Comment What's really funny is... (Score 1) 656
The previous story
Identity Theft Is Usually an Unsophisticated Crime
Comment The real content for newspapers is ads. (Score 1) 156
Back when I was consulting for newspapers, a rough calculation showed that the price of the newspaper times the number of copies printed daily did not even cover the cost of the raw paper. If I went to the news department, old worn office furniture, crowed working conditions, people sharing desks. In the Ad department, leather chairs all around, many private offices, up to date office furniture and nice wooden desks.
IMHO what killed newspapers is not that people are getting news online, but the fact that more and more people are shopping online.
Clear Public Satellite Imagery Tantamount to Yelling Fire 230
TechDirt pointed out a recent bit of foolishness as a followup to California Assemblyman Joel Anderson's push to force Google and other online mapping/satellite companies to blur out schools, churches, and government buildings. When pushed, apparently his justification was that leaving these buildings un-obscured is the same as shouting fire. "News.com ran an interview with Anderson, where he attempts to defend his proposed legislation as a matter of public safety. He claims that there is no good reason why anyone would need to clearly see these buildings online, and that it can only be used for bad purposes. [...] Apparently, Anderson is the final determiner of what good people do and what bad people do with online maps."
