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I'm sure everyone saw this coming... criticism over the choice of Idris Elba to play Nelson Mandela in a film based on his life, which we've been following here on S&A.
Idris, the British actor born in London to parents from Ghana (mother) and Sierra Leone (father), obviously isn't South African as the real-life character he'll be playing (Nelson Mandela) is, and, as we saw in past situations in which non-South African actors played Mandela (most recently Morgan Freeman and Terence Howard), South African actors and the organization that represents actors in that country, the Creative Workers Union of South Africa, are crying foul.
But this time, there's actually a bit of a twist in this story, if I can even call it that; reasons are actually given for why South African actors weren't considered for the part of Mandela in this new project - reasons that'll cause a stir amongst South African actors.
Specifically, the country's top casting agent Moonyeenn Lee, who hand-picked Elba for the role (I actually thought Elba initiated the project after previously saying that it'll be a dream project) said South African actors, on average, are too short!
What's that you say?
"I was free to cast a South African, and I auditioned some extraordinary local actors... But the main problem is the height. Mandela is a particularly tall man. On average, South African actors are not 1.9 metres," Lee told the South African newspaper City Press, printed yesterday.
Further, Lee added: "The country also lacked experienced actors, as a consequence of apartheid... The younger actors have had a chance to go and study and learn and work with internationals. The older actors, growing up during apartheid, had to deal with the cultural boycott, [with] very few roles on television and almost none in film. There simply aren't enough actors to choose from."
Mandela is about 6 ft 4 in by the way; I'm not sure if it's obvious that he's that tall, unless you've met him in person; and, according to casting director Lee, this is a problem in casting the role - that and, as he states, the experience amonst the older actors just isn't there, in short, thanks to apartheid.
I'd imagine it would indeed be tougher to cast a man that tall no matter what country you're living in; average height for a man (looking globally) is probably around 5 ft 8 or 9 in, or thereabouts, right? So, casting a 6 ft 4 incher means slimmer pickings; BUT it certainly doesn't mean that they don't exist; it might mean searching longer and harder... IF you're determined to do so.
But as Mabutho Kid Sithole, president of the Creative Workers Union of South African, the same organization that led protests against the casting of Jennifer Hudson as Winnie Mandela in Winnie, retorts, this is all BS and really it's a business/money decision, as Elba would likely be a bigger attraction in the international marketplace than a local South African actor, and this has absolutely nothing to do with height concerns.
Sithole states: "We are not impressed. So no one is tall enough? There's always some reason to avoid using South African actors and having other people tell our stories. They use these stars for commercial reasons and the problem is South African business is not funding our own films... Meanwhile South African actors are good enough for the other roles. We see this happen over and over. Tomorrow there will be a film about Walter Sisulu and then what? No one is short enough? You tell me now, how will this actor pronounce Qunu where Mandela was born or Rolihlahla, his real name?"
This recalls the recent kerfuffle over the casting of Thandie Newton (A Brit of Zimbabwean decent - her mother; her father is white) as an Igbo woman in the upcoming film adaptation of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's award-winning novel, Half of a Yellow Sun.
Of course there've been several other similar examples; that one's the most recent I can remember.
I'm sure our friends at Africa Is A Country will have an opinion on this...
moionfire | March 24, 2012 5:43 AM
This is BS. They just wanted a famous black actor, and there aren't that many black south african actors that are well known in Europe, the UK, and the USA. The director should be honest.
S | March 20, 2012 10:05 AM
One thing about the film industry in South Africa is that apartheid hasn't ended in the industry. The heads of these casting agencies and production companies are still corrupted in their view of black talent. The more they can oppress these talented actors, the more comfortable that they feel that "Black people won't take over."
ambrose | March 20, 2012 4:21 AM
It does make a good business sense. Whether we will admit it or not, but it is the truth. Denzel Washington managed to do Cry Freedom. He had pressure then... I believe given a change Idris Elba will be able to do the part. One of the biggest challenges will be the Madiba dance and the accent. The issue of height is just nonsense. We do have tall men in South African. If we do not have tall men in South Africa, then where was Madiba born? Even so, there are those who are even taller than Madiba. I am taller than Madiba and there are those who happen to be a lot taller than me. Madiba is an Icon and Idris is also known world wide. We as South African should throw away the foul Umbrella and do something. We are too comfortable in complaining than doing something.
Accidental Visitor | March 19, 2012 7:47 PM
Most actors aren't tall regardless of what country they come from.
Nicole | March 19, 2012 6:59 PM
Mandela is 6' 4 ? Wow. I never knew.
Yeah, that "not tall enough" sounds like bs. They needed/wanted a name and Idris has a name now. Casting a local wouldn't get the movie the attention it wants. I'm sure they're hoping for some awards consideration too.
Not to downplay the concerns of the actors in SA but I think Idris and Naomi will do an extraordinary job.
Ms. Stone | March 19, 2012 6:16 PM
This is absolutely ridiculous. Not tall enough? Wow.


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Porsche revealed on its Facebook page a bespoke version of the 2014 Porsche 911 (991) Turbo customized by Porsche Exclusive.
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Home » Opinion » Editorials
Taxing tobacco: Making the state fatter
It is a common plea of tax-hikers: If we raise X tax, we can use the money to fund programs and services directly related to the taxed item or activity. So it always is with tobacco taxes. We are told that if we raise them the state will have more money to spend on initiatives dedicated to improving public health, such as smoking-cessation services.
In real life, the connections seldom are made. New Hampshire's beer tax was supposed to fund roadside cleanup. It doesn't. The Governor's Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention, Intervention and Treatment is supposed to get 5 percent of the proceeds from sales at state liquor stores. It doesn't. All of the revenue from the beer tax and liquor and wine sales goes straight into the general fund.
By law, the Land and Community Heritage and Investment Program (LCHIP) is funded by a $25 tax on real estate transactions. But year after year legislators suspend the law and take the money for other uses.
Revenue from higher cigarette taxes will not go to smoking cessation programs or other health care services. It will be spent on whatever legislators feel like spending it on, and that will vary with each legislative session. Raising this tax will not make Granite Staters healthier. It will just make the state richer.
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WASHINGTON — People around the world are happiest in the morning, according to a US study on Thursday that analyzed hundreds of millions of messages on the microblogging site Twitter.
Cornell University sociologists used language software to detect the presence of positive words in 509 million tweets from 2.4 million users in 84 different countries over a two-year period.
Mood peaks were detected early in the day but began to dip mid-morning, about the time most people are starting their workdays.
Another positive peak was witnessed around midnight, followed by a "sharp drop in NA (negative affect, including distress, fear, anger, guilt, and disgust) during the overnight hours," said the study in the journal Science.
The highest numbers of good mood words indicating enthusiasm, delight, activeness, and alertness were found on Saturdays and Sundays, "which points to possible effects of work-related stress, less sleep, and earlier wake time."
Samples from predominantly Muslim countries where the weekends are on different days, such as the United Arab Emirates, showed the same patterns on Fridays and Saturdays as seen in other countries on Saturdays and Sundays.
English was the only language analyzed, though users came from across the globe.
However, modern technology's answer to every emotion — the smiley or sad face emoticon — was of little help in the analysis, because "usage was too sparse to be able to detect a consistent pattern," said the study.
By Katie Halper
By TBogg
By Roy Greenslade, The Guardian
By The Conversation
Raw Story is a progressive news site that focuses on stories often ignored in the mainstream media. While giving coverage to the big stories of the day, we also bring our readers' attention to policy, politics, legal and human rights stories that get ignored in an infotainment culture driven solely by pageviews.
Founded in 2004, Raw Story reaches 9 million unique readers per month and serves more than 30 million pageviews.
Copyright © 2004-2013 Raw Story Media, Inc. All rights reserved.


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In this document
See the Wikipedia article Resampling (audio) for a generic definition of sample rate conversion, also known as "resampling." The remainder of this article describes resampling within Android.
Sample rate conversion is the process of changing a stream of discrete samples at one sample rate to another stream at another sample rate. A sample rate converter, or resampler, is a module that implements sample rate conversion. With respect to the resampler, the original stream is called the source signal, and the resampled stream is the sink signal.
Resamplers are used in several places in Android. For example, an MP3 file may be encoded at 44.1 kHz sample rate and needs to be played back on an Android device supporting 48 kHz audio internally. In that case, a resampler would be used to upsample the MP3 output audio from 44.1 kHz source sample rate to a 48 kHz sink sample rate used within the Android device.
The characteristics of a resampler can be expressed using metrics, including:
- degree of preservation of the overall amplitude of the signal
- degree of preservation of the frequency bandwidth of the signal, subject to limitations of the sink sample rate
- overall latency through the resampler
- consistent phase and group delay with respect to frequency
- computational complexity, expressed in CPU cycles or power draw
- permitted ratios of source and sink sample rates
- ability to dynamically change sample rate ratios
- which digital audio sample formats are supported
The ideal resampler would exactly preserve the source signal's amplitude and frequency bandwidth (subject to limitations of the sink sample rate), have minimal and consistent delay, have minimal computational complexity, permit arbitrary and dynamic conversion ratios, and support all common digital audio sample formats. In practice, ideal resamplers do not exist, and actual resamplers are a compromise among these characteristics. For example, the goals of ideal quality conflict with short delay and low complexity.
Android includes a variety of audio resamplers, so that appropriate compromises can be made depending on the application use case and load. Section Resampler implementations below lists the available resamplers, summarizes their characteristics, and identifies where they should typically be used.
- downsample
- to resample, where sink sample rate < source sample rate
- Nyquist frequency
- The Nyquist frequency, equal to 1/2 of a given sample rate, is the maximum frequency component that can be represented by a discretized signal at that sample rate. For example, the human hearing range is typically assumed to extend up to approximately 20 kHz, and so a digital audio signal must have a sample rate of at least 40 kHz to represent that range. In practice, sample rates of 44.1 kHz and 48 kHz are commonly used, with Nyquist frequencies of 22.05 kHz and 24 kHz respectively. See the Wikipedia articles Nyquist frequency and Hearing range for more information.
- resampler
- synonym for sample rate converter
- resampling
- the process of converting sample rate
- sample rate converter
- a module that resamples
- sink
- the output of a resampler
- source
- the input to a resampler
- upsample
- to resample, where sink sample rate > source sample rate
Resampler implementations
Available resampler implementations change frequently, and may be customized by OEMs. As of Android 4.4, the default resamplers in descending order of signal distortion, and ascending order of computational complexity include:
- linear
- cubic
- sinc with original coefficients
- sinc with revised coefficients
In general, the sinc resamplers are more appropriate for higher-quality music playback, and the other resamplers should be reserved for cases where quality is less important (an example might be "key clicks" or similar).
The specific resampler implementation selected depends on
the use case, load, and the value of system property
af.resampler.quality. For details,
consult the audio resampler source code in AudioFlinger.


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Saturday's untimely death of the 80-year-old Kamloops Daily News is yet another reminder to those who love newspapers that the future is either digital or dismal. Fortunately, there are many reasons newspapers and their reporters, columnists and editors will still thrive in the years ahead, says Bill Tieleman, who writes for 24 hrs Vancouver.
On the surface, the closure of eight weekly community newspapers is cause for concern for those interested in serving rural Canada; but under further scrutiny, it appears the residents of these areas will continue to get their news from local sources. Yet, digging deeper still unveils a more complex series of questions needing answers. Robert Washburn says these answers may hold the keys to resolving larger issues within the newspaper industry.
It can't do any good to lose the number and quality of people on the Globe list, writes former Globe staffer Dan Westell. But the media owners are desperate to find a way to make money in a digital world, and cutting costs – although not a viable long-term strategy – might provide the breathing room to find a formula for profit.
If Darwin was around, he would read free online news instead of a print newspaper. That's according to a commercial on a Saskatchewan radio station promoting its free website. But rather than taking insult at being called a dinosaur, the Prince Albert Daily Herald has embraced its new mascot with an ad campaign of its own.
The recent closing of Italian language newspaper Corriere Canadese and the cancellation of the print edition of Canadian Jewish News, prompted speculation about the future of ethnocultural publications in the Toronto area. Ryerson professor April Lindgren argues that these newspapers are a valuable resource, particularly for recent immigrants, and can survive if they localize their news coverage.
It is dinosaur thinking to consider yourself a newspaper, writes Melanie Coulson. You are a news organization, committing fantastic acts of journalism online, on tablets, on smartphones and social media. The inky print product is but one platform. The NNAs, sadly, don't recognize this.
Postmedia Network rolled out online paywalls on all 10 of its dailies Tuesday, following a two-year pilot project. Readers will be introduced to the paywalls with an advertising campaign, including full-page wraps on all Postmedia newspapers and TV spots starting this week, the company announced in a press release.
Newspapers Canada is considering a plan put forth by the Ontario Press Council to establish a national press council. The decision comes after a Ryerson University study on the state of press councils in Canada, which concluded the press councils were ineffective in their present form and did not meet the geographical and digital realities of the publishing industry.
With ad dollars falling, newspapers have responded by cutting desk staff. In an era when the Toronto Sun misspells "Correction" in a correction column, is there any hope for a revival of good copyediting and can newspapers maintain their credibility?
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Source: NBC 6 News Online | Airdate: November 8, 2001
This story originally appeared under the title: Selling Innocence
NBC 6 Investigative Reporter Deborah Sherman, Investigative Producer Scott Zamost,
and Photographers Pedro Cancio and Jeff Barnes
MIAMI – Molli plays ball. Jessi practices yoga. Little Amber grooms her horse. Three girls in South Florida, hundreds more around the world, all modeling for money on the Internet.
Girls, ages seven to 13, selling photos and videos. All apparently with their parents' consent. The Web sites claim the money is for college. But if they look innocent, take another look.
"We're putting these kids on a platter, we're saying come and get me," said Nancy McBride, director of Florida's National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Our investigation will reveal how these sites are selling the sexuality of innocent children to the very last people you'd want near a child. We showed the child modeling web sites to McBride.
"I truly believe these children are being exploited," she said. "This is unsavory, it's disgusting, it makes my stomach turn." Investigative reporter Deborah Sherman asked, "Are these innocent images?"
"No, they're not," McBride said. "These are not kids who are standing up and having their picture taken in an innocent, blameless manner to be put up on a web site. These are very definitely provocative."
Skimpy clothes, camera close-ups, and grown-up poses. Barely legal, experts say, but a growing industry on the Internet called child erotica. And a major player is right here in South Florida, where many of the pictures are taken. Our investigation found a Fort Lauderdale company called Webe Web runs eight child modeling Web sites. The same company also sells sex online, having operated at least 14 sites that market adult pornography.
Webe Web is run by Marc Greenberg and Jeff Libman. Libman photographs the girls and even appears in one of the videos.
We went undercover to meet Libman and learn more about his web sites. His most popular child site features a 12-year-old nicknamed "Little Amber." Libman told us her site is purely professional.
"I don't want them to be eye candy for perverts," he said. But in another breath, Libman admits men are looking at the girls: "It gives these guys that do like young girls like that would be normally gawking at these teenagers in the mall, you know, an outlet to relieve themselves of their frustrations I guess." The men join the girls' fan clubs and even send them presents and clothes to model. Libman takes most of Little Amber's pictures at her home, a farm we tracked down in Palm Beach County.
"She's a model and she gets money from that for college," her brother told us. "Little Amber's" mother and stepfather did not want to talk to us about the modeling site and asked us to leave.
But we've learned her mother may know something about modeling herself. She appeared nude last year on a pornographic web site called "Kandiland." The owners of Webe Web didn't want to talk to us on camera either. Off camera, they tell us their web sites each make at least $1,000 a month for the girls. Webe Web's Marc Greenberg also said, "There's nothing wrong with what we do. We don't exploit children."
But Lt. Paul O'Connell, strongly disagrees: "For the parents that have their own children pose in these suggestive positions, it tells me rather than parents, they're pimps, and they're exploiting their own children for monetary gain."
O'Connell leads a South Florida task force that targets online crimes against children. His agents have investigated complaints about pedophiles looking at Webe Web's child modeling sites. But he says the sites are legal.
"It's about what's within the law, and how much money they can make, and how quickly they can make it. That's what this is all about."
And if there's any doubt about who is looking at these girls, then just talk to one of "Little Amber's" admirers.
Police caught Michael Kivett at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro, on a library computer downloading child porn. And when police examined the computer, they found picture after picture of Little Amber.
Sherman asked Lt. Paul Lester of the UNCG Police Department why Kivett had Little Amber's site up.
"I think it was for the same reasons that he had the more graphic sites is that he receives gratification from children, from the images of children," Lester said.
Kivett is now a registered sex offender, who goes to counseling.
Sherman asked Kivett: "Who's looking at these pictures of this child?"
"Most likely, it would be sex offenders or pedophiles or something like that," Kivett replied.
"Most people browse these sites just mainly because they find sexual attraction to children. A lot of them, if they can't find regular porn sites, they use stuff like that as a substitute."
"As a substitute for what?" Sherman asked. "Regular child porn," Kivett said.
As part of his probation, Kivett is not allowed to be around children or go on the Internet.
He does not have children, but Sherman asked him that if he did, would he put his child's pictures on the Internet?
"No," he answered. "Why not?" Sherman asked.
"Because it's too dangerous. I don't want, I don't want somebody like me doing the same thing I did to my kid."
"I made $1,000 in the first week that my site was open," Adrianne, a 14-year-old model from Georgia, said.
Their Web sites are part of a booming on line industry of child erotica.
Our investigation exposes the person running these sites, and these two men in South Florida operating child modeling Web sites for girls as young as seven.
The Web site operators say they're doing nothing wrong, but critics say they're exploiting children, peddling their pictures for profit playing to pedophiles.
"For the people that look at these, to pay to look at these types of photographs, it fuels their sexual deviance, their sexual desire," said Lt. Paul O'Connell, who heads the South Florida Law Enforcement Task Force Against Child Harm.
Now, our investigation is uncovering a new link to more girls in Florida.
Thirty-five-year-old Gary Smith photographs girls from Florida and all over the country –from a hotel room in Washington, to a boat off Fort Myers and his home in Chicago. Two of the models — Tiffanie and Katie — both 17 from Pensacola.
Our investigation has discovered that Gary Smith is also on a website — the Illinois list of registered sex offenders.
"He had her pinned against the side of the car trying to take her clothes off, kissing, fondling," Bill Lincks said.
Smith was convicted in 1998 of sexually abusing Bill Lincks' 15-year-old daughter. Even though Smith received a suspended sentence, he's still allowed to be around young girls.
And that's where we found him — in Chicago throwing a Halloween party for fans to meet the models like Tiffanie from Pensacola.
Some of his models don't seem to care about his criminal record.
"I have never had anyone had a bad complaint about him, and what he does," Iris, another model, said.
In fact, law enforcement sources say the FBI has information that Smith allegedly forced a 12-year-old girl to pose nude in a Missouri hotel room earlier this year.
"Supposedly, I have a huge nude collection of all the girls, and truth be told, that's not the case," Smith said.
Smith was supposed to go to sex offense counseling.
"It was quite a few sessions over a period of months. I don't know, it was years ago," Smith said.
After hearing that, the Arkansas prosecutor in the case disagreed.
"Well, he was ordered to provide progress reports. Our office has received none, zero," said Dan Stewart, deputy prosecuting attorney in Sebastian County, Ark.
"You know, I've got nothing to hide. Like I said, I welcome them to come in and raid the place, and take the servers out," Smith said.
Raid they did. Five days later, at smith's home in Chicago, authorities seized $200,000 in computer discs and videos. And police arrested Smith for violating the terms of his sentence by not going to sex offense counseling.
"I don't have to answer to you," Smith said.
Source: MSNBC News | March 28, 2002
This story originally appeared under the title: 'Legal Child Porn' Under Fire
Jew Defends His Fellow Jews
The "Lil Amber" Web site featured a 12-year-old Florida girl who
suddenly retired from her career as an Internet "model" in December,
only to be replaced by a new Amber.
March 28 — The photos of 12-year-old "Amber" cavorting in a swimsuit and various skimpy outfits wouldn't have raised so much as an eyebrow if they had been posted on a family home page. But on lilamber.com — one of a growing number of "preteen model" sites operating in the legal gray area between innocent imagery and child pornography — they have drawn the attention of the Justice Department and prompted a congressman to declare war on the "reckless endangerment" of such kids by their parents and Web site operators.
"THIS IS AN unacceptable way for a child to earn lunch money … performing like a circus animal," Rep. Mark Foley said of the sites, which feature girls as young as 6 wearing revealing clothing and striking sexually suggestive poses but display no nudity or overt sexual material that would run afoul of child pornography laws. "It sickens you that a parent would have such disregard for their own child."
Foley, R-Fla., was informed by the Justice Department earlier this month that, at his request, it had instructed the FBI to review the pre-teen sites in order to determine whether they are breaking any laws. Foley also asked a House Judiciary subcommittee to hold hearings on the subject, which would allow parents of the girls and the Web site operators to be subpoenaed.
"Lil Amber," the site that touched a raw nerve for Foley, is one of dozens of preteen "model" sites that have popped up on the Internet over the last few years.
There is ample evidence that the sites, which sell photos and videotapes to members, cater primarily to adults, very few of whom are in the market to hire models. Many — if not most — customers are sexually interested in children, and some are pedophiles, according to law enforcement officials and children's advocates.
"This is legal child porn," said Ken Lanning, a retired FBI agent who studied deviant sexual behavior during most of his 30 years with the bureau. "It's not against the law, but it's exciting and stimulating and arousing for people with a certain deviant interest."
Officials at Webe Web Inc., the Davie, Fla., Web-hosting company behind a half-dozen pre-teen "model" sites, including "Lil Amber," have previously denied that the sites cater to pedophiles or constitute child pornography. But after a rash of bad publicity — including an investigation by NBC's Miami affiliate, WTVJ/NBC 6, that revealed many previously unreported details about "Amber," her family and the company — they are no longer doing so.
"No one here is going to talk about it anymore," said a man who answered the phone at Webe Web's offices but declined to give his name.
But in an e-mail conversation between MSNBC.com and an individual who says she is the mother of another pre-teen model known as "Jessi the Kid," the respondent said the site was created to help her daughter fulfill her dream of becoming an actress and was no more racy than ads for fashion lines such as Benetton that appear every day in national publications. Furthermore, she said, the media are focusing only on the revealing outfits and missing the other material on the site geared to appeal to other kids.
"Our site is filled with so many wonderful things that any kid would be happy to see and browse through," said the respondent, who signed her e-mail as "Mommy." "Why are you stuck on the few photos we have of her in her custom-made clothing? Have you seen the great updates where she shows you how to make an excellent salmon dish using only tinfoil to bake it with? What about the very fun and informative software reviews that took her months to put together? Any [of] her Yoga video/pics!??"
But fan discussion groups on Yahoo! and Internet news groups support the contention that the child models' most ardent fans are adults, said Scott Zamost, a WTVJ producer who spent four months investigating the "Lil Amber" site and Webe Web, which also hosts several adult porn sites.
"You could tell by the postings that these weren't kids who were viewing the sites. Some people were posting poetry," Zamost said, adding that "Lil Amber's" fan club at one time had more than 9,000 members.
Likewise, on an Internet news group for "girl-lovers," a subscriber who identified himself as "Rainbow" posted a brief positive review of the new "Jessithekid" Web site in December 1999, then signed off with this chilling quip: "Anyone for 10-ish? (groan)."
Foley, who is co-founder of a congressional caucus devoted to issues surrounding missing and exploited children, learned of the pre-teen sites late last year when WTVJ asked about them.
"I was outraged when I first saw it because it's being passed off as some career-building opportunity or [raising money] to apply for college," he said, referring to statements on several of the sites saying the proceeds will go toward the girls' college educations. "To me, it borders on pornography and indentured servitude."
After purchasing a membership to "Lil Amber" site, which cost $25 for the first month and $19.95 a month thereafter, MSNBC.com reviewed dozens of photos and purchased a videotape for an additional amount to determine how far the site's creators were willing to go.
In all instances, the material stopped well short of what is popularly considered child porn. The shots showed "Amber" (which is not her real name) in bathing suits, short shorts and skimpy halter tops, but never revealed any genitalia or her breasts. Some of the photos were disturbing — such as one in which she appeared to have been rolled in clay — but others could just as well have been from a backyard birthday party.
"Video #4 — Amber Models Summer Fashions" was like a cross between MTV and bad home movies. "Amber" spent most of the hourlong tape energetically dancing in front of a fireplace in a living room, with a placard reading "Jesus" and a family photo on the mantelpiece and a dog statuette alongside.
Can the parents of child models or Web site operators be prosecuted without violating the First Amendment? Yes, if they can show the conduct is detrimental to the kids.
No, this is clearly "free speech" and there is no evidence the kids are being hurt.
She "modeled" a dozen different outfits during the dance-a-thon, apparently fashions that were requested or purchased by Web site members. In one scene, she lifted her skirt, giving the briefest glimpses of underwear. In another, the unidentified cameraman lay on the floor and shot up her skirt as she danced away un-self-consciously. That was as far as it went.
At another point in the videotape, an unidentified man whose face was not shown presented her with a new Dell Computer and said, "This was a gift from all your fans … 15 different people."
Lanning, the retired FBI agent, reviewed a sampling of the photos at MSNBC.com's request and said that at least one conceivably could considered child pornography under a 1994 decision by the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
In that case, U.S. v. Knox, the court ruled that language in the Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation Act of 1977 prohibiting the "lascivious exhibition of the genitals or pubic area" can include "non-nude depictions." The court upheld the conviction of defendant Stephen Knox on the grounds that videotapes he had purchased showing children posing in leotards were marketed as being sexually exciting.
But Lanning noted that even under that decision, which set precedent only in the 3rd Circuit, prosecutors would have to prove "lascivious intent" on the part of the parents or the Web site operators for a successful prosecution. That would be particularly difficult given that the pre-teens are being presented on the Web sites as "models" rather than sexual objects.
Debbie Mahoney, CEO of Safeguarding Our Children — United Mothers (SOCUM), an organization that aims to protect children from pedophiles, says prosecutors also have an abundance of more clear-cut cases to pursue.
"The is so much hard-core child pornography and so many pedophiles on the Internet that when prosecutors see a kid like this, they say, 'It may be egregious, but it's not child porn, so let's move on to something that we can prosecute,'" she said.
But Rep. Foley said he intends to explore a new legal avenue — whether the parents of the child models could be prosecuted under child-endangerment laws.
"This is reckless endangerment if I've ever seen it because you're basically introducing your child to some really sick people," Foley told MSNBC.com this week.
Such laws vary from state to state, but in general that would require a prosecutor to show that posing for the Web site would subject a child to a "substantial risk of harm." In the case of the pre-teen sites, both potential physical harm from a pedophile stalker and possible psychological trauma from being treated as a sexual object could be considered, said Chris Paulitz, an aide to Foley.
The idea that a stalker could track down a child model was bolstered by the fact that Zamost and his WTVJ team were able to track down "Amber" and her family, starting out with only a hint from Webe Web co-founder Jeff Libman that she might live in Palm Beach County and visual clues in the photos and videos in which she appeared.
The girl's mother and step-father declined a request for an interview, but armed with their identities, the TV crew was able to determine that the mother had been a porn performer on an adult Web site several years earlier. Through court records, the crew also was able to track down the girl's father, who said he was opposed to the site, Zamost said.
But anecdotal evidence like that likely would not be enough to persuade a jury to convict on child endangerment charges, said Howard Davidson, director of the American Bar Association's Center for Children and the Law.
"One would have to document the risks to children of engaging in these modeling sites … rather than just be speculative about the dangers," he said. "If there had been cases where kids had been sexually abused as a result of involvement, then I think it would be easier to sustain both in the legislature and, ultimately, in the courts."
Such an approach also would raise raise serious First Amendment concerns, said Kim Hart, director of the National Child Abuse Defense and Resource Center.
"I think that we need to define child endangerment to make sure that we're not casting a really broad net," she said. "Does that mean that today we would charge Brooke Shields' mother for 'Blue Lagoon'?"
Hart, whose non-profit group seeks to ferret out cases of falsely reported child abuse, also said that while modeling pictures such as those on the "Lil Amber" site are distasteful, they don't necessarily equate with endangerment.
"Just because someone does something that you don't like, it doesn't necessarily mean that they don't care about their children," she said. "… If you want to check out the parents and make sure that the child is being clothed and fed and going to school, fine."
Stephen B. Levine, a professor of psychiatry at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and an expert on sexuality, made a similar point.
"I think it's reasonable to think that these sites are pandering to pedophiliac interests … and they are unsavory," he said. "But this is America, where we tolerate lots of unsavory things for freedom of expression, and I don't think we're willing to give up these freedoms."
While the implications of the effort to crack down on the pre-teen "model" sites will continue to be debated, the girl known as Amber will no longer figure in the discussions.
She abruptly ended her career as an Internet "model" in December with no explanation and was replaced with a new "Lil Amber," who bears more than a passing resemblance to the original. A posting on a now-deactivated Yahoo! fan group states that "Amber has passed on her legacy to a new model, 11-year-old Jana. … Amber supports this group … and [has] authorized it as Jana's official fan group."
Her successor doesn't yet have her own video, but the "Lil Amber" site promises that one is coming soon.


text:
CHICAGO - Viktor Fasth made two stops in the shootout to remain perfect in six starts as Anaheim beat Chicago 3-2 in Tuesday's matchup of the top two teams in the Western Conference. After Jonathan Toews converted the first shootout attempt for Chicago, Fasth stopped Patrick Kane's backhander and denied Brandon Saad on the right side of the goal. Nick Bonino and Corey Perry scored in the tiebreaker for Anaheim.
• Hurricanes 4, Devils 2: in Newark, N.J., Jiri Tlusty scored the two goals in the third period and Cam Ward made 26 saves as Carolina beat New Jersey, snapping the Devils' five-game winning streak.
• Senators 2, Sabres 0: In Ottawa, Craig Anderson made 42 saves and Erik Karlsson and Erik Condra scored less than two minutes apart for the Senators.
• Rangers 4, Bruins 3, SO: In Boston, Ryan Callahan scored as the final participant in the shootout as New York recovered after blowing a three-goal, third-period lead. Henrik Lundqvist stopped 37 shots, plus three of the four attempts in the shootout.
• Capitals 6, Panthers 5, OT: In Sunrise, Fla., Troy Brouwer scored 32 seconds into overtime for Washington, which rallied from a late two-goal deficit.
• Predators 1, Sharks 0, OT: In Nashville, Colin Wilson scored at 2:08 of overtime for the victory. The goal ended a scoring drought of just more than 176 minutes in a three-game span.
• Canadiens 4, Lightning 3, SO: In Tampa, Carey Price stopped all three shots in the shootout, David Desharnais had the lone goal in the tiebreaker, and Montreal rebounded after blowing a three-goal lead.
• Flyers 3, Jets 2: In Winnipeg, Brayden Schenn, Kimmo Timonen and Tye McGinn scored to lead Philadelphia. Andrew Ladd scored both goals for the Jets.
• Stars 4, Oilers 1: In Edmonton, Kari Lehtonen made 35 saves and Dallas extended its winning streak to four games. Jaromir Jagr, Ryan Garbutt, Brenden Dillon and Eric Nystrom scored for Dallas.
• Canucks 2, Wild 1: In Vancouver, Robert Luongo made 25 saves in the Canucks' sixth straight win. Luongo hasn't lost a game in regulation this season.
Slap shots
One playoff appearance in more than five seasons wasn't good enough for Scott Howson to keep his job as Columbus Blue Jackets general manager. Howson was fired Tuesday by John Davidson, director of hockey operations.