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Slasher flick gives Net the finger(s)

John Borland Staff Writer, CNET News.com
John Borland
covers the intersection of digital entertainment and broadband.
John Borland

On a handful of sites around the Web, a gory advertisement for an upcoming movie called "Saw 2" shows two dismembered fingers standing on end depicting the sequel's number. Gross, but over the line?

Hollywood thinks so. The Motion Picture Association of America sent out a press release Friday morning saying that the advertisement and poster, which is depicted on sites as well-traveled as Amazon.com's Internet Movie Database, had not been not approved by the official Advertising Administration, and should be pulled immediately.

The movie's distributor, Lion's Gate Films, has agreed to contact Web sites and ask them to pull down the offending art, as well as contact film distributors to ask for theater art back. The movie's rating process has been put on hold until the ads are retracted.