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Censorship

Submission + - Irish ISP to block access to Pirate Bay (irishtimes.com)

Submitted by
flynn
flynn writes: "http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2009/0820/1224252952116.html?via=mr

The article speaks for itself. Irelands oldest and largest ISP will be blocking access to the pirate bay from September 1st while other ISPs have rejected the request to block TPB

From the Irish Times:

Under an out-of-court agreement with EMI Records, Sony Music, Universal Music and Warners in January, Eircom agreed to cut off customers found to be repeatedly downloading music illegally. The deal also required Eircom to cut off access to Pirate Bay if requested.

Yesterday, cable TV operator UPC, which has more than 120,000 broadband subscribers, announced it would not comply with a request to block access to Pirate Bay."
Sci-Fi

Looking For a Link Between Sci-Fi UFOs and UFO Reports 202

Posted by timothy from the it's-spooky-how-the-aliens-manipulate-hollywood dept.
NewsWatcher writes "The BBC has an interesting story about the link between sightings of UFOs and sci-fi films. From the article: 'Documents from the Ministry of Defence released by the National Archives show the department recorded 117 sightings in 1995 and 609 in 1996.' Those years correlate with the screening of the film Independence Day (1996) and when The X-Files was at the height of its popularity in the UK (1995). 'The more that alien life is covered in films or television documentaries, the more people look up at the sky and don't look down at their feet,' said an expert on UFO sightings based at Sheffield Hallam University."
Space

Nearby, Recent Interplanetary Collision Inferred 88

Posted by kdawson from the when-worlds-collide dept.
The Bad Astronomer writes about a new discovery by the Spitzer Space Telescope, which detected signs of an interplanetary smashup only 100 light-years from here, and only a few thousand years ago. There's a NASA-produced animation of the collision between a Mercury-sized planet and a moon-sized impactor. The collision's aftermath was detected by the presence of what are essentially glass shards in orbit around the star. Here's NASA's writeup.
The Courts

Submission + - Appeals Court Says RIAA Hearing Can't be Streamed (blogspot.com)

Submitted by
NewYorkCountryLawyer
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes: "The US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit has overturned a lower court order permitting webcast of an oral argument in an RIAA case, SONY BMG Music Entertainment v. Tenenbaum, in Boston. As one commentator put it, the decision gives the RIAA permission to 'cower behind the same legal system they're using to pillory innocent people'. Ironically, the appeals court's own hearing had been webcast, via an mp3 file. The court admitted that this was not an appropriate case for a 'prerogative writ' of 'mandamus', but claimed to have authority to issue a writ of 'advisory mandamus'. The opinion came as a bit of a surprise to me because the judges appeared, during the oral argument, to have a handle on the issues. The decision gave me no such impression. From where I sit, the decision was wrong in a number of respects, among them: (a) it contradicted the plain wording of the district court rule, (b) it ignored the First Amendment implications, and (c) there is no such thing as 'advisory' mandamus or 'advisory' anything — our federal courts are specifically precluded from giving advisory opinions."
The Courts

Submission + - Swedish ISP Deletes Customer ID Info (thelocal.se) 1

Submitted by
NewYorkCountryLawyer
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes: "A Swedish internet service provider, Bahnhof, has begun deleting customer identification information in order to prevent its being used as evidence against its customers under Sweden's new legislation against copyright infringement via peer to peer file sharing. According to this report on 'The Local', it is entirely legal for it to do so. The company's CEO, Jon Karlung, is identified as 'a vociferous opponent of the measures that came into force on April 1st', and is quoted saying that he is determined to protect the company's clients, and that 'It's about the freedom to choose, and the law makes it possible to retain details. We're not acting in breach of IPRED; we're following the law and choosing to destroy the details.'"
The Internet

CRTC Rules Bell Can Squeeze Downloads 245

Posted by samzenpus from the throttle-away dept.
pparsons writes "Bell Canada Inc. will not have to suspend its practice of 'shaping' traffic on the Internet after a group of companies that resell access to Bell's network complained their customers were also being negatively affected. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission today released a decision that denied the Canadian Association of Internet Providers' request that Bell be ordered to cease its application of the practice to its wholesale customers."
The Courts

Submission + - Tenise Barker Takes on RIAA Damages Theory (blogspot.com)

Submitted by
NewYorkCountryLawyer
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes: "Tenise Barker, the young social worker from the Bronx who took on the RIAA's 'making available' theory and won, has now launched a challenge to the constitutionality of the RIAA's damages theory. In her answer to the RIAA's amended complaint (PDF), she argues that recovering from 2,142 to 428,571 times the actual damages would be a violation of Due Process. She says that the Court could avoid having to find the statute unconstitutional by construing the RIAA's complaint as alleging a single copyright infringement — the use of an 'online media distribution system' — and limiting the total recovery to $750. In the alternative, she argues, if the Court feels it cannot avoid the question, it should simply limit the plaintiffs' damages to $3.50 per song file, since awarding more — against a single noncommercial user, for a single upload or download of an MP3 file for personal use — would be unconstitutional."
Sci-Fi

Submission + - Excerpt from Arthur C Clarke's last work (telegraph.co.uk)

Submitted by
Ubuntukitten
Ubuntukitten writes: "The Telegraph is running an excerpt from Arthur C Clark's last work, called "The Last Theorem". Fellow writer Frederik Pohl helped out. It's a reassuring chunk of old-fashioned sci-fi, describing an Olympics that's set on the moon, and typically for Clarkian sci-fi, is very much about the practicalities of Lunar Olympics, rather than any wild fantasy."
The Internet

Submission + - Full "Operating Thetan" documents leaked

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: Wikileaks has received a copy of the Church of Scientology's full, unabridged "Operating Thetan" documents, including "Operating Theten Level 8" and "Clear." These documents were written on a typewriter and include none other than L. Ron Hubbard's handwritten notes in the margins. Previously leaked OT documents were missing sections and didn't include the marginalia. Furthermore, at

[t]he final level, 'OT8', you are to "have full certainty and, therefore, perception on all" of your issues. According to Hubbard, the 'OT8' manuals are supposed to stay aboard the Free Winds Scientology ship which has heavy security because nothing is supposed to leave the ship. Despite that, Hubbard himself claims to have smuggled out his own 'OT8' instructions for the "elite" Scientologists. "I am breaking security as I disagree that this should only be released to an elite in Scientology. I do, however, ask it not be released to psyches or 'squirrels' or anyone who will break the Independent Security Network and allow it to get back to the Church of Scientology. It would be best if they do not find out that we have it. Please treat this data responsibly. It is the key to the only truth possible," said Hubbard in regards to his 'OT8' instructions.
Space

Submission + - Firefox Logo Spied In Deep Space 5

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Captured by the Hubble Space Telescope is an image of the variable star V838 Monocerotis which lies near the edge of our Milky Way Galaxy. The photo was taken way back in March 2004 and if you rotate the photo a bit, the star resembles the Firefox logo very much!
Microsoft

Submission + - Why Windows Sucks

Submitted by
mikkl666
mikkl666 writes: "In a presentation at a conference in Las Vegas, Gartner analysts gave a detailed analysis on what exactly is wrong with Windows, and what mistakes Microsoft made that let it happen. They point out that 'Microsoft has not responded to the market, is overburdened by nearly two decades of legacy code and decisions, and faces serious competition on a whole host of fronts that will make Windows moot unless the software developer acts.' An example is the market for mobile devices: 'Apple introduced its iPhone running OS X, but Microsoft requires a different product on handhelds because Windows Vista is too large'. As a conclusion, 'for Microsoft, its ecosystem and its customers, the situation is untenable. Windows as we know it must be replaced'."
Patents

Submission + - Rambus Wins Patent Case 1

Submitted by Blowfishie
Blowfishie writes: In another sad day for patents, memory chip maker Rambus has won the case that has been running since the late 90's. You know, the one where Rambus worked its technology into the standards for SDRAM and DDR data transfer, then waited for the major players (Hynix, Micron and Nanya) to be heavily committed before revealing that it had patents on the technology.
Music

Submission + - Big 4 record labels sue Ireland's largest ISP

Submitted by Gopher971
Gopher971 writes: Silicon Republic among other news sites are reporting that the 4 big music labels, EMI, Universal, Warner Music and Sony BMG are suing Ireland's largest ISP, Eircom for failing to prevent illegal music downloads. The case was brought in the high court and is the first in Ireland aimed at an ISP instead of individual downloaders who have been targeted previously. The full story can be found here. http://www.siliconrepublic.com/news/news.nv?storyid=single10490
Wii

Submission + - C64 classics set for Wii Virtual Console (play.tm)

Submitted by
londonlives
londonlives writes: "Released in 1982, the C64 sold 22 million units — an individual computer model record which stands to this day. Nintendo today inform us that C64 releases will begin hitting the Wii Virtual Console service later this year, joining hits from Nintendo, Sega, Turbografx and NeoGeo.

The first titles will be retrograde favourites Karate and Uridium, and we learn that these downloadables will cost 500 Wii Points each. A welcome blast from the past or a re-release too far for the VC?"

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