gender: Voyeur Site Creators To Start 'Dude Dorm'

Voyeur Site Creators To Start 'Dude Dorm'

By Robert Green

TAMPA, Florida (Reuters) - The creators of an Internet site called ``Voyeur Dorm'' featuring videotaped footage of college-age women said on Friday they are opening another site featuring young men called ``Dude Dorm.''

Patterned after Voyeur Dorm (www.voyeurdorm.com), Dude Dorm (www.dudedorm.com) will show five men, aged 19 to 23, sharing a house equipped with television cameras in every room.

For a monthly fee subscribers will have 24-hour access to the live pictures and will be able to exchange e-mail with the men.

``It's the exact same setup as Voyeur Dorm,'' said Bruce Hammil, vice-president of Entertainment Network Inc., Voyeur Dorm's managing partner.

Voyeur Dorm charges its subscribers $34 a month for what it promises are nude pictures of women as they shower, change clothes and sunbathe.

Hammil said Dude Dorm should appeal to women and gay men. He said five men who attend colleges in the Tampa area had been selected to live in the house and live ``Webcasts'' should begin by mid-November.

A preview page is already on-line.

Hammil said the Dude Dorm will operate from an undisclosed location because of Voyeur Dorm's legal problems.

The Tampa City Council in August voted to shut down the Voyeur Dorm house for violating zoning regulations that bar an adult entertainment business from a residential neighborhood. Some council members said the house was like a strip club.

Attorneys for Entertainment Network have filed a federal lawsuit that sought to overturn the council's action. They said the house was not in violation because all business was done over the Internet and no customer visited the location.

``This case will set a precedent for home-based Internet business worldwide, and we are prepared to take this all the way to the (U.S.) Supreme Court if necessary,'' Hammil said.