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Metatags
- To: debate@fitug.de
- Subject: Metatags
- From: UZS106@ibm.rhrz.uni-bonn.de
- Date: Fri, 25 Sep 1998 01:59:29 +0200
- Comment: This message comes from the debate mailing list.
- Sender: owner-debate@fitug.de
Keine Ahnung, was das ist, wer Pam Anderson war hab ich auch vergessen,
aber das hier fand ich ganz interessant, interessanter Blickwinkel,
aus www.thestandard.net:
Learning From Porn
Excerpted from an online dialogue at FEED Magazine that will continue
through Oct. 1. (September 21, 1998)
[INLINE]
The following is excerpted from an online dialogue at FEED Magazine
that will continue through Oct. 1.
Maribeth Bruno is a senior editor at Playboy.com.
Seth Warshavsky is CEO of IEG, the online erotic entertainment company
that unveiled the OurFirstTime.com hoax and legally defended the
distribution of the Pamela Anderson and Tommie Lee video.
Rufus Griscom is editor in chief of Nervemag.com, the zine of
"literate smut."
Lee Noga is CEO of ZMaster, a major reseller and distributor of
pornographic photos, videos and CD-ROMs on the Internet.
It's an oft-heard adage that the sex industry is a bellwether for
technological breakthroughs, from VHS systems to e-commerce to
Net-conferencing. In your minds, what have been the most important
advances - technically, editorially or legally - brought about by the
online porn business?
Griscom: To start, Nerve is not, by my definition, a porn magazine,
which is to say that we are more focused on stimulating gray matter
than groins. Because the press finds us less objectionable than XXX
Web sites, we've enjoyed considerable media exposure and have been
able to create a different business model based on advertising, book
and licensing revenues.
While we are not pioneering technology, we may be charting new ground
by demonstrating the profitability of cross-media brand expansion for
shoestring Web magazines. (We are taking Nerve overseas, into print
and merchandising.)
And of course, it's important to remember that this nation's
near-boundless appetite for porn also pays for innovation by the major
search engine companies. Yahoo, Lycos and their brethren have done a
good job keeping quiet about the proportion of their ad revenues that
come from the porn industry. (Some say it's a majority.)
Noga: The adult industry on the Web follows the natural progression of
its technical achievements in the multimedia and video industry. Web
technical advances include development of live video, audio, chat,
messaging, imaging and virtual reality.
Warshavsky: The most important advance has been the merger of the
Internet and other entertainment distribution vehicles into one
medium. The adult entertainment industry has driven this evolution by
designing the first workable technology that combines television and
the Internet. Within the next 12 to 24 months, the world will see an
interactive television experience from a desktop machine that will
bring an unlimited supply of entertainment, news and information.
What are the biggest failures?
Noga: What the adult industry needs to realize now is that success in
other industries (print, video, multimedia) does not give you the edge
on the Web. The Web is monopolized by the grassroots webmasters who
established the Web years before the big names appeared.
Bruno: I vote for those annoying pop-up consoles and unsolicited
commercial e-mail as the biggest failures.
What about the legal issues?
Noga: We came to the Web desiring a simple retail store presence for
CDs and videos. In our quest to find out how this is done, we
identified some horrific problems in the industry, which included
profiting from content stolen from newsgroups. We realized we were
most abused in the area of hard core. Instead of lashing out at the
industry with legal wrangles, we decided to be part of the solution
and license content for pennies an image.
Bruno: On other legal fronts, Playboy has been at the forefront of
intellectual property law as it aggressively defends its interests
online. This March, a $3.74 million award, plus attorneys' fees and
court costs, was assessed against San Diego-based Five Senses
Productions for its unauthorized use of almost 7,500 Playboy-owned
images. Notably, each use was treated as an individual copyright
infringement. In April, Playboy was granted the first reported award
of statutory damages for trademark counterfeiting since the U.S.
Trademark Act was amended in 1996, in a case against Hong Kong-based
AsiaFocus International and Internet Promotions for their use of the
"Playboy" and "Playmate" trademarks in their advertising and metatags.
Noga: It's interesting that Maribeth's response doesn't mention the
issue of metatags, for which Playboy is appealing a loss for
injunction against Playmate Terri Welles. Rumor has it that if Terri
wins, several Playmates will follow, and, with the support of the
adult industry, these girls will be assisted to launch their sites
independently of Playboy. If surfers can access the girls outside of
Playboy, Playboy may find itself without that silver spoon in its
mouth - and may have to resort to working for traffic.
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