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From the SF Gate:

The French state and Internet service providers have struck a deal to block sites carrying child pornography or content linked to terrorism or racial hatred, ... a "black list" will be built up based on input from Internet users who signal sites dealing with the offensive material. all service providers in France have agreed to block offending sites

other countries that have already implemented similar measures include Britain, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Canada and New Zealand [and the US].

Denial of service has never been this easy. This is what ISP packet filters were made for. Say goodbye to freedom of press.

It is against the law to posses terrorist related literature in the UK. A graduate student studying terror tactics found out the hard way what happens to thought criminals in a police state.

The student had obtained a copy of the al-Qaida training manual from a US government website for his research into terrorist tactics. ... the document was found by a university staff member on an administrator's [Hisham Yezza] computer. ... Despite his Nottingham University supervisors insisting the materials were directly relevant to his research, Rizwaan Sabir, 22, was held for nearly a week under the Terrorism Act [and] has spoken of the "psychological torture" he endured in custody.

Sabir's family home was searched and their computer and mobile phones seized. They were released uncharged six days later but Yezza, who is Algerian, was immediately rearrested on unrelated immigration charges and now faces deportation.

Dr Alf Nilsen, a research fellow at the university's school of politics and international relations, said that Yezza is being held at Colnbrook immigration removal centre, due to be deported on Tuesday. "If he is taken to Algeria, he may be subjected to severe human rights violations after his involvement in this case. He has been in the UK for 13 years. His work is here, his friends are here, his life is here."

The University staff are also objecting to the violation of academic freedom and police power to arrest before properly investigating.

Discussion by D Afifi is here. The 24 hour lag was worthwhile for including news of a protest march by faculty.

Foot in Mouth Dept.

Tectonic reports South Africa's ISO appeal.

The South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) has filed an appeal against the ISO decision to accept Microsofts Office OpenXML (OOXML) as an international standard. South Africa is the first country to appeal the decision within the stipulated 60-day appeal period.

CEO Martin Kuscus, SABS says it is appealing on the basis of flawed procedures in the ballot resolution meeting (BRM) held in February. SABS also says that it is concerned that there is an increasing trend of international organisations being able to circumvent the consensus-based decision making of the ISO and IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission).

Pity M$ Rep, Jason Matusow, who was tasked with this fight. He not only lost, he put his foot in his mouth by insulting South Africans and many others.

CBS is purchasing CNET.

Television company CBS has agreed to buy technology news and entertainment website CNET for about $1.75bn (£900m). CBS said that the purchase of CNET, which owns sites such as ZDNet and Gamespot, would help to boost its online presence. ...Other CNET sites include News.com, TV.com, Mp3.com and MySimon. CBS will combine them with its own websites such as CBSSports.com and CBSNews.com.

CBS is itself owned by media giant National Amusements, which is essentially one rich and powerful person.

Two peace activists were stopped and harassed when traffic cameras claimed they were terrorists based on license plate ID.

John Catt, an 80 year old pensioner at the time and his daughter Linda (with no criminal record between them) - were stopped and their vehicle searched under section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 by City of London police. They were both threatened with arrest if they refused to answer police questions. Unbeknown to them the vehicle in which they were travelling had triggered an alert as it passed an automatic vehicle number plate recognition camera part of the cops Ring of steel around the City of London.

Now you see what traffic cameras are really for. Because the UK has more cameras than anywhere else, it's natural that the first political abuse happened there. This case is much like an earlier FBI database abuse against US peace activists, which showed us what these terrorists "watch" lists are really for.

"Watch" lists which accuse people of an infamous crime and punish them without due process of law are explicitly prohibited by the fifth, sixth and seventh amendments of US Constitution. When you allow such violations, government wastes your tax money to target and harass innocent people who are fighting for your rights.