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Censorship

Thailand Cracks Down On Twitter, Facebook, Etc. 130

An anonymous reader writes "The ongoing poitical turmoil in Thailand has inspired the country's Ministry of Information, Computers, and Telecommunications to issue a stern warning that all users of the Internet in Thailand must 'use the internet in the right way or with appropriate purpose and avoid disseminating information that could create misunderstanding or instigate violent actions among the public', that 'all popular websites and social networks such as facebook, twitter, hi5 and my space [sic] will be under thorough watch,' and that 'Violators will be prosecuted by law with no compromise.' Thailand has draconian anti-lèse majesté laws which are routinely abused in order to settle political scores and silence dissent, and recently implemented a so-called 'Computer Crimes Act' which appears to be almost solely focused on thoughtcrimes and censorship, rather than dealing with, you know, actual crime. Several Web forums have recently been shut down, their operators charged because they failed to delete 'harmful posts' quickly enough to suit the Thai authorities."

Canadian Judge Orders Disclosure of Anonymous Posters 250

debrain writes "The Globe and Mail is reporting that Google and a newspaper called The Coast must disclose all information they have about the identity of individuals who posted anonymous comments online about top firefighters in Halifax. The story in question is titled 'Black firefighters file human rights complaint,' and there are some heated opinions in the comments."

Comment Re:Interesting tactic, won't work. (Score 1) 443

So many annoyances on DVDs....

Just one is when they show clips from the movie whenever you do something in the menu. I remember sitting down to watch '30 Days of Night' with my brother on DVD. He knew nothing about it but I'd seen it at the theatre, I thought it was a good film. They spend almost half the movie building up the tension to a big reveal as to what the monsters are. There's this dramatic scene where they are finally revealed, it's really good. So I press play and and before it starts the feature it plays that exact scene in its full glory. Thanks, assholes.

Comment Re:diode effect? (Score 1) 169

I can't see that attitude existing at all in Australia, most of us are glad for the support against our own government. Sad, but there it is.

However, you may have a point in a way. Make enough stink about other country's filtering and perhaps your own citizens won't think you're messing with, or spying, on their connections.

Comment Not only games (Score 3, Informative) 104

Atkinson's censorship of games is a part of a pattern of behaviour. This is the man who also passed a law making anonymous speech illegal specifically for this election campaign.
He then had the cheek, after intense criticism, to say if he was re-elected he'd remove it after the election. It's likely that this was more damaging to the Labor party in this election than the R18 issue.

I am very happy to hear he no longer holds office, as I detest the man and what he stands for. Australia is now a slightly better place. Next up, hopefully, Conroy and the internet filter.
Input Devices

Microsoft Docs Indicate Future Xbox 360 Support For USB Storage 130

Internal Microsoft documents obtained by Joystiq indicate that its Xbox 360 console will gain support for USB storage devices some time this Spring. "According to the document, the USB mass storage device must be at least 1GB and the system will do a compatibility check. 'The system partition occupies 512 MB of space, and by default the consumer partition occupies the remainder of the device capacity, or 16 GB, whichever is smaller.' Upon inserting a blank USB storage device, 'consumers are offered two choices: "Configure now" or "Customize."' The 'Configure now' option will use 'the entire device capacity, up to the maximum of 512 MB plus 16 GB,' meaning, regardless of the overall size of the device you're using, the Xbox will only enable 16 GB of usable, non-system storage. The 'Customize' option will allow you to 'preserve some pre-existing, non-console data on the device' such as music." There have also been rumors of a new, smaller form factor for the 360, and hacker Ben Heck has given his thoughts on some leaked motherboard pictures.

Comment Re:Bill Gates (Score 1) 737

I'm glad someone mentioned this! I voted for Turing because of his many accomplishments in mathematics and computer science. Yet whenever I hear mention of him, I also feel great sadness for the utterly horrible treatment he received at the hands of his own country and fellow citizens for the so-called 'crime' of being homosexual. It makes me feel greatly misanthropic. Only recently did the PM Gordon Brown officially apologise for these actions. Greater awareness of this awful history is much needed.

Comment Re:-1, Don't Care? (Score 1) 184

Indeed. The textbook for my first year programming class for Engineering extensively used quotes throughout from Alice/Through The Looking Glass to illustrate concepts about algorithms and object-oriented programming. They were very suitable for the purpose, I found. It was a book for teaching Pascal though...
Social Networks

Xbox Live Now Allows Gender Expression 348

Last year we discussed news that an Xbox Live gamer was banned for identifying herself as a lesbian on her profile. Microsoft said at the time that nothing sexual in nature could appear in Gamertags or profiles. Now, they seem to have reconsidered their stance, and they've updated their Code of Conduct accordingly. Xbox Live General Manager Marc Whitten wrote: "[The update] will allow our members to more freely express their race, nationality, religion and sexual orientation in Gamertags and profiles. Under our previous policy, some of these expressions of self-identification were not allowed in Gamertags or profiles to prevent the use of these terms as insults or slurs. However we have since heard feedback from our customers that while the spirit of this approach was genuine, it inadvertently excluded a part of our Xbox LIVE community. This update also comes hand-in-hand with increased stringency and enforcement to prevent the misuse of these terms."
Government

Leak Shows US Lead Opponent of ACTA Transparency 164

An anonymous reader writes "Throughout the debate over ACTA transparency, the secret copyright treaty, many countries have taken public positions that they support release of the actual text, but that other countries do not. Since full transparency requires consensus of all the ACTA partners, the text simply can't be released until everyone is in agreement. A new leak from the Netherlands fingers who the chief opponents of transparency are: the United States, South Korea, Singapore, and Denmark lead the way, with Belgium, Germany, and Portugal not far behind as problem countries."

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