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Education

Submission + - Improve Our Knowledge Through The Internet

Submitted by
madalinna
madalinna writes: "As we all know, the Internet represents nowadays one of the most important means of communication. Its use is due to our constant need of getting new information in different fields, such as: culture and civilization, science, education. The Internet also facilitates communication between individuals, realizing virtual communities among people united by the same passions and ideas; and by doing this they overcome political, social and linguistic boundaries.

We can also use the Internet to enrich our knowledge, our culture, but, at the same time, we shouldn't forget the traditional methods of improving our knowledge. I t is said that the Internet gives us different points of view or different perspectives on how to approach a certain situation, but it's our job to establish a relation between the traditional methods of learning and the modern methods. I know that the advantages of using the Internet can be sometimes overwhelming, in a good way. The choice is ours. We can use it to enjoy ourselves or we can use it to solve our tasks, related to school. No matter what we choose, we know that we can learn a lot by connecting ourselves to the system, that is the Internet.

The Way To Improve Our Knowledge Through The Internet "
Privacy

Submission + - Nordic ISP circumvents spying

Submitted by
Ceriel Nosforit
Ceriel Nosforit writes: "
The Swedish government has proposed a law which would allow the National Defence Radio Establishment to intercept all electronic communications passing the national border. To meet customers' demand for integrity, TeliaSonera has decided to move the production of e-mail services for Finnish customers to Finland.
— Kauppalehti

TeliaSonera's move is however not completely benevolent, but a necessity for compliance with Finnish privacy laws, as they state in their press release. This is interesting because even in the liberal paradise of Northern Europe Finnish and Swedish law and practice can be in such contradiction. Compare with Echelon & local variants and the rest of the world."
The Courts

Australian Extradited For Breaking US Law At Home 777

Posted by kdawson from the no-safe-haven dept.
An anonymous reader sends us a link to a report in The Age about an Australian resident, who had never set foot in the US and broke US intellectual-property laws in Australia, being extradited to the US to face trial. Hew Raymond Griffiths pleaded guilty in Virginia to overseeing all aspects of the operation of the group Drink Or Die, which cracked copy-protected software and media products and distributed them for free. He faces up to 10 years in a US jail and half a million dollars in fines.
Software

Submission + - Aussie 'pirate' pleads guilty in extradition case

Submitted by jaroda
jaroda writes: Australian, Hew Griffiths, is facing up to 10 years in United States jail after pleading guilty in one to the first extraditions for intellectual property crime. While this is a pleasing result for some, such as US Attorney Chuck Rosenberg, it has also caused some concern in the Australian legal community. FTA:

In a recent article for the Australian Law Journal, NSW Chief Judge in Equity, Peter Young, wrote: "International copyright violations are a great problem. However, there is also the consideration that a country must protect its nationals from being removed from their homeland to a foreign country merely because the commercial interests of that foreign country are claimed to have been affected by the person's behaviour in Australia and the foreign country can exercise influence over Australia."
First Person Shooters (Games)

Submission + - Map your School

Submitted by
dzafez
dzafez writes: "In Response to the Slashdot article covering a Student getting kicked off of his
regular school (http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/02/1 839251:

Even though, I don't ever play games anymore, I think this map should be published.
I would even go further, hell kids pick some good anon nicks with a anon e-mail address
and start sending me maps of your schools. I will host them on my german website.
(http:/www.dzafez.de)
Don't forget to let me know where (google maps) exactly the Highschool is, which
you rebuild. I will put that google maps link next to it. Also let me know, for
which game (version) this map is. I would love to see some older games as well.
If you do 3D rebuilds of your School in Autocat, Blender, VRML ... whatever 3D.

Bring it on, map at dzafez .de"
Privacy

Submission + - American copyright arms get longer

Submitted by
Anonymous Coward
Anonymous Coward writes: "In Australia, you are no longer safe from the long arms of American law as the Australian Government recently agreed to extradite an Australian citizen for breach of copyright. As mentioned in The Age, the punishment for copyright crimes in the USA is worse than rape in Australia. Which is the greater crime? And in the Czech Republilc, The Prague Post carries a story about how the police there are now carrying our raids and arrests (at the behest of American copyright giants), now that they can legally download music locally in their country."
Censorship

EFF and Dvorak Blame the Digg Revolt On Lawyers 262

Posted by kdawson from the jet-fuel-on-a-fire dept.
enharmonix writes "A bit of an update on the recent Digg revolt over AACS. The NYTimes has taken notice and written quite a decent article that actually acknowledges that the take-down notices amount to censorship and documents instances of the infamous key appearing in purely expressive form. I was pleased to see the similarity to 2600 and deCSS was not lost on the Times either. More interesting is that the EFF's Fred von Lohmann blames the digg revolt on lawyers. And in an opinion piece, John Dvorak expands on that theme."
GNU is Not Unix

You Can't Oppose Copyright and Support Open Source 550

Posted by kdawson from the baby-with-the-bathwater dept.
Reader gbulmash sends us to his essay on the fallacy of those who would abolish copyright. The argument is that without copyright granting an author the right to set licensing terms for his/her work, the GPL could not be enforced. The essay concludes that if you support the GPL or any open source license (other than public domain), your fight should be not about how to abolish copyright, but how to reform copyright.
The Internet

Submission + - Xinhua stealing website code from CNN?

Submitted by
Anonymous Coward
Anonymous Coward writes: "Xinhua (China's state news agency) appears to be stealing elements of its layout straight from an American competitor — CNN. Here's an example of a Xinhua news story: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-05/06/conte nt_6063951.htm Here is a CNN news story: http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/africa/05/06/kenya.p lane/index.html Besides the obvious grab by Xinhua of the 'story highlights' concept, the color, font and shape are identical. Other elements of the layout are clearly 'influenced,' if not directly stolen, from CNN's site. Besides the questions of professionalism on the part of Xinhua, is Xinhua violating copyright? Is there any recourse for CNN?"
Privacy

Submission + - NJ police union head threatens talk show hosts

Submitted by dlaur
dlaur writes: The New Jersey State Police have recently been the subject of criticism following the 91MPH crash that injured NJ Governor Corzine. Two NJ radio talk show hosts exposed inflammatory online posts allegedly made by NJ State Troopers threatening to crack down on highway speeders in response to the criticism. In a televised press conferemce, the head of the state police union threatened to expose personal information about the two talk show hosts, and went as far as to hold up documents containing their home addresses and other information for the cameras.

http://www.homelandstupidity.us/2007/05/04/talk-sh ow-hosts-in-hiding-after-police-threat/

http://www.libertypost.org/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?Art Num=186154
   
The Courts

Microsoft, Best Buy Face Racketeering Suit 153

Posted by kdawson from the one-way-to-sign-up-customers dept.
15 judges of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals have unanimously reversed dismissal of a RICO class action suit against Microsoft and Best Buy, which claims the companies engaged in fraud in promoting Microsoft's MSN online service. (RICO is a statute originally intended to help prosecutors go after organized crime.) Quoting: "The case started after James Odom bought a PC-based laptop at a Contra Costa County Best Buy store. Data about the purchase was sent to Microsoft as part of a joint marketing agreement between the companies. Microsoft then signed Mr. Odom up for its MSN Internet service and, after a free trial period, began billing him for it." Howard Bashman's How Appealing blog has more details on the reversal, including a paraphrase from one of the appellate judges that "all blame rests with the U.S. Supreme Court for allowing the 'outlandish' result that a claim such as this can be pursued under RICO."
Patents

Brazil Voids Merck Patent On AIDS Drug 765

Posted by kdawson from the developing-world-revolt dept.
JoeBackward writes "Merck has this useful anti-AIDS drug Elfavirenz, and Brazil has lots of poor people with AIDS. So, after trying really hard to get Merck to cooperate on pricing, the Brazilian government has decided to take a 'compulsory license' to the patent, and get the drug from a factory in India. This compulsory license is basically a way to take the patent by eminent domain." This move gives Brazil one more thing in common with Thailand, both of which have blocked YouTube. Thailand's compulsory licensing of Elfavirenz and Plavix has landed the country on the US's watch list for piracy.
Security

Submission + - PC with sensitive files on minors sold on ebay

Submitted by
passthecrackpipe
passthecrackpipe writes: "The BBC is running a story about a PC sold on ebay with thousands of sensitive files concerning vulnarable minors.

from the article:"Sensitive case notes on vulnerable children in Essex have been found on a computer sold on eBay's auction site.

Reports and details about fostering and adoption were found among 1,000 files on a £1.70 computer previously owned by Southend Borough Council.

The buyer, from Staines, Middlesex, has asked to remain anonymous but told the BBC it was a serious lapse of security.

 Thats an understatement if I ever heard one....."

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