YouTube.com - BANNED IN BRAZIL

So I guess by now you have heard the uproar over YouTube and how some Brazilian judges wanted to get their names in the paper.

If this is news to you, let me fill you in. Seems that an Brazilian supermodel named Daniela Cicarelli and her banker boyfriend Renato Malzoni went on vacation to Cadiz Spain. Evidently things got a little romantic on the beach and, well, things happened. Now being a supermodel, she should realize that paparazzi would be following her around. Maybe she wanted an audience. I don't know. Don't really care but someone filmed the whole thing and then uploaded on the web.

As with everything salacious on the internet, it went from site to site until YouTube made it famous. Brazilians by the thousands were uploading and watching. Then Ms. Cicarelli got modest. YouTube was making money off her indiscretion and she wanted a piece of it. A suit was filed in a Brazilian court, she claims, by her boyfriend back in September. A Brazilian judge ordered YouTube to remove all copies of the video from their site. They did but more were uploaded. The case now goes before a panel of three judge who will decide whether or not to fine YouTube US$119,000 a day until they install filters that would prevent this video from reappearing.

Remember, this is all taking place in Brazilian courts which have no authority in the US and can't do a cotton-pickin' thing to make YouTube pay up. Evidently they were feeling a little frustrated so on Tuesday, they shut down any access to YouTube for the entire country. I know that's not nearly as heartbreaking as when they tore down the BelAir Drive In but I was trying to watch a video of a lion hunt gone wrong and was shut out because of these bureaucrats.

Thankfully, a few hours later, Supreme Court Justice Enio Santarelli decided he wanted his name in the papers as well and lifted the ban. Freedom returned to South America.

Now I know that many a West Nashvillian has done what Ms. Cicarelli and Mr. Malzone did, albeit probably at Collins Lake or off Annex down by the ferryboat, instead of Cadiz Spain. Thankfully there is no known video footage of such escapades presently on YouTube. They'd probably have to pay us US$119,000 to watch.