Fox Affiliate Rejects Campaign Ad Critical of Bush

Did Fox 5 New York reject this Manhattan Borough President campaign ad because of…

a) a gay candidate, Brian Ellner, with his arm around his partner?
b) a Photoshop of a naked George W. Bush with an emperor-has-no-clothes theme?

According to Tim Arnold, a media adviser to the candidate, “a station representative told him that the station believed the advertisement was ‘disrespectful of the office of the president.’”

Professional Photographer = Stalker?

From the Internet Movie Database:

Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney Rhonda Saunders is advocating a measure that would strengthen laws against paparazzi who stalk movie celebrities. Current laws call for a fine of up to $50,000. “Big deal,” Saunders told Sunday’s San Francisco Chronicle. “If a photographer is sued and ordered to pay $50,000, but he gets paid $250,000 for the picture, it’s just the cost of doing business. That statute is not a deterrent.” Instead, she is proposing a law that would impose a restraining order on paparazzi who are convicted of violating the law. “This could be very effective because then they’d have more to lose,” said Saunders.

Brilliant. Ruin the careers of people trying to do their jobs and satisfy the interest of millions of readers, because celebrities don’t like being photographed too much.

Australian Court: Change File-Sharing Software, Kazaa

A ruling in Australia:

An Australian federal judge on Monday ordered distributors of the popular file-swapping program Kazaa to alter the software, which millions have downloaded, so it can no longer be used for music piracy.

(The ruling is) hailed as a victory by the recording industry that brought the suit….

In some ways, it mirrors the U.S. Supreme Court’s June ruling that Hollywood and the music industry can sue technology companies that encourage their customers to steal music and movies over the Internet.

… In a brief statement, (Kazaa ownner) Sharman said it would appeal and Kazaa software remained available online, with more than 800,000 downloads reported last week and 390 million total since Kazaa first became available in 2001. Sharman says its software is no different from a tape recorder or photocopier — and that Kazaa could not control copyright infringement by users.

But Wilcox said that Kazaa’s distributors actively encouraged users to share files, the vast majority of which were copyright material.

He said that if Kazaa is to continue its owners will have to ensure that new versions of the software filter out unlicensed copyright material, a task the judge said would be extremely difficult.

Wilcox stressed, however, that he was anxious not to damage legitimate file-swapping with his ruling. He said Kazaa needs to be changed “without unnecessarily intruding on others’ freedom of speech and communication.”

An analogy: This is like ordering Microsoft to prevent the Internet Explorer browser from displaying copyrighted lyrics.