eBriefing
The news behind the Net
By Janet Kornblum
Download divas duel for world title

The title was hers and hers alone. But Web sextrepreneur Danni Ashe's victory over actress/model Cindy Margolis as Guinness World Records' "most downloaded woman" lasted just a month. Guinness, in settling a dispute between the download divas, came up with this Solomonesque decision: Ashe will retain the title for paid sites, and Margolis — who notes that she wears clothes, albeit small ones — will retain the title for a non-paid site. That should make everyone happy. But no. Margolis thinks that Ashe is milking the feud for free publicity; Ashe maintains that she should get to keep both titles because she offers both free and paid photos. She challenges Margolis to produce hard numbers — and she ain't talkin' body measurements. Guinness told them both in an e-mail that it's not going to accept any more claims on the title until everyone can settle on a "single recognized authority capable of verifying future claims of Internet traffic and/or downloads." Meanwhile, Guinness keeps no numbers for the most downloaded man. But MOPy, a fish screen saver, retains the title for "the most downloaded cyberpet," says Guinness researcher Della Howes. MOPy wears no clothing.