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Submission + - Tech billionaires bankroll gold rush to mine asteroids (reuters.com)

Submitted by
fishmike
fishmike writes: "Google Inc executives Larry Page and Eric Schmidt and filmmaker James Cameron are among those bankrolling a venture to survey and eventually extract precious metals and rare minerals from asteroids that orbit near Earth, the company said on Tuesday.

Planetary Resources, based in Bellevue, Washington, initially will focus on developing and selling extremely low-cost robotic spacecraft for surveying missions."

Submission + - Dutch Pirate Party ordered to stop encouragement to circumvent URL filters (wordpress.com)

Submitted by Craefter
Craefter writes: Brein, the Dutch sock puppet for the entertainment industry, was quick to react to yesterday's fall of the Dutch government by applying for a court order which demands that the Dutch Pirate Party must refrain from encouraging the public to circumvent Internet URL filtering. This would severely hamper the election campaign of the PP for the elections later this year.
What we see here is that the entertainment industry is trying to stifle democratic options in an election campaign. How could we end up in a situation where a couple of companies which only produce movies and music have such an influence on law and democratic processes?
Piracy

Submission + - Plunder Downunder: How To Read Australia's iiTrial Piracy Verdict (itnews.com.au)

Submitted by aesoteric
aesoteric writes: A lot has been said about the three-year, multi-million dollar legal battle between Hollywood studios and Australian ISP iiNet that finally exhausted all legal options last week. The court's decision brings relief and clarity for the internet industry on issues of liability in the digital age. But the victory is tempered by the over-confidence the decision affords ISPs and by the scale of the film industry's legal losses. Buoyed by its clean sweep, iiNet has made no secret it would prefer to walk away from attempts to create an industry scheme to address internet piracy. The High Court suggests legislative reform is the answer, though the Government has shown little appetite for it. And in the meantime, the studios' have been dealt a death blow on the quality of infringement notices sent to ISPs — they have to be of an interlocutory evidentiary standard before they could even be considered actionable. The key takeout from five of Australia's top IP law experts? Something's gotta give.

Submission + - University of Minnesota Launches Review Project for Open Textbooks

Submitted by Durinia
Durinia writes: Minnesota Public Radio is running a story today about the University of Minnesota's Open Textbooks project. The goal of the project is to solicit reviews of college-level open source textbooks and collect those that pass muster onto their website. The project will focus first on high-volume introductory classes such as those for Math and Biology, because as David Ernst, director of the project, states in the interview:

"You know the world doesn't need another $150 Algebra One book. Algebra One hasn't changed for centuries, probably."

Comment Re:Creepy but... (Score 1) 234

by Thing I am (#39695871) Attached to: When Big Brother Watches IT
Similar to you, I operate at work knowing that I am being monitored. Video is being recorded in my office, in the building my office is in, on the roads I travel to and from the data center and in the data center. Phone calls are logged, email is being archived and company computers are routinely checked for unauthorized use. I never ever conduct personal business on company computers or time. I know this because I'm the one responsible for maintaining the systems. Sure it would be easy to circumvent for myself but it's not worth the hassle. It's easier just to do anything personal on my laptop.

Comment Re:The real "problem" (Score 1) 214

by Thing I am (#36687438) Attached to: The View From the Ground At an Indian Call Center
I don't know if it's so much that they are pretending to be from America as it is that they just pick names that are easy for Americans to identify with. I contract for a Chinese company that have many employees in the US on work visa and they all pick American names. It's easier for me to remember Larry than it is ... hell I can't remember their real names.

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