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Censorship

Submission + - How Best To Defend Student Bloggers' Rights?

Submitted by FeliX
FeliX writes: A couple of my classmates are currently under fire for having ran a school gossip blog on Blogger.com. The blog was promptly shut down after several students discussed on the blog complained to our principal, who in turn threatend suspension to the authors. However since the creators of the site have remained anonymous, our principal has further threatened police action to root them out if they do not come forward. A while a go discussed a case similar to this. What would be the best plan of action for protecting their rights? What authority does the school have when it comes to using law enforcement in this way? What would be the best plan for these students in order to defend their rights?
Security

Submission + - Democrat hack into Schwarzenegger's site was legal

Submitted by
Dan
Dan writes: "Contrary to what Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's aides alleged, a California Highway Patrol investigation concludes that Schwarzenegger's website was not illegally hacked when his rival's campaign downloaded an audio file of him making racially-charged comments about a Latino lawmaker. Most likely, the campaign operatives backtracked into a directory listing that listed all the files.

From the article: "That 38-page report released Friday found that the Angelides campaign staff came upon a directory of files in the speeches section of the Schwarzenegger Web site by removing characters from the Web address, in a process known as "backward browsing."

That technique would not have required the Angelides staff to use a password. Nor would they have seen a warning that they were entering a secure area, the investigation concluded.

At the time, Schwarzenegger's communications director insisted that the Angelides campaign must have violated security protocols to get to the audio file."
The Courts

Submission + - Keith Henson Jailed after Pickets, Usenet Posts

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: Keith Henson was arrested on Friday, Feb. 2 in Prescott, Arizona. He faces extradition to California to serve one year in jail.

Henson was convicted of "interfering with a religion" in 2001 after he picketed Scientology's base in the California desert. The jury was misled into thinking he had posted jokes about "Cruise missiles" (as in Tom Cruise) to the internet newsgroup alt.religion.scientology; the posts in question were not made by him, but even if they had been, that does not constitute a credible threat as required by law. The Electronic Frontier Foundation issued a press release after his conviction expressing grave concern that he had been convicted for exercising his free speech rights.

There were numerous anomalies during his trial (including a summons that was never mailed to him, which would have left him in contempt of court if he hadn't found out about the hearing another way).

Henson has a medical condition requiring regular medication; he has also received death threats and has grave fears for his safety, given Scientology's reach into many prison systems.

Latest news at the Wikipedia entry on Keith Henson; more may appear at Who is Keith Henson?.
Software

Vista - iPod Killer? 557

Posted by Zonk from the stranger-and-stranger dept.
JMB wrote us with a dire warning, as reported by the San Jose Mercury News. Apple is cautioning its Windows-using iTunes customers to steer clear of Vista until the next iTunes update. The reason for this is a bit puzzling. Apparently, if you try to 'safely remove' your iPod from a Vista-installed PC, there's a chance you may corrupt the little music player. They also claim that songs may not play, and contacts may not sync with the device. Apple went so far as to release a detailed support document on the subject, which assures users that a new Vista-compatible version of the software will be available in a few weeks. Is this just some very creative FUD? If it is not who do you think is 'at fault' here, Microsoft or Apple?
Space

Submission + - Global Warming Deniers Speak Out

Submitted by Attila
Attila writes: A respected climatologist speaks out about how the scientific findings of his committee were twisted for political purposes by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (part 5 of a series from admittedly conservative Canadian newspaper The National Post).
Operating Systems

Submission + - A Dad Seeking Vista Gets More Than He Asked For

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: My father heard about Vista coming on the news. Since he was interested in getting it, he asked me to obtain it and install it on his computer and he would give some cash in return. I told him I was going to do that, but instead I burned an Ubuntu CD and installed it. Later, when he came home from work, I showed him his new "Vista" install, complete with the latest Office and Solitaire. Well, it's been a few days since that and now he says Bill Gates is better than Steve Jobs and brags about how OS X on my iMac is obsolete compared to Vista on his PC. I will continue with the prank for some weeks, after which I'll tell him the truth and give him back his money.
The Almighty Buck

Submission + - Myspace now involved in censoring?

Submitted by
wolfeharte
wolfeharte writes: "According to the latest news post and myspace bullitins from http://askaninja.com/node/2836, Myspace now automatically censors certain URL's from being posted on their site. If you try to use www.revver.com in a message, or display it anywhere on myspace, the end result will be "www...". Has Foxspacenews launched another volley at Net Neutrality? Some fear that if this continues, Myspace will force others to use their own brands of video hosting services, and charging for the ability to view and create is just a short step from there."
Censorship

Submission + - Blog comments and libel laws

Submitted by
56ker
56ker writes: "I have a blog, written in the UK and published in America. A guy rang my home phone, mobile phone repeatedly yesterday (and emailed me) as he objected to a comment a third party (an American) had left on the blog calling him illiterate. Apart from first referring to livejournal as Myspace it turns out he wants me to "get rid" of the comment (despite not being the author or publisher) otherwise he'll sue me for libel. The comment in question was written last year around December 4th-5th. The question is — as a person who can edit the content on my blog do I have to comply with his request? Can he sue me for such a matter and should I ask the person who left the comment to delete/rephrase it or wait for a lawsuit? What are the laws that apply to comments left in blogs by third parties (only other case I can think of is Shoemoney). Any advice anyone? P.S. The UK libel laws do not apply to Six Apart (who publish livejournal) or the commenter — but they do to me as "editor" — which set of laws applies anyway?"
It's funny. Laugh.

Submission + - Ban Animal rights activists

Submitted by ghoul
ghoul writes: This article on Time shows the stupidity of Animal Rights activists. They have campaigned for and successfully got eating dog meat banned in Phillipines where it has been a traditional food . I wonder how Americans would feel if Hindus told Americans you cant eat beef as Hindus find that disgusting as Americans find eating dogs?
Programming

Submission + - New Source Code Search Engine

Submitted by tdalek
tdalek writes: Today a new source code search engine, All The Code launched with a substantially different take on source code search engine than previous companies. Traditional source code search engines have relied solely on the code within a file, however this new engine looks at how code is used to help determine the relevance of source code. Presently All The Code only supports the java language, but its still quite interesting to see how this technology works.
United States

Journal Journal: "Terrorism" Strikes again

Journal by EatingSteak
"Terrorism" strikes again. A man advertising Adult Swim in Boston has just been arrested.
FTA: "Authorities arrested a man in connection with electronic light boards depicting a middle-finger-waving moon man that triggered repeated bomb scares around Boston on Wednesday and prompted the closure of bridges and a stretch of the Charles River."
Television

Submission + - Adult Swim Ad Campaign Discovered To Be Hoax

Submitted by
makinola
makinola writes: "A clever ad campaign caused a serious uproar in Boston on Wednesday. On Wednesday January 31st Boston was on high alert as Police and F.B.I agents located "suspicious packages" throughout the city. Thought to be some sort of bomb plot, the packages were part of an ad campaign for Adult Swim. The packages were magnetic light boards depicting one of the mooninite characters from Aqua Teen Hunger Force giving the finger. From the Article: "...Peter Berdvosky was arrested in Arlington Wednesday night and charged under a recently enacted statute making it a crime to place a hoax device that results in panic...Berdvosky was apparently working for InterferenceInc.com, which was the company hired by Cartoon Network to carry out the ad campaign." The devices were apparently placed throughout the city 2-3 weeks ago according to Cartoon Network. I'm not sure which is worse,the over reaction over some harmless light boards or that it took the authorities 2-3 weeks to realize they should even be looking into anything. I surely feel safer today than yesterday."
Republicans

Submission + - Cheney Sidesteps Travel Disclosure Rules

Submitted by
JayTheHun
JayTheHun writes: "Unlike the rest of the White House, Cheney doesn't make his outside travel public By Kate Sheppard and Bob Williams WASHINGTON, November 16, 2005 — Vice President Dick Cheney and his staff have been unilaterally exempting themselves from long-standing travel disclosure rules followed by the rest of the executive branch, including the Office of the President, the Center for Public Integrity has discovered. Cheney's office also appears to have stuck taxpayers with untold millions in travel costs rather than accepting trip sponsors' funds that the rules would require to be disclosed. It's not as if those in Cheney's office don't indulge in the type of junkets that are routinely funded by private sources. Instead of accepting reimbursement for such trips like other government travelers, it appears that his office labels them "official travel." As a result, however, the public is kept largely unaware of where he and his staff are traveling, with whom they are meeting with and how much it costs, even though tax dollars are covering the bill. http://www.publicintegrity.org/lobby/report.aspx?a id=760"

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