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The Courts

Submission + - Citizens Given Video Cameras to Monitor Police (foxnews.com)

Submitted by atommota
atommota writes: After years of complaints of police misconduct, some residents of high-crime neighborhoods in St. Louis are being given free video cameras to help them monitor officers. The American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri launched the project Wednesday after television crews last year broadcast video of officers punching and kicking a suspect who led police on a car chase. "The idea here is to level the playing field, so it's not just your word against the police's word," said Brenda Jones, executive director of the ACLU chapter.
This is in stark contrast to a report out of PA (and seen on Slashdot), where someone was arrested for felony wiretapping for doing the same thing.
Media

Proposed Amendment Would Ban All DVD Copying 354

Posted by kdawson from the not-your-bits dept.
Ynefel writes in with a PC Magazine article reporting that the DVD Copy Control Association is considering an amendment to the agreement equipment vendors must abide by, which would completely ban all DVD backups, whether fair use or not, and prevent DVDs from playing without the DVD disk being present in the drive. The amendment is being voted on imminently and if approved would go into effect within 18 months. Quoting: "The proposed amendment was made public in a letter sent by Michael Malcolm, the chief executive of Kaleidescape, a DVD jukebox company which successfully defeated a suit by the DVD CCA this past March."
Television

Submission + - Jericho Saved by Nuts

Submitted by nicholasjay
nicholasjay writes: CNN has an article saying that the "Nuts!" trick has worked. CBS has decided to bring back the series, Jericho, for seven more episodes. Even the president of entertainment at CBS issued a letter to Jericho community.

From the article:

"The renewal of "Jericho" also underscores that there is more to TV viewership than what the Nielsen ratings tell us. As more and more people watch their favorite shows when they want thanks to TiVo (TIVO) and other digital video recorders as well as through sites like Apple's (AAPL) iTunes and the networks' own Web sites, looking just at the "live" Nielsen rating may not give networks a true impression of how popular a show is."
Privacy

Submission + - Apple hides account info in DRM-free music, too

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: With great power comes great responsibility, and apparently with DRM-free music comes files embedded with identifying information. Such is the situation with Apple's new DRM-free music: songs sold without DRM still have a user's full name and account e-mail embedded in them, which means that dropping that new DRM-free song on your favorite P2P network could come back to bite you. Apple hides account info"

Feed Guitar Hero III wireless Les Paul spotted (engadget.com)

From feed by engfeed

Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals, Wireless

Are you ready to rock? I can't hear you... are you ready to RAWK?!

If you answered yes to both the above questions, please check out the early sneak peak of the Guitar Hero III wireless Les Paul controller IGN's got. It's got an improved button layout, it's wireless, and just generally makes our crappy white X-Plorers look totally ancient and pathetic. Thanks a lot, guys.

[Via Wii Fanboy]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
Microsoft

Submission + - Windows Media Center restricts cable TV viewings

Submitted by PrescriptionWarning
PrescriptionWarning writes: With the latest Media Center Edition update from Microsoft, many other users and myself are finding that content available on Television are now completely unwatchable from Media Center, with a message that simply states "Restricted Content: Restrictions set by the broadcaster and/or originator of the content prohibit playback of the program on this computer."

A simple search on the subject reveals that HBO programming and, in my case Braveheart on AMC, are among the many selections now restricted for playback or recording by Windows Media Center Edition. What's next, restricting every piece of programming on television? One thing is for sure, there won't be much left to watch.

Feed MPAA Claims That Anti-Camcording Effort Made People Go See Spider-Man 3? (techdirt.com)

From feed by techdirtfeed
We know that the MPAA is really into trying to stop camcording of movies these days, even though it's a tiny (and shrinking) problem for the industry, but it's really a bit bizarre to hear MPAA chief Dan Glickman claim with a straight face that it's because of these anti-camcording efforts that Spider-Man 3 had such a huge opening. For the type of fans who go out to see such a movie on opening weekend, the download isn't a substitute. If anything, it's a complement. Just like when the last Star Wars film came out, fans download the movie, but still want to enjoy the experience of seeing it in the theater with a huge group of other fans. Plus, of course, basic logic should tell you that the camcording crackdown had nothing to do with the large opening. Whoever was doing the camcording couldn't have done it until the movie opened anyway. On top of that, as soon as one decent camcorded version made it to the net (as at least a few did), then it's infinitely available and it doesn't really matter if the industry stopped every other camcording attempt. However, this is the MPAA we're talking about, and if they can't get their math right, I guess it's no surprise that their logic skills are weak as well.
Businesses

Submission + - eBay blocking thumbnail images from toolbar users

Submitted by
MoxFulder
MoxFulder writes: "Remember yesterday when a group of Stanford students released an eBay toolbar for Firefox — before the Mozilla-eBay collaboration released its official toolbar? Well, beyond being a major embarassment, that toolbar offers features eBay doesn't want its users to have, namely the ability to view thumbnail images for auctions that haven't paid for them.

Looks like eBay is fighting back, by punishing users of the Stanford toolbar. If you install the Stanford toolbar and log in to an eBay account, you'll suddenly be unable to view the thumbnails whenever you're logged into that account. I installed the Stanford toolbar earlier today, and all the thumbnails disappeared from the "List View" on eBay (try it yourself!). I found that when I logged in from another computer, the thumbnails disappeared again. The only way for me to get the thumbnails back is to log out of my account.

Isn't this a pretty drastic measure for eBay to take? Banning toolbar users from seeing all thumbnails? Might this violate eBay's contractual obligations to those who have actually paid to display thumbnails?"
Security

Submission + - Bush Causes Cell Phone Ban

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: When President George Bush visits Sydney, Australia for the APEC Summit in September, all cell phone calls within the radius of a football field will be banned. The president's motorcade will be shadowed by a helicopter equipped with signal-jamming equipment. Terrorists have used mobile phones to detonate remote-controlled bombs in Iraq and elsewhere in the world.

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Crazee Edeee, his prices are INSANE!!!

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