MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Google agreed to buy YouTube for $1.65 billion in a stock deal that catapults the search giant to a starring role in online video distribution.

Nineteen-month-old YouTube, which has spawned a handful of imitators in the adult world — Pornotube.com and Porntube.com, for example — combines Google’s global technical infrastructure for serving up advertisements from its advertisers with YouTube’s leading position in serving up videos to users on the web.

San Bruno, Calif.-based YouTube claims surfers view the short videos more than 100 million times daily through its service, and it commanded 46 percent of visits to U.S. online video sites for September. That figure, according to market-research firm Hitwise, compared with a 21 percent share for the video activities of MySpace and 11 percent for Google Video.

The combination of Google and YouTube may make it easier to secure distribution agreements for copyrighted video content, but some legal analysts and industry executives say that YouTube could face copyright suits by some content owners who are already concerned that their copyright video and music is available without their permission.

Google still faces a suit with the Association of American Publishers and the Authors Guild over copyright infringement after it launched Google Books. That suit continues in U.S. District Court.

Source: XBiz

NORTHAMPTON, Mass. — NoPornNorthampton, a community group comprised of citizens opposed to the construction of a Capital Video adult store, has been warned by state Attorney General Tom Reilly to stop soliciting public donations.

A spokesman for the Attorney General said NoPornNorthampton sent out a mass mail campaign to registered voters in Northampton and Longmeadow that included a donation envelope. The group was told to stop its public drive to solicit funds.

Additionally, Reilly warned the group to register as a charity if it continues to seek public contributions.

Capital Video, which Dun & Bradstreet reports earned $21 million in sales in 2005, operates stores throughout the Northeast, as well as the website Amazing.net.

Northampton is a small New England town that is home to college students, artists and bohemian businesses. The store, which Capital Video CEO Kenneth Guarino hoped to open at a former auto dealership, is a short walk from the center of town, in a location populated by schools, churches and homes.

NoPornNorthampton’s Jendi Reiter said the charity drive was a way to defray organizational costs, and that her organization will comply with the Attorney General’s order.

According to Reiter, the mailings brought in only $1,000.

“Northampton has long been a refuge for people who care about women’s equality, human dignity and the arts,” Reiter said. “Porn shops hurt neighborhoods with crime, violence against women and sexual addiction that breaks up families. Our town can do better.

Source: XBiz

WASHINGTON — The Interior Department’s inspector general has unearthed evidence of widespread computer misuse among government employees, including numerous visits to sites featuring adult content and gambling.

In a 15-page report titled “Excessive Indulgences” Earl Devaney found that Interior Department employees were abusing their Internet access by searching four broad categories: Pornography, gambling, shopping and games.

The week-long investigation focused only those categories, Devaney said, point out that the report was a “narrow study” of the problem.

“Our review of one week of computer use logs revealed over 4,732 log entries relating to sexually explicit and gambling websites," Devaney said.

Compounding matters, Devany said the limited study lead his office to conclude that its estimate of inappropriate online activity by Interior Department employees, particularly with respect to sites with sexual content, was conservative and on the low side.

The report also referenced several past instances of Interior Department computers being used to access child pornography. The report chronicles several prosecutions of Interior Department employees who were eventually convicted of possession of child pornography.

According to the report, unauthorized Internet use at the 80,000 worker-strong Interior Department costs taxpayers $2 million in lost wages.

Accessing sexually explicit and gambling sites is prohibited by federal regulations and Interior Department policy.

The report also found that a number of Interior Department employees wasted time accessing online game and shopping sites, neither of which is specifically prohibited. The report estimates that employees accessing sites not specifically banned squandered 104,211 productivity hours.

While some Interior Department employees have faced disciplinary actions for abusing their Internet access, the report concluded that the number of total disciplinary actions was “minimal.”

Source: XBiz

Nicole Kidman is going to get naked.

Fox News announced that Nicole Kidman’s new movie, Fur, is going to be chock-full of stuff you seldom see in her films — like her breasts. A lot of the film’s other cast members will be doing the full monty, too.

Whoo-hoo!

The film, directed by Steve Shainberg (who helmed 2002’s indie hit Secretary), is a fictional take on the life of legendary photographer Diane Arbus (Kidman), whose work included nude portraits of regular schmoes: short ones, tall ones, fat ones, skinny ones — once she photographed a woman who used her feet for hands.

As for the movie, it reportedly features scenes at a nudist colony, as well as a graphic sex scene between Kidman and a very hairy Robert Downey Jr., who recently landed the title role in Iron Man, in which he will not be naked.

Fur comes out on Nov. 10.

Source: XFanz