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Comment Re:It's over. (Score 1) 630

by n0nsensical (#29551467) Attached to: G20 Protesters Blasted By "Sound Cannon"
Allright I admit it, not only am I not going to fight back, I don't even have any big guns! But this is some 1984 shit and they should not be surprised if someone does! Should be a real "riot" when they replace the cops with robots. Military sonic weapons.. deployed in Pittsburgh. Say it.
Government

Submission + - Electronic Bank Run Helped Spark Downturn

Submitted by Ralph Spoilsport
Ralph Spoilsport writes: One of the recurring fears in a digitally linked global economy is the scenario where there is an electronic "run on the bank", a scenario that would make the run on banks of the early 1930s look like a pocketful of change. Even Bill Maher in his broadcast of 20.FEB.09 mused to the effect of "What would happen if the Chinese took all their money out?" Well it seems that Doomsday Scenario passed already, on 15.SEP.09. It seems that in a period of minutes, $550 billion dollars disappeared electronically from the Federal Reserve System in the form of liquidated money market funds. This story was told by Rep. Kanjorski (D-PA). Now, whether this was the Chinese doing a panic withdrawal or the major banks pulling out all stops to cover their bad debts is unknown at this time, but it does show one important thing: technology permitted a panic sell-off of unprecedented proportions that could have been completely catastrophic. What is also distressing is that there has been ZERO media coverage on this.
United States

Submission + - To H-1B, or not to H-1B?

Submitted by
theodp
theodp writes: "Over at InfoWorld, Bill Snyder says that the H-1B visa has got to go, arguing that with 200,000+ tech workers on the unemployment line, there's no longer any reason to look abroad for employees. At Forbes, however, Megha Bahree argues that Sen. Chuck Grassley hurts America by meddling in the H-1B affairs of TARP recipients and Microsoft. Bahree goes on to charge the Senator with "creating a new kind of discrimination altogether," ridiculing the idea that "American companies have some nefarious scheme to get rid of Americans in favor of non-U.S. workers." Yeah, next thing you know, that crazy Grassley will claim that TARP recipient Bank of America and economic-stimulus salesman IBM have even tried to patent this nefarious scheme. Or that a ghost office was set up in his home state of Iowa for the purpose of paying lower wages to H-1B workers on the East and West coasts."
United States

Submission + - New Hampshire... Bringer of War (waronyou.com)

Submitted by
EviX
EviX writes: "The New Hampshire state legislature took an unbelievably bold step Monday by introducing a resolution to declare certain actions by the federal government to completely totally void and warning that certain future acts will be viewed as a "breach of peace" with the states themselves that risks "nullifying the Constitution." This act by New Hampshire is a clear warning to the federal government that they could face being stripped of their power by the States (presumably through civil war! The remarkable document outlines with perfect clarity, some basics long forgotten. For instance, it reminds Congress "That the Constitution of the United States, having delegated to Congress a power to punish treason, counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States, piracies, and felonies committed on the high seas, and offences against the law of nations, slavery, and no other crimes whatsoever;. . . . . therefore all acts of Congress which assume to create, define, or punish crimes, other than those so enumerated in the Constitution are altogether void, and of no force;" Federal gun crime laws? Void. Federal drug crime laws? Void. The gazzillion other federal criminal laws that deal with anything other than the specific enumerated crimes? ALL VOID."
Games

Will the FTC Target EULAs Next? 116

Posted by Soulskill from the by-reading-this-you-consent-to-being-my-slave dept.
A few weeks ago, we discussed news that the Federal Trade Commission was planning to look into DRM and the way its characteristics are communicated to customers. Now, Joystiq's Law of the Game column speculates that EULAs could be on the FTC's list to review as well. "I would be willing to guess that within the next few years, the often maligned End User License Agreement ('EULA') may fall into the realm of being regulated as further 'consumer protection.' Is it necessary? ... The first and most common method [of consumer protection] is what is known as a 'plain language requirement.' The idea is that contracts written by lawyers are full of legal terms and are written in such a way that it takes a lawyer to decipher the actual meaning of all of the clauses. ... on the complete opposite end of the spectrum, it could be required that companies abandon EULA contracts all together in favor of a collection of FTC approved bullet points. The development and legal communities would, I assume, vehemently oppose this idea, but it is possible. Basically, the FTC would come up with a list of things all EULAs include, then a list of optional provisions that the licensor (the game company) could include."

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