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Submission + - SPAM: FBI: emergency 911 swatters are a growing menace

Submitted by
coondoggie
coondoggie writes: "The FBI today said today there has been a significant increase in the illegal activity know as "swatting" where criminals and pranksters call in a fake 911 in hopes of drawing a response from law enforcement — usually a Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team. The US Department of Justice says swatters also make other false reports to elicit an emergency response by other first responders, such as adult protective services, to a specific physical address. In addition, swatters typically spoof their phone numbers to conceal their true identity. The FBI said it has arrested five swatters who, between 2002 and 2006, called 911 in more than 60 cities nationwide, impacting more than 100 victims, causing a disruption of services for telecommunications providers and emergency responders, and resulting in up to $250,000 in losses. [spam URL stripped]"
Link to Original Source
The Courts

Journal SPAM: California City Sues Man for Canceling Trash Collection 4

Journal by Jeremiah Cornelius

Eddie House claims to have reduced his waste to nearly nothing out of concern for the environment. He now faces a lawsuit from San Carlos for canceling his garbage-collection service. The suit seeks a permanent injunction forcing House to maintain garbage service. City officials are also seeking to recoup from House the costs of the lawsuit. The city claims that House broke the municipal code requi
Privacy

Submission + - UCLA Probe Finds Taser Incident Out Of Policy (ucla.edu)

Submitted by Bandor Mia
Bandor Mia writes: Last November, it was reported that UCLA cops Tasered a student, who forgot to bring his ID, at the UCLA library. While an internal probe by UCLAPD cleared the officers of any wrongdoing, an outside probe by Police Assessment Resource Center has found that the police actions on Mostafa Tabatabainejad were indeed out of UCLA policy. The probe was conducted at the behest of acting UCLA Chancellor Norman Abrams.

From the report:
"In light of UCLAPD's general use of force policy and its specific policies on pain compliance techniques, Officer 2's three applications of the Taser, taken together, were out of policy. Officer 2 did not take advantage of other options and opportunities reasonably available to de-escalate the situation without the use of the Taser. Reasonable campus police officers, upon assessing the circumstances, likely would have embraced different choices and options that appear likely to have been more consistent both with UCLAPD policy and general best law enforcement practices."
Media

Submission + - Should Copyrights Last as Long as ideas?

Submitted by The_Rook
The_Rook writes: In an opinion piece in the New York Times, "A Great Idea Lives Forever. Shouldn't Its Copyright?" Mark Helprin, author of "Winter's Tale," equates copyrights on written works like novels, etc. with physical assets like houses, flour mills, travel agencies, and newspapers. Apparently 70 years after his death is not enough for Mr. Helprin. He wants his descendants to own the copyright on his works forever.

On the way he laments that the Constitution says copyrights are to be granted for "limited times" and is thankful that congress can and has periodically extended the length of copyrights.

Lost on Mr. Helprin is that the entire value of an idea is it's usefulness to others and that public domain enriches more than "stockholders of various businesses."

The essay is not particularly well thought out and is perhaps beneath the attention of the Slashdot community. But it needs to be refuted on the grounds that is perpetuates the fallacy that intellectual property is the same as physical property and that authors have always had right to their intellectual property (which the nasty government has seen fit to take away) rather than the real situation where intellectual property is a fiction created by the government to encourage the creation and publication of creative works.

The article can be read here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/20/opinion/20helpri n.html?pagewanted=1
Editorial

Submission + - Shouldn't copyrights last forever?

Submitted by proxima
proxima writes: Mark Helprin, author and fellow at the Claremont Institute, writes an op-ed piece in today's New York Times. He responds to the argument about expiration being for the public good by saying, "it might also be for the public good were Congress to allow the enslavement of foreign captives and their descendants (this was tried);" He argues that Congress should extend the length of copyright again, "as far as it can throw". This is certainly a striking position compared to many on Slashdot and fellow guest columnist Lawrence Lessig (access to archives required).
Censorship

Judge Strikes Down COPA, 1998 Online Porn Law 348

Posted by kdawson from the one-for-free-speech dept.
Begopa sends in word that a federal judge has struck down the Child Online Protection Act. The judge said that parents can protect their children through software filters and other less restrictive means that do not limit others' rights to free speech. This was the case for which the US Department of Justice subpoenaed several search companies for search records; only Google fought the order. The case has already been to the Supreme Court. Senior U.S. District Judge Lowell Reed Jr. wrote in his decision: "Perhaps we do the minors of this country harm if First Amendment protections, which they will with age inherit fully, are chipped away in the name of their protection."
Biotech

Journal Journal: Alzheimer's and Vasectomies Linked? New Research 2

Journal by cogno64
Northwestern University researchers have discovered men with an unusual form of dementia have a higher rate of vasectomy than men the same age who are cognitively normal. Certain organs including the testes and the brain exist in what is the equivalent of a gated community in the body. Tiny tubes within the testes (in which sperm are produced) are protected by a physical barrier of Sertoli cells. The tight
Hardware Hacking

Submission + - Army of Davids beats Pentagon procurement

Submitted by
chris-chittleborough
chris-chittleborough writes: "The Wall Street Journal reports that 'a Marine officer in Iraq, a small network-design company in California, a nonprofit troop-support group, a blogger and other undeterrable folk designed a handheld insurgent-identification device, built it, shipped it and deployed it in [Iraq] in 30 days.' Compare this to the Automated Biometric Identification System, a multi-megabuck Pentagon project now 2 years old. It's a striking example of 'How Markets and Technology Empower Ordinary People to Beat Big Media, Big Government, and Other Goliaths'."

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