I read a news article yesterday about the EU (European Union) shutting down "porn sites". If they accomplish their goal, what will become of this awesome site and the great community it fosters? Totem is located in France, if I'm not mistaken, so anything the EU does will likely have an impact on it.
Is there a way we can fight this decision by the EU???

Wow!
Here's an interesting article on it!

http://news.techeye.net/internet/european-union-signs-its-own-death-warrant

Interesting article indeed.

Politicians and lawmakers that don't want to hear anything from the citizens and have all their e-mails blocked.......imagine that.

Indeed...and these politicians and lawmakers need somebody to pull their heads out of their asses.

Even if it's possible to come up with a legally enforceable definition of porn (which is most likely impossible), it's entirely possible that VirtuaGirl would not meet the definition. Even if VirtuaGirl did meet the definition, are EU's rules really higher than the sovereign nation of France's laws and regulations?

Good points, BigSteve! Personally, I wouldn't define VGHD as "porn" myself. It is a far ***** from most of the "porn" out there. I don't care much for the "hardcore" stuff, but VirtuaGirl is an excellent site, and it is more about appreciating beautiful women than explicit sex.
I also agree with your statement about the definition of porn, and the legalities involved in what the EU wants to do.
The main reason I posted this thread, after reading an article about it, is to attempt to gauge the reaction to this news in Europe...and to bring it to the attention of members who may be interested in what the EU is trying to do.
Thanks to everybody who has responded...it seems we're all on the "same page".

Hey...I'm not going to continue doing this-you can all go & look up articles for yourselves-(I just cruised Yahoo-and found NO mention of it!)

...but here is a more comprehensive explanation that I thought would be informative, clarifying, & helpful .

http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-03/07/eu-porn-vote-ban

I think it could be More Erotically explained and have more Fingering in it's keyboard Stroke delivery to be a more COMPLETE Expression but I have a lot of FantaSex regarding all those delegates beneath their desks and........

Oooops....forgot what I was commenting on here!

:)

Nighty night!
***

Hmmm..."Politicians pulling their heads out of their Asses"....
The new non-Porn????

Get on it Totem....Save the Income Stream!!

thanks @Plasonic for your links. They explain very well what is going on especially the second article which link i repost here:
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-03/07/eu-porn-vote-ban
So for now no need to really worry. If the EU is one thing then SLOW. And i really can't imaging the yellow press without a naked womem on the front page of most releases.
So the essence is that you don't need to expect anything within the next 2 years. Remember that the original resolution is from 1997!!!!
This year we in Germany got Unisex prices for insurances which might be a consequence of this resolution.

Thank you again everybody who has responded. As I said before, I'm simply trying to gauge the European reaction to this news and the possibilities that accompany it.
@Plasonic, I would like to thank you for the links too. They have given me more information about it than only the story posted on "msn.com". By the way, you've got a good sense of humor:

"I think it could be More Erotically explained and have more Fingering in it's keyboard Stroke delivery to be a more COMPLETE Expression but I have a lot of FantaSex regarding all those delegates beneath their desks and........Oooops....forgot what I was commenting on here!
Hmmm..."Politicians pulling their heads out of their Asses"....
The new non-Porn????"

I couldn't stop laughing! :D

I would not worry about it
The EU Meps are having a non binding vote
and frankly they have no legal teeth anyway

I enjoy the format of PM's. Is it possible for VG to expand into non-sex type activities and keep functioning. Sex is not everything. It is nice to be mildly uncensored.

Kudos to the moderators also. I respect the job they try to do. They keep people civil as we should be, and still have the anonymity and freedom.

There are many activities aside of sex that the VG web format can follow. Don't get me wrong though, I still like the shows, both guys and girls and fun freedom forms.

How about a section of the forum where people can play games and other things. Sometimes, I get tired of looking at naked people all the time. Poetry, art, writing, games from various parts of the world. Cultural exchange. VG does not have to be shut down.

Let us expand activities beyond just sex. There are many more things to occupy a mind.

I KNOW THAT I'M GOING TO BE MURDERED FOR THIS!

Everything you ask for is already here

there are jokes
there is a section where people are playing chess

No one is getting murdered for anything unless it is the mods.

The mods according to some people are the reason for the failure of anything....

Be that as it may, view points politely phrases will never be attacked, disagreed with maybe, but never savagely, least the attacker ***** the consequences

voila un sujet qui fait parler pour rien ^^ je suis français et , ici je n ai encore pas entendu parler de ça , ni dans nos journaux ecris ,ni télévisé^^
je pense qu il s agit d une blague lancé par quelques politiques conservateurs ,qui n ont ,et heureusement pour nous ,aucun pouvoir sur rien en France (pour l'instant)

Regarding "non sexual product" by Totem...Rex has mentioned, in another post, that Totem is developing a non sexual dancing girls thing, to be debuted soon....they are actively seeking lovely women who don't "show pink" for dancing too to see if this kind of thing is desired by members. I think they are being wise & "hedging their bets" in case something like the above politics happens in future (plus adding variety here).

Ha! We should all just work on better use of our imagination or, for some of us, just continue to age! lol

By nature all dancing is sexual (even the waltz)
Ask a penguin

Geez man, whatever happened to Europeans being less strict about nudity/sex. We Americans are supposed to be the prudes, not the Europeans! While our country goes crazy over a nipple on live television, you guys had naked ladies telling the news. This whole world is losing it.

If this site stops showing pink, that will be the final nail in the coffin for me.

But you will still have your collection and they can't touch that.

Its not going to happen.

Political decisions are in fact an amount of stakeholders agreements and for some reason I feel the smell of the Catholic Church behind this. It has in fact a very strong impact on the secular life and political ***** in Europe.
Do you remember, guys, all these recent Church sex scandals... young boys... priests... Now they found the time perhaps to send a message to the World that we are not to blame - we're the good guys, the sex is bad - you, people, are guilty, not us!
How it's possible to save our programs?

Well, Totem should move to America perhaps... to the Free World,

or we have to put our man into Vatican...

... Or a revolution. Against the dictatorship and stupidity . Remember that France is a mother of all revolutions, so why not a sex revolution this time ];-)

Actually here is the need to worry about, because without these two programs there will be no community either. Another chat site? - NO WAY!

My how times have changed. I remember when young women would pose topless on Page 3 of the newspaper in England and no one thought twice about it. Now this?

It's a shame that France doesn't have 1st amendment rights like we do in the U.S. But as far as the future is concerned if the nudity goes, I go with it. I'm not gonna stick around for PG rated dances.

I'm with Mugsy.

Well stated, Mugsy. I totally agree.

@notdeadyet...you said: "But you will still have your collection and they can't touch that." True enough, but if a member gets a new computer, or has to reformat their computer, how would they be able to reinstall the software required to run their collections? Without Totem, we can't get the software.
Also, MrBeeCeeper is right...especially about what would happen if VGHD and DeskBabes were to be shut down...Another chat site? I agree...NO WAY! I ***** Facebook, and I don't want any part of anything like it.
VGHD is my idea of a great site, and a great community. Also, what's so wrong with admiring beautiful women as they strip on our desktops? We are all adults, and if we choose to have desktop strippers, who really has the right to tell us we're wrong or immoral?
Mugsy makes some very valid points as well...If I wanted PG rated dancers I'd watch one of those idiotic dance contest shows on television.
Besides, VGHD is hardly what I would call "porn". There are strippers here in Canada who do everything you can find on VGHD and more...and yet nobody is shutting down our strip clubs.
Perhaps these political hacks should find something worth worrying about and leave the adult entertainment industry alone.
One last thought for now, why would they want to ***** an industry that makes so much money when many countries are experiencing an economic crisis? Like most political agendas, this whole thing makes no sense...and it does indeed smell like the Catholic Church is behind this, as MrBeeCeeper pointed out.

You make sure you have your collection double backed up (I have a 500gb external drive and a stack of DVD's)
AND the latest version of the software backed up on a USB key

Of course if they do ban it the EU owes each of us a full refund of everything we have spent right?

As to the church (any church) they don't have that kind of power.
Especially since they lost a pope and a cardinal in a month.

As I say this is Not going to happen
the EU tried to ban home brew beer in the early 1980's
now 30 years on they STILL can't.

@notdeadyet...Let me first assure you that I don't intend to argue about this, and there is no offense intended. I am simply going to clarify my previous statement, and share my experiment with you.
Your suggestion about backing the program software up on a USB key simply doesn't work. I'm quite computer savvy, and I tried it on an old machine that I had stored in the basement. When you attempt to start the program after transferring the USB key to another computer, you're still asked if you want to register or if you already have an account, and if you already have an account you need to provide your username and password, just as it does if you download the program from scratch. This is why many users who need to reinstall VGHD get the message about too many installs. Any attempt to setup VGHD software leads to this. Quite simply, you have to be able to communicate with Totem's servers. Obviously Totem Entertainment isn't going to leave such a blatant loophole. If they did, anybody could distribute the software to whomever they like. Totem has this covered, and I don't blame them, it is in their best interests. Therefore, if Totem goes down and your computer goes down, your collection is nothing but useless data. This would include your backups.
That being said, it is in the best interests of all members to avoid having Totem shut down. I hope you're right and this does not happen. If it does, though, good luck getting any kind of refund from the EU.
Since I'm not religious, and I don't want to start "that discussion", I think we should just leave religion out of it and concentrate on the problems that could arise if the EU ever do get their way with this.If you really think about it, this would be easier for them to accomplish than stopping people from making their own beer.

@gonzo420, you're right. There are three basic rules of a true friendship. If you do not want to lose a friend -
you should never talk to him about religion or politics,
never borrow him money,
never introduce him your wife or a ***** ];-)

So no religion, no politics - just let's think about, WHAT we can do in fact to avoid the worst scenario.
And I'm pretty sure that if we will use our brains hard enough, this shut down definitely is not going to happen. Never! ];-)

On the plus side, if this ban is implemented, then Totem will have no choice but to relocate their entire operation over to the US...and that will mean an ethnic explosion of dancers! Black, Asian, Latin, Indian, Eskimo!

You need to use the same computer (We had a major system crash and recovered from that using the backups)I think
My tech skills relate to engineering (specifically blowing stuff up and construction of solid structures from earth and simple materials) so computers came to me late in life.

The EU is easy to get a refund from
they recently paid compensation to a TERRORIST for refusing him access to the ex girlfriend who refuses to see him

I understand what you're talking about now, notdeadyet. What I'm talking about is a complete loss of data, when you have to do a complete reinstall...or you have a new computer, (and let's face it, no computer lasts forever). This is when you have no choice but to commuunicate with Totem's servers.
I have done the same thing you are talking about, and you're quite right if those are the circumstances.
Anyhow, I'm not looking for an argument...as I mentioned earlier, I was simply trying to make members aware of the possibilty of Totem being shut down by the EU. Whether or not you could get a refund from them (the EU) for what you spent on Totem is a scenario that has never been tried, so we really don't know. Personally, I seriously doubt that they would refund your money. Mind you, if they recently paid compensation to a TERRORIST for refusing him access to the ex girlfriend who refuses to see him, then who knows?
@pikawell - Il peut ne pas être dans les journaux français, mais il est partout sur l'internet et d'être signalés dans les nouvelles au Canada. Je pense que cela le rend plus qu'un «sans objet» sujet, mon ami.