Through the magic of the interwebs, I recently came across this: “TakeDown Piracy Announces Gold Sponsorship of CineKink Film Festival” (XBIZ 1/31/13 here).

CineKink is an annual event featuring films and videos that celebrate and explore sexuality diversity. In addition to screenings, plans for the festival also include a short film competition, audience choice awards, a feminist porn presentation and panel, a special adult entertainment showcase, and a kick-off gala (among other things). CineKink goes on tour, with stops New York, LA, SXSW in Austin, and other locations. This year’s New York event happens from February 26 – March 3, 2013.

Like most events of the arty and/or festival-like nature, CineKink accepts sponsor dollars in incrementally defined levels. So, for example, you could be a Presenting Sponsor with a $10,000 donation or a Gotham Sponsor with one of $300. Different sponsorship levels get different rewards and accolades – for a $1000 Gold Sponsorship, one would get…

Gold Sponsor ($1,000)

Year-round recognition, including the NYC festival and all tour appearances, as a Gold Sponsor of CineKink

Logo and link in the Sponsors area of website, and on landing page for CineKink NYC/2013 and all subsequent events of the year.

Company logo included on all CineKink NYC promotional materials with fourth-tier sizing and placement.

Inclusion in all CineKink NYC and tour press releases.

Sponsorship of a CineKink NYC event or screening.

Half-page ad in the festival program.

Logo on CineKink NYC trailer, which opens each screening.

Company’s promotional material on Sponsors table and in Kick-Off Party gift bag, and distributed on tour. (here)

Looks like the folks at TakeDown Piracy (TDP) are gonna have a little CineKinky swag on their hands… heyyyyy. But seriously – how nice!!

As we all know, I think stealing is wrong. This includes pirating content (adult and otherwise) that doesn’t belong to you. Consequently, I love TakeDown Piracy, a company that provides content owners and copyright holders with some recourse to fight back against folks who pilfer their shit (ie porn tube sites).

And, as we all also know, I’m not very arty… but I love film and sex and free expression and free expression of sex via the film form (reviews!!). And I love that there’s a CineKink to showcase such things in whatever manner the artists and organizers devise, with stops all across the country. Thus, to me, the support of CineKink by TakeDown Piracy sounded like two bits of awesome having dessert together – love it!!

But more interwebbing eventually led me to this bit of shade thrown at TDP by writer/blogger Violet Blue (here 2/2/13)…

I love CineKink and am saddened to find out it is now sponsored by a company whose business model is mass-DMCA blasts, warfare on torrent sites and profiting off the removal of links – legit or not. Anti-piracy business TakeDown Piracy has announced its gold-level sponsorship of the 10th anniversary edition of the CineKink Film Festival. TakeDown Piracy is listed by Google as one of the top five reporters of digital violations in the world. TakeDown Piracy Announces Gold Sponsorship of CineKink Film Festival (XBIZ)

Huh?

I don’t know everything and sometimes I miss obvious things, but for the life of me I cannot figure out why Violet, who’s apparently…

[R]egarded as the foremost sexuality and tech expert and sex-positive pundit in mainstream media. (here)

…would be down on an organization that works to protect the rights of artists, producers, performers, and everyone else from content pirates on the internet.

But I think I found a clue when I read further down on Violet’s “About” page and came across this:

Forbes and Oprah Winfrey have both called [Violet’s] podcast (Open Source Sex) “One of the Internet’s most popular podcasts.” Blue titled her podcast “Open Source Sex” for the intersection of technology and sex, and the free-flowing information exchange of the open source software movement.

So this means Violet is for software (software only?) being open and free-flowing – like free exchange..? Meaning everyone can have everything they want?!!

That’s actually a really noble idea, especially if Violet walks the walk herself… like, if she gives away the over forty print and digital books she has authored and/or edited (that’ve also been translated into six languages, btw; here) and/or gives away any other products and/or ideas she’s developed… Oh and also only contributes to projects and entities that give content away for free (well, maybe they just have to give away her bits for free… they can charge for other stuff if they want to!!) and teaches everything she knows for free and/or via entities that don’t charge any form of entrance fee or tuition, etc…

Does any of this happen, or is there something else going on?

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pictured: via shutterstock… there’s some violet in this image

Reprinted from PVVOnline.com – Critical Commentary on Adult Production [2010 – 2014]

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