Slashdot

psyopper writes "Google will have to turn over every record of every video watched by YouTube users, including users' names and IP addresses, to Viacom, which is suing Google for allowing clips of its copyright videos to appear on YouTube, a judge ruled Wednesday. Although Google argued that turning over the data would invade its users' privacy, the judge's ruling (.pdf) described that argument as 'speculative' and ordered Google to turn over the logs on a set of four terabyte hard drives." Update: 07/03 18:05 GMT by T : Brian Aker, now of MySQL but long ago Slashdot's "database thug," writes a journal entry on how companies could intelligently treat such potentially sensitive user data.

Dan541 writes "We see it all the time, Content Producers fighting to revoke our rights, first it was the "blank media tax" then DRM and now DoS attacks, bandwidth theft (throttling) and Remote Control of our systems.

But what if we abolish copyright laws?
Wouldn't we all be allot better off without them?

No more DDOS attacks funded by major media companies, no more lawsuits, no more justification for bandwidth throttling and no more monopoly on media distribution.

What is the real cost of the existence of these laws?"
http://www.theinane.com/what-is-the-cost-of-copyright

denoir writes "The European Parliament will in September vote for a law that will in effect mean that blogs will have to be registered with and approved by the government. MEP Marianne Mikko, who drafted the proposal says that "I think the public is still very trusting towards blogs, it is still seen as sincere. And it should remain sincere. For that we need a quality mark, a disclosure of who is really writing and why." Another part of the proposal is a forced "right to reply" for which the comment system of blogs is deemed to be insufficient. The law proposal also seeks to regulate private ownership of media ranging from TV stations and newspapers to blogs.

While it is too early to say if the law will pass in its current form, it is a real possibility. Will the US again become "the land of the free" — not by improving its laws and practices but simply by Europe and the rest of the world introducing even worse laws?"
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/public/story_page/058-31021-161-06-24-909-20080605STO30955-2008-09-06-2008/default_en.htm

I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "In a bid for more money, the RIAA is now calling AM-FM radio a form of piracy. While this shouldn't be all that surprising from an industry that thinks that VCRs are akin to the Boston Strangler, or that copyright infringement 'supports terrorism' in some nebulous way, it's still indicative of just how long a walk they've taken off the short pier of sanity. What's worse is this move appears to have been predicted by The Onion. Why can't a headline like 'Metric System Thriving In Nation's Inner Cities' ever come true instead?"
http://www.theonion.com/content/news/riaa_sues_radio_stations_for

Godi writes "Dutch academics investigating the new public transport chips are being told by the Dutch Secretary of State Tineke Huizinga to keep their mouth shut about the vulnerabilities they have discovered.

http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwebwereld.nl%2Farticles%2F51638%2Fhuizinga-snoert-radboud-universiteit-de-mond.html&hl=en&ie=UTF8&sl=nl&tl=en"

An 18 year old high school student named Omar Kahn is charged with 69 felonies for hacking into a school computer and modifying his grades amongst other things. He changed his C, D and F grades to As, and changed 12 other students grades as well. By installing a remote access program on the schools server Kahn was able to also change his AP scores, distribute test answer keys, and could be looking at a lengthy prison term. Not suprisingly, his parents (who have only recently immigrated to America) have decided not to post the %50000 bail and Kahn is in jail awaiting trial. I don't know about you, but I think this is one of those things that can only happen in America.
http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/38012/118/

In a decision that is sure to make pre-teens everywhere up the brat ante, a Quebec Superior Court ruled that a father couldn't discipline his daughter by grounding her from a school trip. The father is filing an appeal because his moral authority over his child had been undercut by the court, said his lawyer, Kim Beaudoin. The 12-year-old girl was not allowed to go online after she posted photos of herself on a dating site. She then got into an argument with her stepmother, so her father said she couldn't go on a school trip. I wonder what the statute of limitations is on a grounding? I'm still a little pissed about not being able to go over to Eric's sleepover birthday party in 2nd grade.

Gheorghe Dobrescu has to be the most unpopular man in Romania. He recently lost a mayoral race to a dead opponent. A supporter of the dead guy said, "I know he died, but I don't want change." Election authorities gave the post to Dobrescu in the end but some villagers have called for a new election. The dead mayor said that he was willing to forego his usual salary in lieu of fresh brains.

Dan541 writes "New research has found that people of lower intelligence are more likely to worship a god than someone of higher intelligence. Is it any surprise that someone of higher intellect is more likely to know better than an person of lower intellect?

Professor Lynn said religious belief had declined in the 20th century Professor Richard Lynn, emeritus professor of psychology at Ulster University, said many more members of the "intellectual elite" considered themselves atheists than the national average. A decline in religious observance over the last century was directly linked to a rise in average intelligence, he claimed.

People with higher IQs are less likely to believe in God, according to a new study."
http://www.freshbite.info/fnews_1213597359_10178.htm

Many countries have a "blank media levy," which is basically a tax on any kind of blank media on the assumption that some percentage of the blank media bought is used to make unauthorized copies of music. This is pretty ridiculous for a variety of reasons -- most notably the assumption that everyone is breaking the law and needs to pay a tax to a single industry that is unwilling (though not unable) to adjust its business model. However, in Sweden, one musician who started receiving his "royalties" from such a blank media levy was so offended by the concept that he decided the only way to pay the money back was to use the money to fund a new "Pirate Album" using samples and clips from other musicians, put together to make totally new songs -- and then release the whole thing on The Pirate Bay. He's using the album to highlight how ridiculous it is to forbid others from making new derivative creative works built on the works of others. If only more musicians would realize that all creativity is built on the works of those who came before, and pretending that the line stops with you is a mistake.

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http://techdirt.com/articles/20080616/0736291418.shtml

lhenzie dayap writes "It is well known that most business owners and individuals these days conduct free background check on people, before having any sort of dealings with them"
http://detectiveunlimited.com/Protecting_Ones_self_Using_Free_background_check-article.html

http://backgroundcheckrecordsearch.com/Putting_Free_Background_Checks_To_Best_Use-article.html

http://conservativepolitics.today.com/2008/06/17/ap-wants-to-charge-up-to-250-per-word-citation/

Suriken writes "In an unprecedented move, the New Zealand Solicitor General is seeking an indefinite prison sentence against American businessman Vince Siemer for alleged breach of an interim gag order now more than three years old. Siemer was jailed for six weeks last year for refusing to take down a Web site accusing the chairman of an energy company of suspect business practices. Because he still refuses to take down the site, NZ Solicitor-General David Collins QC wants to lock up Siemer indefinitely, merely for asserting his own free speech. From the article: 'Siemer's [defense] claims the Solicitor General's action is barred by double jeopardy. He also maintains he had long ago proven in Court that the injunction was incorrect in fact and law but that the judge simply ignored the law and evidence. He says the gag order violates his freedom of expression guarantees in these circumstances.' Here's more coverage from an NZ television station."

privacyprof writes "Slashdot readers familiar with Professor Daniel J. Solove's essay, 'I've Got Nothing to Hide and Other Misunderstandings of Privacy,' might be interested in his new book, Understanding Privacy, which develops many of the ideas in that essay. As rapidly changing technology makes information increasingly available, there has been a great struggle to define privacy, with many conceding that the task is virtually impossible. The book argues there are multiple forms of privacy, related to one another by 'family resemblances.' It explains the framework for understanding privacy which was briefly discussed in the 'Nothing to Hide' essay. The book covers the framework in greater depth and explores how it applies to a wide array of privacy issues, such as data mining, surveillance, data security, and consumer privacy. Chapter 1 is available for free download."