Another Moral Majority soldier falls

[DSE 5]

Dean Thompson and I held a few public debates on the legality and morality of his company "CleanFlix" editing out nude and violent scenes. He, amongst others, was being sued for violating copy protection schemes and violating copyright of major studios. The Moral Majority was a major financial supporter of the CleanFlix movement in the predominantly LDS business.

Ironically, Dean Thompson and a buddy were arrested today for having sex with a 14 year old girl.
So, could it be argued that editing out all those nude, sexual, and violent scenes from movies like "Titanic," "Braveheart," "Forrest Gump" clouded their minds and judgement, causing them to seek out the very experiences they were shielding others from?

[DARK 0]

how long was braveheart when they edited out the violence?

[DSE 5]

4 minutes plus credits?

[DARK 0]

fucking eejit

[Zipp0 1]

Get the story straight. He was PAYING 14 year old gorls for BJ's.

So when paying $20 for a hummer, make sure you get ID first.

--------------------------
Chuck Norris doesn't do push-ups, he pushes the Earth down.

[Nightingale 0]

Your link goes to his website, not the story... do you have a link to the news story?

[DSE 5]

It's the second link.

[Andy9o8 2]

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Get the story straight. He was PAYING 14 year old gorls for BJ's.

So in that case it was a simple commercial transaction. Where's the immorality in that?

[lawrocket 3]

And yet again, you'll find a person openly advocating something because they know what they are doing.

"Protect the children from deviant sex." Odds are they know more than anyone about why children need to be protected.

"We must do something to stem illegal immigration." Has a Guatemalan nanny.

"We must take steps to stem the flow of drugs into society" - probably the proponent's second liver talking.

"Tax the rich." - filthy rich lawmaker who will draft an exemption for himself.

Etc., etc., etc...

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[kschilk 0]

Aww, c'mon......somebody act surprised. Somebody.......anybody......?

"T'was ever thus."

[kelpdiver 2]

But did he advocate forcing people to use his cleanfix, or was he just providing a service to the prudes of America (of which he clearly isn't a member) ?

The legal/moral issues with the product are very interesting. You can make good arguments for the *(many) sides on the topic.

To me, if someone buys a dvd and then uses this product, ok. But if network TV used it to release an unauthorized 'clean' version to broadcast the movie, no.

And what happens when the product fails to do the job and suddenly Harvey Keitel's cock is bouncing on the 73" TV? I bet their EULA has a lot of out clauses.

[DARK 0]

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I bet their EULA has a lot of out clauses.

im sure that would help if eula's actually meant anything

[DSE 5]

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But did he advocate forcing people to use his cleanfix, or was he just providing a service to the prudes of America (of which he clearly isn't a member) ?

The legal/moral issues with the product are very interesting. You can make good arguments for the *(many) sides on the topic.

To me, if someone buys a dvd and then uses this product, ok. But if network TV used it to release an unauthorized 'clean' version to broadcast the movie, no.

And what happens when the product fails to do the job and suddenly Harvey Keitel's cock is bouncing on the 73" TV? I bet their EULA has a lot of out clauses.

Apparently you don't know the Cleanflix story; let me enlighten you.
Cleanflix bought DVDs by the truckload, and called those "licensed copies." And they were.
They also ripped those DVDs and edited out "objectionable" content. Scenes like the nude scenes from Titanic, blood and gore from Braveheart, Saving Private Ryan, Pulp Fiction, Spiderman (wet Tshirt kissing scene), IceAge(Sexual references), etc were removed. Swear words were removed. Many edits of all these films removed, using Apple Final Cut Pro (a party to the lawsuit) and Adobe Premiere (Another party to the lawsuit).
They then sold these cleaned up, DRM-free movies to the public both over the web and in their stores. Their predominant market is the LDS market. The owner of the chain himself is/was an LDS leader in his community. They marketed themselves as an LDS business, and had well-known LDS Senator Orrin Hatch endorsing their business.
They were sued for:
~Violation of the DCMA for bypassing DRM
~Copyright violation in editing the original picture without license
~Copyright violation in replication of protected content
~Altering copyrighted works for reasons not related to Fair Use

The Moral Majority helped CleanFlicks fight the DGA both financially and with moral support.
The DGA vs CleanFlix lawsuit was a short-lived one. The court court ruled in favor of the DGA. CleanFlix/Cleanflicks appealed to the District court and lost. It started to go to the Supreme Court, but then NYC court issued their decision, also in favor of DGA.
Cleanflicks website now says that as of 2005 they can no longer offer edited movies. They were busted for doing it again about a year ago.
The owner has been repeatedly on television saying "I don't want my kids watching these sorts of movies, it's wrong to subject my children to sex scenes," etc. He even bought a half-hour of late-night television time with Dell Schanze, a psychopathic paraglider pilot (constantly in trouble with the FAA) to do a show on Parenting and keeping kids away from drugs, sex, and booze.

Today he was arrested for paying a 14 year old for oral sex. Allegedly, it's just the tip of the iceberg.
Coincidentally, This guy's illegal products were once distributed by Brad Gale, who owned a chain of Mormon/LDS bookstores. Gale was recently busted for having sex with a 12 year old boy (25 counts).
It's almost tragic that these self-proclaimed warriors of moral might are being arrested right and left for sexual abuse of children.

Evidently there is something to the localized joke of "
"Run for your lives! Joseph Smith has risen from the grave, and he's asking for some teenagers."

Personally, I hope they're cell-mated with Sluggo, a well-endowed Greek man in need of rough sex twice a day to keep his temper in check.

[kelpdiver 2]

This isn't the dvd player that does lookups for the parts to avoid? I'm thinking of that product.

Yes, you're describing something that is hard to defend. (but why was apple and adobe sued?)

[DSE 5]

You're referring to ClearPlay, which is different. ClearPlay has not finished their legal appearances. ClearPlay does not alter the physical media nor the actual content of the disc in any way, so it's a different technology than physically removing parts of the movie. I honestly don't know how anyone can watch a ClearPlay'd movie. Jerky, jumpy...and you can easily lose the plot line in really busy action films but hey...they will turn an "R" rated film into a "G" rated film with a simple download. Legality is still to be decided.

Adobe and Apple were initially part of the lawsuit because at the time, their technology, coupled with certain hardware and software, made ripping movies very easy. They were quickly released from the original complaint, however. I suspect the main reason they were enjoined was that one of Thompson's people had created a tutorial on how to rip/edit movies to remove objectionable content. I have a print of it around here somewhere, but can't find it on the web using Google.

[Para_Frog 1]

You're painting with a broad brush again dude. These guys are douchebags because they're douchebags. And I concur with your hopes for their future.

You present it as a predisposition for pedophelia because they're LDS.

That's like assuming you're a drunk because you're native american.

I have my reservations (no pun intended) about the LDS church, but you've prejudiced your argument. You need to opine more objectively to increase your effectiveness.

- Harvey, BASE 1232
TAN-I, IAD-I, S&TA

BLiNC Magazine Team Member

[DSE 5]

I do admit a certain prejudice for pedophilia being common amongst the LDS culture, but that's only because it is.
Please identify any state in the past 24 months that has had the number of child porn, minor-age sexual abuses that Utah has recently had. You won't be able to. We interviewed Mark Shurtleff's Crimes Against Children team recently, and learned that Utah has the highest arrest and conviction rate in these two areas, and the vast majority of those arrested are active members of the LDS church.
Does that mean that all LDS people have a proclivity for sexual abuse of children? Of course not. No more than being a Catholic priest increases the likelihood of abusing little boys.
But there is a pattern here, and it's quite disturbing. According to the director of the Crimes Against Children, it's not that there are more child molesters in Utah, it's that they're dumber and easier to catch.

This one, i take particular interest in because I know the perpetrator very well, and have engaged in several debates with him about the legality and morality of his business actions. It's entirely coincidence that a former business partner of his has also been arrested and convicted of sexual abuse of a minor, but it's entirely worth of mention, because they were business partners, and both extremely outspoken defenders of the family values that they were perpetuating by offering cleaned up movies.

[ryoder 1,590]

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We interviewed Mark Shurtleff's Crimes Against Children team recently, and learned that Utah has the highest arrest and conviction rate in these two areas, and the vast majority of those arrested are active members of the LDS church.

Are these cases frequently arranged marriages where one, (or both), partners are under legal age?

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

[DSE 5]

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Are these cases frequently arranged marriages where one, (or both), partners are under legal age?

Nope. Not one of them. Polygamy falls into a different category.
Utah has a high number of internet connections (highest per capita in the USA according to Utah C of C, but sixth according to Forbes). 68% of the state uses computers in their homes vs 46% of the rest of the USA on average.
About half of their busts are stings where the arrestee thinks he's chatting with 13 y/o boys/girls and arranges to meet the "child" somewhere, often parking lots or near amusement establishment. Lures of drugs, alcohol, or money are often involved. Many of the remainder are busted for either authoring or trafficking in child pornography. In the case of CleanFlicks, allegedly there will be charges next week of possession of child pornography, whereas in the Gale case, Gale was shooting and selling the photos. Thus far, every person connected to Gale's sales are members of the LDS faith. Gale was a very highly ranked leader in the LDS faith, being the approximation of a Bishop in the Catholic Church (a "Stake President" in the LDS Church) overseeing several wards, or a diocese of many congregations.
Given that roughly 48% of the state of Utah is active in the LDS faith, and the church claims approximately 70% of the residents are or have been members, makes that number fairly skewed, given the percentages of arrests vs population, but it still shows a pattern. And it happens in the surrounding states that have high LDS populations.
Jokes about pedophilia have *always* been common fare on some radio talk shows, and it's not related to polygamy at all.
According to the AG, another reason so many arrests are surfacing is that the leadership of the LDS faith no longer tolerates the shielding of sexual predators, as they did until very recently.

I freely admit a lack of objectivity on the subject. There isn't a week that goes by that we don't see a ranking member of the LDS faith arrested for some sexual misconduct with a minor. It's hard to remain objective when it's all around, reported almost daily. I hope I never become numb to it.

[TomAiello 26]

How many of Joseph Smith's wives were under age?

Just following in the steps of the prophet...

-- Tom Aiello

Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com
SnakeRiverBASE.com