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Submission + - Belgian rightsholders group wants to charge libraries for READING BOOKS TO KIDS (thenextweb.com)

Submitted by BSAtHome
BSAtHome writes: People with a healthy interest in fundamental freedoms and basic human rights have probably heard about SABAM, the Belgian collecting society for music royalties, which has become one of the global poster children for how outrageously out of touch with reality certain rightsholders groups appear to be....

This morning, word got out in Belgian media that SABAM is spending time and resources to contact local libraries across the nation, warning them that they will start charging fees because the libraries engage volunteers to read books to kids.

Volunteers. Who – again – READ BOOKS TO KIDS.
Biotech

Submission + - South Korean Scientists to Clone Wooly Mammoth (inhabitat.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Last year Russian researchers discovered a well-preserved mammoth thigh bone and announced plans to clone a mammoth from the bone marrow within — and they just signed a deal with South Korea's Sooam Biotech Research Foundation to bring the project to fruition. The Sooam scientists plan to implant the nucleus of a woolly mammoth cell into an elephant egg in order to to create a mammoth embryo, which would then be placed in an elephant womb. “This will be a really tough job,” Soaam reasearcher Hwang In-Sung said, “but we believe it is possible because our institute is good at cloning animals.”
EU

Submission + - EU court rules social networks cannot police downloads (euobserver.com)

Submitted by arnodf
arnodf writes: "The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has struck the latest blow in the debate over internet policing, ruling on Thursday (16 February) that online social network sites cannot be forced to construct measures to prevent users from downloading songs illegally.

The court, which is the highest judicial authority in the EU, stated that installing general filters would infringe on the freedom to conduct business and on data privacy."

"The case was brought before the ECJ by Sabam, the Belgian national music royalty collecting society, against social network site Netlog. In 2009, Sabam went to the Belgian Court of First Instance to demand that Netlog take action to prevent site-users from illegally downloading songs from its portfolio. It also insisted that Netlog pay a €1,000 fine for every day of delaying in compliance. Netlog legal submission argued that granting Sabam’s injunction would be imposing a general obligation to monitor on Netlog, which is prohibited by the e-commerce directive."

In other new: Sabam is going to be prosecuted (google translation, dutch original) for "forging accounts, abuse of trust, bribery, money laundering and forgery" which took place from the early 90's till 2007
EU

Submission + - New MEP to head ACTA dossier (euobserver.com)

Submitted by arnodf
arnodf writes: FTA: 'British Labour MEP David Martin was appointed on Tuesday (7th February) as the European Parliament’s rapporteur for the European Parliament’s report on the controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), an international treaty on copyright and intellectual property protection.'

This comes as news after the former head of the ACTA dossier resigned in January

in other news: The socialist group, with 189 MEPs, within the European Parliament, indicated they may veto the ACTA treaty.
ISS

Submission + - Water droplets in orbit on the International Space Station (physicscentral.com)

Submitted by
BuzzSkyline
BuzzSkyline writes: "Astronaut Don Pettit, who is aboard the International Space Station (ISS) right now, put charged water droplets into wild orbits around a knitting needle in the microgravity environment of the ISS. A video he made of the droplets is the first in a serious of freefall physics experiments that he will be posting in coming months."
Mars

Submission + - Mars "Avalanche" Revealed in New HiRISE Photo (discovery.com)

Submitted by
astroengine
astroengine writes: "NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, with the help of the High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE), is no stranger to spotting evidence of geological process on Mars. But as the northern hemisphere of the Red Planet enters springtime, HiRISE has captured a dramatic event in real-time: a landslide consisting of ice, dust and rock — a Martian avalanche."
Hardware

Submission + - 83-year old woman gets new '3D-printed' titanium jaw (3ders.org)

Submitted by arnodf
arnodf writes: 'The University of Hasselt (Belgium) announced today (bad Google translation, Dutch Original) that Belgian and Dutch scientists (English article) have successfully replacing a lower jaw with a 3D printed model for a 83 year-old woman. According to the researchers, It is the first custom-made implant in the world to replace an entire lower jaw.'

'The 3D printer prints titanium powder layer by layer, while a computer controlled laser ensures that the correct particles are fused together. Using 3D printing technology, less materials are needed and the production time is much shorter than traditional manufacturing. The artificial jaw is slightly heavier than a natural jaw, but the patient can easily get used to it. '
EU

Submission + - Battle lines drawn up in EU row on ACTA (euobserver.com)

Submitted by arnodf
arnodf writes: FTA:
'The European Commission has stepped into the growing row over the anti-counterfeiting trade agreement, Acta, as leading MEPs refuse to fast-track parliamentary approval due to bad faith in the talks.

Speaking to EUobserver in Brussels on Thursday (2 February), EU justice commissioner Viviane Reding reiterated her position that Acta does not detract from any laws already in force in the EU, noting that the commission has "tested it on European law and results are positive. It is fine with European legislation."'

Submission + - Swedish supreme court denies final hearing TPB (falkvinge.net)

Submitted by arnodf
arnodf writes: FTA: 'In what can only be described as an all-out declaration of war with the Internet, the Swedish Supreme Court has denied the final hearing in the trial of the original The Pirate Bay operators. This means that the Appeals Court verdict stands, unless appealed to the European Court of Justice.'

The article is also has a good recap of the case and outlines many things that went wrong such as a judge who is a member of the Swedish Association for Copyright.

more FTA:
'In the raid, over a dozen violations of the constitution were committed; among others, the legal counsel of The Pirate Bay gets his DNA permanently registered with the State, and a constitutionally protected publisher is shut down (though restored a few days later).'

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