The Buzz Killer

According to the New York Times, Verizon, Sprint and Time Warner Cable have all agreed to block access to "Internet bulletin boards and Web sites nationwide that disseminate child pornography." The move–part of an agreement with New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo–will affect customers across the country. Sounds good, right? But the devil, as always, is in the details, and so is the confusion.

When initially reported, many on the internet assumed that the ISPs were blocking all of usenet. Not so. While Time Warner Cable will cease to offer Usenet at all, Sprint and Verizon seem to be cutting off the alt.* hierarchy only, home to most of usenet’s porn, both child and adult, as well as a broad array of conversations on any topic imaginable, from pet care to bomb making to illegal downloading.

Customers of these ISPs will be able to access Usenet via other servers on the internet, just not the ones owned by Sprint, Verizon and Warner.

“You can’t help but look at this material and not be disturbed,” said. Cuomo. “These are 4-year-olds, 5-year-olds, assault victims, there are animals in the pictures. To say ‘graphic’ and ‘egregious’ doesn’t capture it.”

Look for more of this ISP-level blocking in the future, and look for more sacrifices of legit internet information in order to stop child porn, too.

New York Times: Net Providers to Block Sites With Child Sex

R&B star R. Kelly was acquitted today on all counts in his child pornography trial in Chicago. The jury reached a verdict in less than eight hours of deliberation.

Damn, that was quick!

If you’ll recall, Kelly was charged with 14 counts of videotaping himself having sex with an allegedly underage girl (13, say prosecutors). Neither Kelly and the now 23-year-old alleged victim testified during the trial and both deny they were on the tape. 

The prosecution’s star witness was a woman who said she engaged in three-way sex with Kelly and the girl prosecutors said was on the tape. But that didn’t really pan out…the defense attorneys argued the man on the tape didn’t have a large mole on his back and Kelly does. And that apparently did the trick!

If convicted, he faced a minimum of four years in prison and a maximum of 15 years. He would also have had to register as a sex offender in Illinois…which is no big deal considering he’s been a sexy taste offender nationally for years…

Eonline: R. Kelly Found Not Guilty!

Eminem has finally been starting to ease out of self-imposed hip hop exile….but in unusually ways.

Earlier this week Em called into his Shade45 Sirius show and prank-called LL Cool J! Yup. You read that right. You can listen to it here.

Then, Delicious Vinyl asked Eminem if he would do a remix of Masta Ace’s classic gangsta rap parody “Slaughtahouse” for their Rmxxology campaign. He did it. And quick. And it’s great. Listen here.

Delicious Vinyl’s Rmxxology hits on July 1st and features all-star remixes of classic rap jams like Pharcyde’s “Passin’ Me By” and  “Runnin’,” and Masta Ace’s “Sittin’ on Chrome.”

Dopeness.

Now if only we could get some actual new material from him…

(And check out Eminem’s partner in rhyme Bizarre from D-12 on Freestyle 101 below!)

Yes, Paul officially ended his White House bid at a rally outside the Texas GOP’s convention Thursday, bringing closure to his “ideological crusade against big government and interventionist leanings in the Republican party.”

You’ll recall Paul raised millions from supporters attracted to the libertarian-leaning message, but admitted back in March, via a video posted on his website, that he was "winding down" his campaign and planning a new phase to what he and fans call their "revolution."

The new phase of the revolution involves freeing up the more than $4.7 million in campaign cash for investment in a new advocacy group, The Campaign for Liberty, which will be used to “push a slate of libertarian-minded Republican candidates for public office in local districts nationwide.

According to his camp, “he Liberty Campaign is meant as a means for harnessing some of that energy and maintaining interest on a more micro level, by recruiting like-minded people to seek political office.”

Paul also recently published a new book on his political philosophy, The Revolution: A Manifesto.

Meanwhile, Layla Keyleigh is still HOT! So go watch her interview with Ron Paul above and then go into a dark room and do your dirty business…

Capcom just posted an ad on their US blog referencing their 25th anniversary. If you could read Japanese, or these words here right in front of you, you would know that hidden at the bottom is the announcement that the Clock Tower film adaptation will be coming out in 2009 and the Onimusha movie will be released in 2011.

Martin Weisz, the director responsible for The Hills Have Eyes 2, is taking the helm for the Clock Tower movie, which we assume will be a bloody, torture-porn thriller. The Onimusha movie will be directed by Christophe Gans, the man who brought us the Silent Hill movie a few years back. Gans did a decent job of getting the vibe of Silent Hill right, he just needs to work on plot, character development, pacing, and having the story make sense. Let’s hope he’s able to find those sailors everyone is looking for.

Destructoid: Capcom Announces Dates for Clock Tower and Onimusha on the Silver Screen

According to a Pike & Fischer’s survey, broadband services and speeds are ranked higher than any other "new" service when it comes to importance to consumers. Almost 40% of those surveyed rated high speed data as most important, where only 25 percent ranked HDTV as high, and under 10% thinking highly of digital phone service A lowly  .014% gave the highest rating to those hot dog/bun toasters from the Sky Mall catalog.

The report goes on to highlight the fact that the U.S.’s relatively slow internet speeds means that high-bandwidth applications will have a harder time catching on in this country.

Arstechnica: Study: consumers lust after high-speed broadband, not HDTV

John Diamonon, product manager for Capcom, recently told MTV Multiplayer Blog that his company checks out the resale prices on eBay to see if their old games still hold enough interest to prompt a remake. "To choose titles to revive, we see if we can give old franchises the modern touch, and we evaluate the fanbase and see if there’s a market for it," said Diamonon. "Sometimes we see games on eBay, and that’s how you see what games people are willing to spend $80 on."

He did stress, however, that there are many other factors that go into their decision making process. Capcom also keeps an eye on their own gaming community as well as GameSpot poll results. So if there’s an old Capcom game you wish would get a next-gen repolish, get your friends to drive up it’s price on eBay and make a lot of message board posts about it on various gaming sites. Your dream may not come true, but hey, at least you tried, right? Now where’s my old copy of Breath of Fire?

Mutliplayer: Capcom Checking eBay To See Which Games To Port