 Nude & Natural Magazine Naturism is the Way. |
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Nude & Natural Magazine Naturism is the Way. |
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FEW READING THESE PAGES would debate the fact that JenniCam had anything to do with naturism. The social experiment started by Jennifer Ringley some seven years ago brought curious viewers and voyeurs into her home to view daily life as it happened, minute by minute.
However, at the end of December, JenniCam came to an end when Ringley’s fee-processing service, PayPal, exercised its terms of service muscle and closed her account because her Web site presented occasional nudity.
Ringley, now an employee of a social services agency in California, first started JenniCam in 1996 while enrolled in a Pennsylvania college. She became somewhat of a cause célèbre after installing cameras in her dorm room and “netcasting” her daily routine without censorship. Paid customers would tune in from the privacy of their own Web browsers to observe it all. Over the years cameras followed her every move from sleeping, to dressing (which included instances of nudity), to an occasional amorous moment with her boyfriend.
PayPal, an Internet fund transfer service, gained popularity among many Internet users, especially those engaged in the sale of online merchandise and online auctions, because it allowed the transfer of funds between two parties with PayPal as the go-between. All one needed to do was open an account, validate an address, and one could begin to receive or send funds online. It became a boon to the everyday person wanting to conduct commerce over the Internet.
But PayPal has taken a dim view of anything associated with nudity, and during a recent review of its customers found JenniCam to be in violation of its terms of service, which forbid use of its services for the sale of adult-oriented materials. PayPal considers nudity to be adult oriented.
Aside from JenniCam I understand that at least one naturist site was also caught up in the recent PayPal sweep and has had to seek another service for transferring funds to help maintain its Web site.
As a private business, PayPal can refuse any customer that it wants. But this development points to an ever-growing problem—corporate “net-sorship.” Already many major Internet services have terms of service that ban any depiction of nudity, even simple nudity as associated with naturism. Some carriers refuse the topic of naturism itself regardless of the presence of images. A few naturist entrepreneurs have stepped up for the cause and offered space on their systems, for which we should all be grateful, but at the same time this is somewhat a retreat.
The PayPal example before us is the tip of a much larger iceberg. As more and more communications services consolidate under the banner of larger corporations, eventually a handful of people will determine what we can see, hear, and present on the Internet. JenniCam had nothing to do with naturism, but its demise is a loud “bang” that we should all have heard and one that we should all be concerned about. We cannot afford to be homogenized out of existence.
IN DECEMBER 2003, a Florida man pled guilty to 49 counts of violating the “Truth in Domain Names Act,” which took effect last April. John Zuccarini of Hollywood, Fla. entered his plea before a federal judge in New York.
Zuccarini, who operates thousands of Internet sites, would register domains that are frequent misspellings of popular Web sites and then direct those unsuspecting people, including minors, to online pornography.
At first glance this ruling sounds great. Finally someone is doing something about people who capitalize on others by intentionally misdirecting them! As naturists, though, should we be concerned?
Let’s examine the fictitious domain “SunandFunResort.com.” Sounds in-nocent enough. In fact, it could be the domain name of a naturist resort, right? Could an unsuspecting person click on that URL looking for a vacation spot, and if offended by nudity (or discussion of it) therein, issue a complaint to authorities? We don’t know. It’s new legal territory yet to be fully explored.
In the case of Zuccarini, he was using misspellings of some major corporations such as America Online, Dow Jones, and Disney. There were some heavy players pushing the suit. However, could an innocent naturist resort find itself a victim of its own Internet domain name?
Some naturist list servers
bail out of Yahoo Groups
THEY STARTED AT OneList, which was then merged with eGroups, which was then purchased by Yahoo. The lineage reads like the ‘begats’ in the Bible. With each change in ownership new features and new restrictions were added, sometimes to the benefit and sometimes to the detriment of publishers and users.
Last December, several naturist list servers departed Yahoo Groups in favor of an in-house list that was established at sunclad.com, which I operate. I understand some other lists previously at Yahoo Groups have done the same, moving to other, more naturist-friendly services. Those lists include Eflower News and Northeast Naturists, both oriented to the northeast U.S., North-American Naturist Chat, the Naturist Students list, and the TNS Singles SIG open list. The departure affected approximately 2,500 users.
After a serious public browbeating by the American Family Association (as reported in NIFOC, N 22.3), Yahoo Groups took a negative position on all nudity, including family naturism. Indeed, the words “nudist” and “nudism” are now on its list of forbidden words that one may not use when authoring a home page; Yahoo Groups’ “naughty word” filter rejects them. Thankfully the bad word filter does not (yet) include “naturist” or “naturism.” But the message seems clear—“naturists, go home.”
I struggled with the decision to move from Yahoo Groups. The Yahoo Groups interface allowed for a unified system that included a naturist list server by e-mail and a Web-based message board. There are few online services that offer this configuration. However, Yahoo’s position on nudity, and by default on naturism, coupled with an increase in advertising sent to end users, simply made the situation intolerable. Our lists are now in-house at sunclad.com and we also have a new Web message board. The message board and e-mail list servers are separate entities.
George Winlock, director of the TNS Singles SIG, agreed with the move from Yahoo Groups. The SIG continues to maintain an open list server at sunclad.com that anyone may join and has also established a private members-only list. The Singles SIG ceased publication of its printed newsletter in 2003 and will be using its public and new private list server, as well as its Web site, as its main communications organs.
Those still subscribed to the old Yahoo Groups will find that they have been shut off and will eventually be deleted completely from Yahoo. Redirect instructions remain on each list’s Web site at Yahoo Groups for those who want to follow the herd in their migration to the new systems. Each list’s home page that is external to Yahoo already has the subscription instructions in place for the new lists.
FKK Online
www.FKK-Online.de
THE FKK ONLINE Web site is an interesting mixture of naturist images and text in German and English. For those not versed in German there is an online translator available at altavista.com which will translate the page of any URL you submit (albeit with sometimes interesting results).
The FKK-Online pages are simply designed and most scroll on for several pages in length, something the Web master may want to consider reorganizing into smaller packages at a later date. The home page image of a naturist family strolling through a green field is quite indicative of the naturist lifestyle. I have seen this image used on numerous naturist Web sites.
What struck me here were the extensive links to European clubs and many other worldwide destinations. They even include the “205 Arguments in Favor of Naturism” (by K. Bacher, N 16.1) in German. Those planning to travel in Europe may want to peruse these pages and explore their many links. It appears to be a great stepping off point for the continent.
Federation of Canadian Naturists
IT ALMOST GOES WITHOUT SAY- ing that the naturist traveler should reference the Web site of the Federation of Canadian Naturists (FCN) before making the resort or skinny-dipping circuit in Canada. The capable efforts of webmaster Stéphane Deschênes are evident throughout the colorful, easy to use pages. The FCN Web site serves not only as the home of FCN, but of its magazine, Going Natural. You will also find the Web pages of the French-language Federation de Quebecois du Naturisme linked within. This is a great Web site and an excellent stepping off point for Canadian as well as overseas naturism.
IN THE LAST INSTALLMENT of NIFOC readers complained that I didn’t offer my usual pithy remarks here. So this time, I donned my pith helmet and delved into the world of pith. Unfortunately, I didn’t return with anything that remotely resembled pithiness, though I understand that some people think I can be a real pither at times. Archived back editions of NIFOC can be found at my Web site at www.sunclad.com/nifoc. I welcome comments and critiques at nifoc@sunclad.com. Drop me a line! —DMK
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