Forgot your password?

Close
typodupeerror

Viral voter suppression joke riles Norway-> 1

Submitted by GQuon
GQuon writes "A viral election joke has landed several politicians in hot water as Norway goes to the polls to elect its parliament today. A hoax message turning voters away from polling stations is circulating in digital media. The message was also passed on by politicians, who have used social media like Twitter and YouTube to interact with the voters during the campaign. The targeted party is not laughing, and is warning that the activity could be seen as voter suppression."
Link to Original Source
Education

What can a nerd teach refugee kids from Burma? 1

Submitted by
Eirik H
Eirik H writes "Me and my girlfriend are going to an orphanage by the Thai-Burmese border for refugee children from Burma aged 5-17. We are staying for about 3 to 4 weeks and are to do some sort of educational activity. Now, she's a professional illustrator and painter making it fairly easy for her to come up with something, but what can a programmer/webdesigner/nerd like myself teach them? Afaik, they are not exactly blessed with heaps of Quad Core's, I'm betting all I can find is an old box sitting in a corner with Windows 95 and no Internet connection, though I'll probably bring my own laptop. What would you Slashdotters suggest?"
Censorship

CEO of FreeCode leaves Church of Scientology-> 4

Submitted by GQuon
GQuon writes "FreeCode CEO Geir Isene, a proponent of open standards and former CEO of Linpro, has left the Church of Scientology citing — amongst other things — harassment, privacy violations and copyright issues. He remains faithful to Scientology philosophy. Isene has written a "doubt formula" declaration where he lists the "off policy" and unethical acts which he has observed. Isene does not like that the CoS revealed the confidential files of high-level staff who spoke to the press about violence. Isene writes that the CoS is obsessed with selling materials and buying real estate, and that the "focus should instead be on delivering good service. The tech should be made freely available on the Internet for everyone's benefit." Isene is starting a blog to write about his relationship to Scientology and the CoS."
Link to Original Source
Image

Ireland Criminalizes Blasphemy 1376 Screenshot-sm

Posted by samzenpus
from the who-wants-a-flogging dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Another European country clamps down on free speech. From the article: 'It does seem bizarre that, in 2009, a modern European nation would seek to shield religious belief from criticism — yet that is what is happening in Ireland right now. In repealing the 1961 Defamation Act, the Irish government sought to expunge the worst excesses of Ireland's draconian laws restricting free speech, but in the process it has ended up making offending religious belief a criminal offence. Aside from a 25,000 fine (reduced from the 100,000 originally sought by the government), the new Defamation Act gives the authorities the power to stage raids on publishers: the courts may now issue a warrant authorising the police to enter, using "reasonable force," premises where they have grounds for believing there are copies of "blasphemous statements."'"
Businesses

Norway considers Scientology prosecution->

Submitted by GQuon
GQuon writes "The Norwegian health authorities are considering prosecuting Scientology sales methods. "State Secretary Rigmor Aasrud said that the activities in question might be prosecuted as fraud or as violations of existing healthcare regulations," Wikinews reports. The news comes as Scientology staff and corporate entities stand accused of similar acts in France and after a Norwegian MP O.G.Ballo released a book about his daughter, who killed herself after a Scientology sales session in France last year. Ballo supports the approach of prosecuting illegal activities rather than a blanket ban against the organization.
PS: I think the earlier story about David Miscavige and Wikipedia is a parody story, though perhaps not out of character."
Link to Original Source
Media

CoS Bigwig Likens Wikipedia Ban to Nazis' Yellow Star Decree 567

Posted by timothy
from the stable-sane-leadership-cuckoo-cuckoo dept.
We mentioned on Thursday that Wikipedia has banned edits originating from certain IP addresses belonging to the Church of Scientology; reader newtley writes now that Scientology leader (CEO and Chairman of the Board of the linked, but legally separate, Religious Technology Center) David Miscavige calls the ban "a 'despicable hate crime,' and asks, 'What's next, will Scientologists have to wear yellow, six-pointed stars on our clothing?' During World War II, Hitler forced Jewish men, women and children to wear a a yellow cloth star bearing the word Jude to brand them in the streets of Europe, and in the Nazi death camps."

We're here to give you a computer, not a religion. - attributed to Bob Pariseau, at the introduction of the Amiga