This week on the social web we learn that award-winning director and convicted child sex criminal Roman Polanski is living on borrowed Swiss time; the scandal-ridden International Automobile Federation (FIA) elects a new president and Windows 7 is launched.

@RtrsIN_TopNews (a.k.a. the Reuters news service) reported that the “U.S. asks Swiss to extradite fugitive Polanski.” Much coverage by other outlets emphasized Polanski’s Oscar-winning status and his support by Hollywood elite and used phrases such as “child sex,” but the Twitterverse saw it in more black and white terms, like this succinct commentary from @erincanary:

“holy moly, news guy. Polanski didn’t have sex with a 13-year-old. He raped her. Big difference.”

Reuters tells us that Swiss due process will ensue.

The governing body for Formula One and other motorsports elected a new President, Frenchman Jean Todt, reports @SkySportsNews.

Todt’s election was greeted with mixed reaction; some asserting his Ferrari roots would bias the sport, others supportive, like @mikef1fan

“Congrats Jean Todt, new pres of FIA! Good riddance Max Mosley with your ruining of F1 over the years. Next to go please: Bernie Eccelestone”

Todt replaces Max Mosley, who was caught up in an international sex-scandal last year.

According to the Telegraph (telegraph.co.uk), it ultimately came out in British High Court that, while “There was bondage, beating and domination which seem to be typical of S&M behaviour … there was no evidence that the gathering on 28 March 2008 was intended to be an enactment of Nazi behaviour or adoption of any of its attitudes.”

While it’s unclear how Mosley rounded up his call girls, Thomas Dart, an Illinois Sheriff, has been convinced for some time Craigslist, the ubiquitous Internet classified ad system, is the perpetrator of much activity of ill-repute. So much so, Dart launched a court case over advertisements found in the erotic services category, now renamed Adult Services.

As @TechCrunch’s @robinwauters reported, Federal District Court Judge John F. Grady disagreed, throwing out the suit. In the words of Matt Zimmerman of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (as cited by Wauters on TechCrunch):

“Meritless cases brought by law enforcement officers, amounting to little more than publicity stunts with little to no chance of success, do little to address the officers’ underlying concerns.”

Speaking of underlying concerns, how about blogging your potty exploits? As reported by @jbruin on @mashable that’s exactly what Charmin, the toilet paper company, wants you to do.

“In what sounds like the dirtiest social media marketing campaign ever excreted, Business Courier is reporting that Charmin has announced their ‘Enjoy the go’ campaign; and it’s 100% legit. Charmin will build temporary branded bathrooms in Times Square, and they want to hire five bloggers to interact and engage with hundreds of thousands of bathroom goers and document the entire experiment for five weeks in exchange for $10,000. We can just smell your horror.”

In Trending Topics this week, the launch of Windows 7 created a lot of mock horror. Mac users responded with their usual religious fervor, pranksters coaxed Linux creator Linus Torvalds into a highly ironic thumbs-up photo-opp in front of a Microsoft booth, and there was a lot of head scratching about the Windows 7 “Launch Party” commercials on YouTube – weird or just not funny – either way, horrific.

Also trending this week for was the topic #lasttweetonearth, where, you guessed it, Tweeps theorized what their last tweet would be. @howardscarrow captured the utter foolishness of this well:

“That’s an odd noise to be hearing while vacationing at an abandoned camp ground. I’m going to investigate alone…”

That never ends well – queue Jamie Lee Curtis circa 1978 (pre-yogurt).

A couple of somber announcements; @breakingnews passed along a CP report that Jack Poole, the chairman of the board of directors for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, has died after a lengthy battle with pancreatic cancer, and epic comedian Soupy Sales, recipient of some 20,000 pies in the face and a giant star in his era, also passed this week. R.I.P. to both.

As usual, send your cards and letters with hashtag #RTWT on Twitter so I can highlight the weird and wonderful stuff you see on the social web, or tweet me at @dblacombe.

Doug Lacombe is president of communicatto, a digital marketing, investor and public relations agency. More of his nonsense is available at communicatto.com.

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