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution gained roughly 223,000 additional readers from its website; when combined with the print edition, which reaches 51% of Atlanta adults, the paper's online and print editions reach 56% of local adults. The report also found that, while 28% of the paper's print edition are between the ages of 18 and 34, over 38% of its online readers were in this demographic. "We no longer consider our print audience to be separate from our online audience," said Jim Wilson, director of research and audience development at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "We provide our advertisers with multiple channels for reaching adults in Atlanta."
tags: Internet | Reports | Newspapers | Websites | Younger | Readers |

Audible Offers Podcasts of Spoken-Word NY Times, Wall Street Journal

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on June 24, 2005 - 8:07am.
Wayne, N.J. -- Audible, a distributor of spoken word audio content, announced on Friday the launch of podcast delivery for its content, enabling subscribers to automatically receive new editions of spoken word versions of The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, "This American Life," "The Charlie Rose Show" and other content. The podcast audio files are delivered using RSS (Really Simple Syndication), a technology that lets providers distribute content automatically to subscribers as soon as it is available.
tags: Internet | Online Publishing | Podcasts | Audio | Newspapers | News | WSJ | NYTimes | Audible |