Here is a very interesting CNN article about the reach of laws, constitution, and individual rights. Not exactly tech oriented, but still a very thought provoking read.

Personally.... The US believes its government to be the best in the world, though not perfect; and the US believes its courts to be the best in the world, though not perfect. If so, then the US should apply in full all fundamentals and limitations of its own governing laws to peoples of lands it controls, whether via occupation, lease, or territory. To do otherwise, would be hypocritical.

Here's another very interesting CNN article regarding tax deductions for artistic works given to charity. The law as written is very narrow, and much more representative of non-digital works of art. Maybe a future expansion would allow for some kind of digital equivallence? What if an artist could write off the works of music he donates to the public domain? The value of that work could be evaluated against his works that sell. An interesting idea for how the future economics of digital art might be influenced.

limekiller4 make this nice little comment regarding governments, government reports, and their "truth-factor".

It's something that many people in free countries tend to forget about. Especially in the US and Canada. Propoganda comes in many forms.

Well, the Slashdot editors, in their infinate wisom, decided to reject a story about a town in California named Arcata, which passed an ordinance ordering town officials to not comply with the Patriot Act.

An article with the basic story.

Did I miss something? I don't recall any previous Slashdot stories about this; and this seems like a pretty compelling story. Maybe if the government won't listen to individual citizens, we can make them listen to communities. Seems like a very effective grass-roots statement, especially for the geek population communities.

Will this be the way we can combat PatriotII and SuperDMCA's? By boldly standing together as communities, representing large voting blocks?

Some more links....

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I've said it before a thousand times, and I guess I'll continue to say it well into the future. "Piracy", as the industry and media like to use it, is a dysphemism. (dysphemism is the antonym for euphemism)

It has been used so much so that if you look up "piracy" in Webster's online dictionary, it has even included copyright infringement as one of the definitions of the word.

I guess there's no point in trying to get the media to stop using this horridly loaded word. That's like trying to get them to understand the difference between "hacker" and "cracker".

The issue of copyright and copyright infringement has been discussed at length from many angles. I am not here to say which side is right or wrong. But in this battle for the all-mighty-buck (and let's face it, for both sides, this is what copyright is all about), let us try to not forget the humanism of what we are trying to protect -- art.

Art, that elusive creation that is an expression of a facet of humanity. Perhaps it is wishful thinking that we not strangle art from both sides of the argument with something so cold and lifeless as money. Or perhaps it is a chilling foreshadowing of where we as a race and society is heading.

Ok... I'm done ranting.... *step off soapbox*

So, I've been on slash for a while now, and for amusement's sake, I decided that it's probably time to try out some of the user features like friends and fans.

So, once in a while, I'll start adding people to my fan list. Just for the hell of it.

Why is it that I always get moderator points when there's stories that I couldn't give two shits about? The latest Blizzard game, a review on Tom's Hardware, or some Lego accomplishment... who cares? And yet only when those stories pop up do I get mod points. I'm going to start modding up trolls.

Marp!