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Censorship

Submission + - Protest over free speech online turns violent

Submitted by BitterOak
BitterOak writes: Four high school students were arrested in Toronto Friday, charged with assaulting police and obstruction, during a protest over the suspension of students for posting derogatory comments about the vice principal on their private Facebook pages. 60 students showed up for the protest, and only four were charged with any wrong doing. This story raises interesting questions. I'm sure no one condones disorderly conduct at a protest, but should public schools have the right to suspend students over online speech? The article doesn't make it clear whether or not the student used school computers to post the comments.
Music

Submission + - Korean Music Industry Thieves Commit Irony

Submitted by
ghost-maker
ghost-maker writes: "User gets sued by the music industry for posting an "illegal" video. Sounds like the same old same old, right? Not quite. This user, Curio11, posted a video which exposed the startling similarity between music from Korean music "stars" which sounded disturbingly similar to music from the U.S. and Japan. After doing research, I have also noticed that they do not credit nor list the "sources" for their music. Ironically, the Korean Music Industry is eager to find this user and sue him for "illegally reproducing media without express permission". Let us sit here and ponder this phrase while you review. Here are some places you can enjoy the mind numbingly stupidity and lack of creativity of the Music Industry of another nation besides the U.S. Here are several links to the videos http://q.freechal.com/gmcrayon http://data.fruit.kr/5 http://coolog.tistory.com/56 http://greatdobal.egloos.com/3217901"
Censorship

Submission + - YouTube bans makers of the Blashphemy Challenge

Submitted by Da_Weasel
Da_Weasel writes: If you followed the YouTube censorship and deletion of of Nick Gisburne's account after he posted quotations from the Quran, here's another slap in the face to freedom of expression. The Rational Response Squad, of Blasphemy Challenge fame, has had their account suspended by YouTube. No explanation yet why the account was suspended.
Media

Submission + - Internet Radio to be killed by the RIAA

Submitted by
Anonymous Coward
Anonymous Coward writes: "Just got this in the mail from Tim Westergren, Pandora's CEO: "I'm writing today to ask for your help. We've had a disastrous turn of events recently for internet radio: Following an intensive lobbying effort on the part of the RIAA, an arbitration committee in Washington DC has just dramatically increased the fees internet radio sites must pay to the record labels — tripling fees and adding enormous retroactive payments! Left unchanged by Congress, this will kill all internet radio sites, including Pandora. Tomorrow afternoon there is an important U.S. Senate hearing on the future of internet radio."

This issue has started to get blog coverage: http://gigaom.com/2007/03/05/webcaster-royalty-rat es-go-up/ and http://www.rossdawsonblog.com/weblog/archives/2007 /03/the_vast_potent.html

If you live in the US, please contact your local Congressman now!

Please note that I have no Pandora affiliation except as a very happy user."
Television

Submission + - BBC has lost original 9/11 tapes

Submitted by
zimba42
zimba42 writes: "Maybe the citizens of the UK should all stop paying their TV tax. The BBC editor's blog is currently carrying the following statement from Richard Porter, editor of BBC news: "We no longer have the original tapes of our 9/11 coverage (for reasons of cock-up, not conspiracy). So if someone has got a recording of our output, I'd love to get hold of it. We do have the tapes for our sister channel News 24, but they don't help clear up the issue one way or another." Blog: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/2007/02/part _of_the_conspiracy.html"
The Courts

Submission + - Kaleidescape finally gets its day in court

Submitted by Naviztirf
Naviztirf writes: Kaleidescape, the maker of those $20,000 DVD servers, is being sued by the DVD CCA for "Breach of Contract". Today, Kaleidescape CEO Michael Malcolm will appear in court to defend his company. From the article: "The DVD CCA, which licenses the Content Scramble System (CSS) for copy-protecting DVDs, sued Kaleidescape in December 2004, claiming the maker of video servers breached a contract by building "a system to do precisely what the license and CSS are designed to prevent ... the wholesale copying of protected DVDs," according to a statement released by the DVD CCA back then."
Censorship

Submission + - RIAA and University of Wisconsin-Madison

Submitted by stephencrane
stephencrane writes: http://www.joegratz.net/archives/2007/03/16/univer sity-of-wisconsin-stands-up-to-riaa/ A student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison shares what his school is doing in response to the RIAA P2PLawsuit.com campaign. In this campaign, attorneys for Sony, Universal, EMI, Warner Music Group and more sent letters to several colleges demanding that they be forwarded to students. The letter (PDF) threatens students with a lawsuit and instructs them to identify themselves and pay a settlement to the recording companies via the website P2Plawsuits.com. UW-M has sent an email informing students that although they've been given letters to forward to students, they university will not comply without a written subpoena.
Security

Submission + - Security risks encircle Wi-Fi at RSA conference

Submitted by
Frosty Piss
Frosty Piss writes: "When top security gurus gathered in San Francisco last month for the RSA Conference, a Boston company decided to point its radar toward the airwaves and see how much of the show's wireless activity it could see. What they found was that many of these experts had not taken the basic precautions to protect their online activity while using public Wi-Fi. The Boston hackers could eavesdrop on more than half of the wireless traffic of conference attendees. Amit Sinha, chief technology officer of AirDefense found that 56 percent of 623 devices — laptops, cell phones, personal digital assistants and PCs — were susceptible to attacks. Read about it in the Seattle Post Intelligencer."
Portables

Submission + - Confess your 'CrackBerry' addiction, win a prize

Submitted by jcatcw
jcatcw writes: CrackBerry.com, the new Web site for BlackBerry users, launched a contest this week that may be the ultimate catch-22 for addicts of the handheld systems. The grand prize rehab vacation to a yet unnamed exotic location will be awarded on June 1. But the winner can only accept the vacation if he or she first promises to take a first step toward recovery — leave the BlackBerry at home.
The Internet

Web Censorship on the Increase 132

Posted by Zonk from the xxx-xxxx-xxx-xxxx-xxxxxx dept.
mid-devonian writes "Close on the heels of the temporary blocking of YouTube by a Turkish judge, a group of academics has published research showing that Web censorship is on the increase worldwide. As many as two dozen countries are blocking content using a variety of techniques. Distressingly, the most censor-heavy countries (which includes China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Burma and Uzbekistan) seem to be passing on their technologically sophisticated techniques to other areas of the world. 'New censorship techniques include the periodic barring of complete applications, such as China's block on Wikipedia or Pakistan's ban on Google's blogging service, and the use of more advanced technologies such as 'keyword filtering', which is used to track down material by identifying sensitive words.'"
Communications

Submission + - Cingular/ATT, Sprint, Quest Block Conference Calls

Submitted by
IAmTheDave
IAmTheDave writes: "Cingular/AT&T has blocked calling access to a free conference calling service, FreeConference.com, with varying stories as to why. With Sprint and Quest following Cingular/AT&T shortly thereafter, the CEO of FreeConference.com claims that the service carriers are blocking the free conference calling service to illegally stifle competitors of their similar pay-for services. An email mailed out to my employer — users of FreeConference.com — state that "This appears to be a coordinated effort to force you to use the paid services they provide, eliminating competition and blocking your right to use the conferencing services that work best for you." The email urges users to contact the FCC, state Attorney Generals, and their providers directly. On the flip side, Quest Communications filed a lawsuit in Iowa claiming that several companies in Iowa, FreeConference.com being one, (along with sister companies hotlivesexchat.com and callchinaforfree.com) are fraudulently and illegally routing calls that end up holding the carrier responsible for long distance fees. AT&T filed suit shortly thereafter as well."
Biotech

Journal Journal: Fuck you SUV with the Bush/Cheney '04 sticker! 2

Journal by Servo

Driving to work yesterday (in my new Prius), and I get cut off by some sort of huge SUV with Bush/Cheney sticker on the back.

Hey driver of said vehicle... would you mind taking a long walk off a short pier? Just because I drive a hybrid car doesn't mean you get to be a prick. I bought the car because its 1) geeky from a technology standpoint and 2) gets better gas mileage for my 110 mile round trip everyday.
Wireless Networking

Submission + - Military system offers worldwide cell phone access

Submitted by
coondoggie
coondoggie writes: "U.S. soldiers stationed in remote regions of Iraq and Afghanistan can flip open their Razr or LG mobile phones and place calls, thanks to a new portable cellular communications system from LGS, the U.S. government marketing arm of Alcatel-Lucent. LGS announced its Tactical Base Station Router (TacBSR), which was developed by Bell Laboratories, in February. The TacBSR is a single box that provides instant commercial cellular communications and serves as a gateway between cellular and VoIP networks. The TacBSR is available for U.S. government customers only. Applications include field deployments, disaster recovery, reverse 911, and search and rescue operations. http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/031507-milit ary-systems-provide-instant-cell-phones.html"
Privacy

Submission + - The story of your life, now available online

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Juliet LaVia of Burbank, Calif., recently got a call from someone named John whose voice she couldn't place. After an awkward silence, she learned he was a college acquaintance from some 15 years ago who said he found her home phone number online. Since the dawn of the Internet, it's been possible to plug a name into a search engine to see what turns up. And for years, background-checking services have sold expensive online services for looking up personal information such as criminal records, marriage records, addresses and phone numbers. But now, directory companies and several start-ups are offering new people-search services that are more comprehensive and useful than the classic Google search at a fraction or none of the cost of a traditional background check.

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