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Censorship

Congress Mulls China's Networked Authoritarianism 156

Posted by CmdrTaco from the taking-notes-for-our-version dept.
eldavojohn writes "Rebecca MacKinnon tipped her hand about her congressional statements on China and how much Americans are invested in China's censorship, delivered today at a hearing on 'China's Information Control Practices and the Implications for the United States.' In an attempt to describe what China is pioneering, she coins the term 'networked authoritarianism.' Of most concern was Baidu, which has two Americans on its board of directors (out of five) as well as a lot of funding from American investors and mutual funds. From her testimony (PDF): 'As I have described in my testimony, the Chinese government has transferred much of the cost of censorship to the private sector. The American investment community has so far been willing to fund Chinese innovation in censorship technologies and systems without complaint or objection. Under such circumstances, Chinese industry leaders have little incentive and less encouragement to resist government demands that often contradict even China's own laws and constitution.' Is Congress genuinely concerned or are they just curious how they can make 'networked authoritarianism' work for them?"

Comment Re:Extremism (Score 2, Informative) 335

by Saint Aardvark (#32743040) Attached to: ASCAP War On Free Culture Escalates

Up here in Canada, we've got a new copyright bill coming down the pike. It's been spearheaded by two Cabinet ministers, Tony Clement (Industry) and James Moore (Canadian Heritage). While Clement has been sensitive and seems open to suggestions, Moore has definitely taken a more combative approach.

In fact, in a recent speech, Moore decried copyright "radical extremists" with a "babyish" attitude toward copyright.

Notice the same phrase?
Graphics

Tattoos For the Math and Science Geek? 1186

Posted by CmdrTaco from the what's-wrong-with-a-slashdot dept.
An anonymous reader writes "I've been thinking of getting a sleeve of math and science tattoos for quite a while now. With the money saved up, the only question remaining is, what equations/ideas should I get? I know for certain that I'm going to include some of Maxwell's equations, and definitely Ohm's Law. So, if you were going to put a tribute to the great math and science minds on your body forever, which ones would you choose?"
Books

Submission + - Why don't we buy sysadmin books anymore? (standalone-sysadmin.com) 4

Submitted by Bandman
Bandman writes: Our needs for good information and documentation have not changed, but the way that we get it has. The ebook revolution has made physical shelves of sysadmin books endangered species. A bigger issue may be that even ebook sales of books related to system administration have not been selling. Somewhere along the line, people stopped buying things like "DNS and Bind" or "Sed & Awk".

Has our need for documentation changed, or just our sources of it?
Canada

Submission + - Canada's copyright debate turns ugly (www.cbc.ca)

Submitted by Saint Aardvark
Saint Aardvark writes: As reported by the CBC, the debate in Canada over the new copyright bill hit a new low. Minister of Heritage James Moore decried opponents of the bill as "radical extremists", with a "babyish" approach to copyright. As Professor Michael Geist points out, these "radical extremists" include a laundry list of educators, politicians and business leaders. The minister initially denied making any such remarks...until video surfaced showing the speech. Said one critic, "He has morphed from a personable, PR-savvy techno-nerd minister to a young Richard Nixon [with an enemies list]". As if that wasn't enough, Cory Doctorow waded into the debate with an article outlining his objections as a Canadian author, and a debate over Twitter with the minister himself. The thinly-veiled attack on Geist may backfire, though: "voters may ask if the bill's proponents are engaging in character assassination rather than rational policy debate because the proponents' actual arguments aren't that convincing."
Power

Submission + - Solar's Great Leap Forward (technologyreview.com)

Submitted by TravisTR
TravisTR writes: Suntech CEO Zhengrong Shi made China a powerhouse in photovoltaic technology--and became a billionaire in the process. His next ambition: to make solar power as cheap as conventional electricity.
Canada

Submission + - In Canada, fair copyright is radical extremism (michaelgeist.ca) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: At a recent industry conference on Canadian Intellectual Property, a disturbing video has been exposed capturing Canadian Heritage Minister, James Moore, advocating direct confrontation and attacks on anyone opposing the Canadian DMCA. He goes on to label those suggesting amendments to his proposed upcoming copyright legislation "radical extremists" who must be "defeated". It's really sad to see an elected member of government to be so one-sided on this issue, and apparently upset at the general public and consumer groups who have voiced overwhelming opposition to proscriptions against circumvention of digital locks, amongst other issues raised in the legislation.
Canada

Submission + - James Moore's Attack on Fair Copyright (michaelgeist.ca)

Submitted by Saint Aardvark
Saint Aardvark writes: Professor Michael Geist writes about Canadian Minister of Heritage James Moore's recent speech. In it, Moore condemned critics of his proposed new copyright bill, saying "Make sure that those voices who try to find technical, non-sensical, fear-mongering reasons to oppose copyright reform are confronted every step of the way and they are defeated. When we do that this bill will pass and Canada will be better for it."
Censorship

Wikileaks Founder Advised To Avoid American Gov't 632

Posted by CmdrTaco from the good-luck-with-that dept.
eldavojohn writes "Media darling Julian Assange, founder of Wikileaks, has been told by his lawyers to avoid the United States on the grounds that the US military would like to ask him a few questions about his source of the Collateral Murder video. Assange claims to be holding yet more video (of a US attack on a village that allegedly killed 140 civilians in May of 2009), as well as a quarter million sensitive cables relating to the current foreign war operations from the US State Department. Assange surfaced for the cameras in Brussels while speaking about the need for the freedom of information. Can he build a high enough profile to protect himself from danger?"
Communications

Why Engineers Don't Like Twitter 460

Posted by Soulskill from the signal-to-noise dept.
PabloSandoval48 writes, "A recent EE Times survey of 285 engineers found that 85% don't use Twitter. More than half indicated that the statement 'I don't really care what you had for breakfast' best sums up their feelings about it." Reader mattnyc99 notes a related article in which the authors analyzed the content of tweets during a recent World Cup game, finding 76% of them to be useless. "Out of 1,000 tweets with the #worldcup hashtag during the game, only 16 percent were legitimate news and 7.6 percent were deemed 'legitimate conversation' — which leaves 6 percent spam, 24 percent self-promotion, about 17 percent re-tweets, and a whopping 29 percent of useless observation (like this). Is the mainstream media making too big a deal out of the avalanche of World Cup tweets, or is the world literally flooding the zone?"
NASA

NASA Warns of Potential "Huge Space Storm" In 2013 464

Posted by kdawson from the after-twenty-twelve-who-cares dept.
Low Ranked Craig writes "Senior space agency scientists believe the Earth will be hit with unprecedented levels of magnetic energy from solar flares after the Sun wakes 'from a deep slumber' sometime around 2013. In a new warning, NASA said the super storm could hit like 'a bolt of lightning' and could cause catastrophic consequences for the world's health, emergency services, and national security — unless precautions are taken. Scientists believe damage could extend to everyday items such as home computers, iPods, and sat navs. 'We know it is coming but we don't know how bad it is going to be,' said Dr. Richard Fisher, the director of NASA's Heliophysics division. 'I believe we're on the threshold of a new era in which space weather can be as influential in our daily lives as ordinary terrestrial weather.' Fisher concludes. 'We take this very seriously indeed.'"
Biotech

The Rise of Nanofoods 369

Posted by kdawson from the just-a-little-tweak dept.
separsons writes "Researchers are altering foods at the nanoscale level, changing their tiny molecular structures to enhance certain properties. (New Scientist has a more detailed look.) For example, one group of scientists found a way to hide water within individual droplets of oil, making low-fat mayonnaise taste like the real thing. The process can make spices spicier, potato chips healthier, and make diet food taste just like full-calorie snacks. Nanotech can even help combat global malnutrition. But the process is certainly controversial, and food manufacturers are being tight-lipped about exactly what nanofoods they're working on. So can nanotech create a healthier world, or is it just frightening Franken-food?"

Comment Re:Where it belongs... (Score 1) 93

by Saint Aardvark (#32347076) Attached to: Work Underway To Return Xen Support To Fedora 13

Of course, Xensource/Citrix has already driven away most of the community that would have done this kind of pre-product development, so I'm not holding my breath

I'm curious (genuinely curious, not being snarky)...I've had a bad experience with Xen too, but I haven't kept up with what Xensource/Citrix have been doing. Why do you say they've driven away the community?
Privacy

Emergency Dispatcher Fired For Facebook Drug Joke 631

Posted by kdawson from the thin-pretense dept.
kaptink writes "Dana Kuchler, a 21-year veteran of the West Allis Dispatch Department, was fired from her job for making jokes on her Facebook page about taking drugs. She appealed to an arbitrator, claiming the Facebook post was a joke, pointing out she had written 'ha' in it, and noting that urine and hair samples tested negative for drugs. The arbitrator said she should be entitled to go back to work after a 30-day suspension, but the City of West Allis complained that was not appropriate. Is posting bad jokes on Facebook a justifiable reason to give someone the boot?"

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