The owners of dudedorm.com, a controversial Website that provides a 'round the clock Internet window into the lives of six male college students, vow to fight any attempts to shut the dorm down. Police appeared Thursday night at the condominium housing the dorm in the Tampa Bay community of Pinellas Park after some residents began picketing with signs saying "Dude Dorm Get Out."
"'This is a dudedorm, not a nudedorm,' said Bruce Hammil, vice president and partner in Entertainment Network, Inc., the Tampa company that operates the site. 'There is nothing pornographic or in any way objectionable about the way the guys in the dorm live their lives. The only time you might see someone naked is if he was taking a shower, and that's just a part of normal hygiene.'
"After reporters discovered the location of the site, the city of Pinellas Park issued a press release saying its attorneys were studying 'legal issues involved in this situation.' Entertainment Network President Dave Marshlack has asked for a meeting with the Pinellas Park mayor to reassure him that the company intended to remain within city law and 'respect the high moral values of the citizens.'
"Cameras mounted throughout the dorm in Florida keep a constant watch on the lives of the men -- three gay, three straight -- as they cook, sleep, study, work out in a gym room and shower. In return for allowing their every move to be captured and for chatting online with the mostly female membership of dudedorm.com, the men's college tuition and housing costs are paid by Entertainment Network, and they receive a stipend."
