Archive for July, 2009
The Guardian reports on yet more counterterrorism idiocy, regarding a woman who was merely trying to document what the police were doing: Lawyers for Gemma Atkinson, a 27-year-old who was detained after filming police officers conduct a routine stop and search on her boyfriend, believe her case is the latest example of how police are misusing [ READ MORE ]
I can’t really comment in detail on the events surrounding the removal of the recent charity fundraiser post. It is tied too closely to other events that I cannot yet post about in this blog and that I am in fact trying to distance from my blogs as much as I can. However, I do feel [ READ MORE ]
Yes, I’ve got answers to those questions about a post that disappeared. Yes, I pulled the previous post about a charity fundraiser. To quote one of the organizers I “will be denied entry and escorted off premises.” No, I have not yet been told why. Yes, I definitely plan to comment further about this at an indefinite point [ READ MORE ]
And we Americans thought the IRS was clueless sometimes. This story from Sweden details the account of a couple versus what I dare call a recklessly obtuse Swedish Tax Agency: When their daughter Celina was born, Morten Schneider and Christina Cruz dutifully filled out the appropriate forms with their daughters name – Celina Cruz Schneider – and [ READ MORE ]
Ars Technica reports on France’s reworking of the “three strikes” copyright law. The difference between this version of the law and the previous one (which did not pass constitutional muster) is that the decisions on sanctions after the third offense is now the responsibility of the courts instead of HADOPI (the copyright authority) itself. Of particular [ READ MORE ]
The Telegraph reports on Sony’s Walkman topping a poll conducted by the British tech magazine T3 for the most important audio (music) innovation of the last 50 years. The patent-encumbered MP3 codec (compression format) came in second, followed by the Apple iPod, the CD, and the original (free) Napster. Which brings us to what is completely [ READ MORE ]
Zeropaid reports on yet another ISP censoring its Usenet access. AT&T will cease offering access to alt.bin* and alt.bain* newsgroups as part of its package later this week, due to pressure from New York Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo exerted under the guise of reducing the flow of child pornography. The sheer idiocy of this [ READ MORE ]
An Idaho TV station, KTVB-TV, recently reported on an incident involving a local festival which usually involves a military flyover, but did not this year due to the Pentagon’s refusal of the request. The Treasure Valley God and Country Festival in Nampa (a few miles west of Boise), Idaho, Dave Kellogg opines on this event, [ READ MORE ]