Pennsylvania school being sued for spying on students

On Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me, a political gameshow with a cynical panel of comedic hosts, mentioned yesterday that there is a lawuit against a school district in Pennsylania. Apparently the school board voted to give all the students at Harriton High School a laptop, except the laptops were equipped with webcams that were used to spy on the students. The spying was discovered when one student, Blake Robbins, came into school one day and was repremanded for improper behavior in the home. The vice principal accused him of popping illegal pills, and the student replied that he had been eating Mike and Ike's (the candy) while doing his homework at home. He then naturally asked how they got pictures of him sitting at home doing homework. As the host of Wait Wait Don't Tell Me quipped, the principal must have then answered "oh....nevermind." The principal denies spying on any students, but the parents of Robbins are suing the school on behalf of all the students for gross privacy violation. Sounds about right to me! I'd sue the pants off them, since they'd probably have a video recording of me with my pants off!

Super Fired

http://blog.newsarama.com/2010/02/28/dc-fires-lawyers-in-siegel-superman-case/

This article features news of DC's legal counsel being fired during the latest Seigel family lawsuit against DC. The copyright and trademark of the first official superhero, Superman, is being fought over. I believe this change of lawyers is a intimidation tactic, which hopefully will stop the Seigel family from continually going after the copyright and trademark of Superman, even after the Seigels have repeatedly settled. If this were the Seigel family's first lawsuit against DC I might be inclined to side with them, but the fact is that this is just the latest. Even if the Seigel family wins half the Copyright and even Half the trademark they still will lose. The reason they would lose is Superman is entrenched so completely in the DC universe that the mere idea of him at another company just doesn't work. Another reason is that AOL Time Warner would still own half the copyright and half the trademark, so it would be their character still but making half the money they make now.

Sarah Palin Is not Amused by Seth McFarlane

I was watching an episode of Bill Mahr, who had the creater of Family Guy, Seth McFarlane, on to discuss several issues, one of which regarded a new episode that FOX recently aired that featured a character with down syndrome. In the episode, Chris (Seth Green) asks out a girl who has down syndrome, voiced by an actress who actually has the condition, only to discover that she is mean and inconsiderate. The "moral" of the story, if there were to be one, is that people with down syndrome can be jerks, just like all other kinds of people. Sarah Palin disapproved of the episode and came onto shows such as the O'Reilly Factor to express her disdain for such disrespect of people with mental disabilites. The girl who played the down syndrome girl on the show spoke out after hearing of Palin's outcry, stating that she was perfectly happy doing the show.

This all ties back to Rom Emmanuel's mistakenly-recorded utterance that certain Democrats were "fucking retards," which sent the Palin brigade out on a tyraid that is still in process. Now it seems that not only can we not say the word "retards" without committing an offense against God, but it also seems that we can't even show or discuss people with mental disabilities, even if they are happy to do so. Following through on Palin's suggestions would result in the chilling of the First Amendment and would ultimately hurt those she's supposedly trying to protect.

New Study Finds False Advertising used by Indoor Tanning and Tobacco Industries

A new study has found that the indoor tanning industry is using similar advertising strategies used by the tobacco industry. In a report published online in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, dermatologist David A Jones, MD presented results of an observational study that concluded that both the tobacco and tanning industries use advertising strategies to counteract the health concerns in their products. The industries want to positively influence the consumer’s perception of smoking and indoor tanning. The industries also want to drive demand.

Dr. Jones says, “ The indoor tanning industry reported domestic sales in excess of $ 2.7 billion in 2007 and it relies heavily on advertising to sell the misleading idea of a “safe” and “healthy” tan to the public. Even though it is well documented that UV radiation from natural sunlight and indoor tanning devices is a known cause of skin cancer, the public is not always aware of the serious health risks associated with indoor tanning- and the tanning industry’s advertising practices capitalize on this fact.”

Dr. Jones and his colleague, Jennifer Herrmann, MD, reviewed 2,000 advertisements from four large tobacco-advertising databases. Dr. Jones and Dr. Herrman identified 4 key strategy profiles that were used to sell the product. These strategies included:

1) Mitigating health concerns

2) Appealing to a sense of social acceptance

3) Emphasizing psychotropic effects

4) And targeting specific population segments

A collection of 350 tanning advertisements were compiled and evaluated based on the 4 key strategies listed above.

In order to combat the growing concerns of UV exposure, the indoor tanning industry created “harm reduction” campaigns similar to the tobacco industry. An example,is an advertisement promoting tanning beds s “UVB- free” or “99% pure UVA” used in the 1980s. This was a time when research began confirming that UVB rays are carcinogenetic and UVA rays are just as harmful and can cause skin cancer. The ads fails to mention this.

In January 2010 the FTC recognized the seriousness of the indoor tanning advertisements and it issues a consent order. The consent order prohibits the Indoor Tanning Association from making false health and safety claims about indoor tanning.

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-study-finds-similar-advertising-strategies-used-by-indoor-tanning-and-tobacco-industries-85361542.html

Magazine's Cover Features Olympic Skier in a Suggestive Pose

After reading Ebony's post on the Scotty Largo's “risky” photos. I thought I would post another blog that dealt with the Olympics and “risky” pictures. Early this month the cover of Sports Illustrated's Winter Olympics preview, February 8, issue featured the American alpine skier Lindsey Vonn. Vonn ‘s pose resembled the exaggerated tuck stance skiers take when barreling down a hill. The cover also had the headline “America’s best woman skier ever.”

Many feminists are claiming Vonn’s pose on the Sports’ Illustrated cover are provocative and portrays Vonn as a sex symbol versus an athlete. An expert in sports psychology and women in sports, Nicole M. Lavoi wrote in her blog,“ That it is bad enough that women rarely appear on the magazine’s cover. When females are featured on the cover of SI, they are more likely than not to be in sexualized poses and not in action-and the most recent Vonn cover is not exception.”

I’ll let you be the judge.

http://www.chicagobreakingsports.com/2010/02/lindsey-vonn-sports-illustrated-cover-gets-chilly-reception.html

Dannon settles false advertising lawsuit over Activia, DanActive yogurt (Los Angeles Times)

Dannon Co. settled a false-advertising lawsuit Friday, agreeing to set up a $35-million fund to reimburse consumers who bought its Activia and DanActive yogurts(Olivarez-Giles).

The class-action lawsuit, filed in January 2008, alleged that Dannon lied when marketing its Activia and DanActive yogurts by trumpeting health benefits that didn't exist (Olivarez-Giles).

This is a case of false advertising. Activa and DanActive were said to help regulate digetive system based on the Probiotic bacteria that is found in the yougurts. They also said it will help replenish those healthy bacteria at an older age. However, there are no studies that indicate this is correct.

False advertsements do not benfit the company or the ad agency representing the product or service. Dannon Co. had to reimburse consumers who bought the product. Flase advertisement becomes a loss of profit and create a poor image for both the comapny and the ad agency.

Scotty Largo Scandal

Just wanted to post the question to the following situation. Does obscenity issues apply here?

Scotty Largo is a Bronze Medal winner in the 2010 Winter Olympics. After winning his medal he was caught at a party, and some "risky" photos were taken of him.

http://www.bnqt.com/blogs/detail/Scotty-Lago-Scandal/5679

Now the photo themselves were not as obscene as some people might think. However, think of the situation. He is an olympic athlete. Many men, women, and children may look up to him. My question is if an obscentity issue comes into play here.

It is said that the photos were innocent and not his fault. However, Largo did appologize to the Olympic committee and voluntarily left the rest of the olympics. Does obscenity play some sort of factor here because he was a public figure?