davidpfarrell - Slashdot User

FCC Backs Net Neutrality, Chairman's Full Speech Posted 270

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday September 21, 2009 @02:39PM from the but-can-they-be-trusted dept.

ArmyofGnomes writes "FCC chairman Julius Genachowski delivered Monday on President Obama's promise to back 'net neutrality' — but he went much further than merely seeking to expand rules that prohibit ISPs from filtering or blocking net traffic by proposing that they cover all broadband connections, including data connections for smartphones. Genachowski stated: 'I understand the Internet is a dynamic network and that technology continues to grow and evolve. I recognize that if we were to create unduly detailed rules that attempted to address every possible assault on openness, such rules would become outdated quickly. But the fact that the Internet is evolving rapidly does not mean we can, or should, abandon the underlying values fostered by an open network, or the important goal of setting rules of the road to protect the free and open Internet. ... In view of these challenges and opportunities, and because it is vital that the Internet continue to be an engine of innovation, economic growth, competition and democratic engagement, I believe the FCC must be a smart cop on the beat preserving a free and open Internet.'"

Pirate Party Wins At Least One European Parliament Seat 674

Posted by timothy on Sunday June 07, 2009 @05:44PM from the replace-amateur-clowns-with-professional-clowns dept.

reeeh2000 writes "According to TorrentFreak, with half of polling stations now closed in Sweden, the Pirate Party has at least one guaranteed seat in the EU Parliament. Currently, the party is sitting with 7% of the vote. Depending on how the remaining districts voted, the Pirate Party could win another seat, for a total of two." Reader lordholm adds a link to an article about exit polls in Sweden (link in Swedish) indicating that the Pirate Party will score two seats, writing "According to the polls, the pirate party is the largest party in the 18-30 year age category of voters. The final counting of votes (including around a million postal votes) will not be done until later next week."

Wikipedia Bans Church of Scientology 665

Posted by timothy on Thursday May 28, 2009 @09:49PM from the there's-no-pleasing-some-people dept.

El Reg writes "Showing a new-found resolve to crack down on self-serving edits, Wikipedia has banned contributions from all IP addresses owned or operated by the Church of Scientology. According to Wikipedia administrators, this marks the first time such a high-profile organization has been banished for allegedly pushing its own agenda on the 'free encyclopedia anyone can edit.'"

Church of Scientology On Trial In France 890

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday May 26, 2009 @06:54PM from the speaking-truth-to-fraud dept.

An anonymous reader sends word that a trial has opened in Paris that could shut down Scientology in France. The organization stands accused of targeting vulnerable people for commercial gain. Scientology does not have the status of a religion there, as it does in the US, and anti-cult groups have pursued it vigorously over more than 30 years. The current case is based on complaints filed by two women in December 1998 and July 1999. Three other former members who had initially joined the complaint have withdrawn after "reaching a financial arrangement with church officials." If convicted, the seven top Scientologists in France face up to 10 years in prison and a fine of €1M. The Church of Scientology-Celebrity Centre and its Scientology Freedom Space bookshop not only face a much larger fine but also run the risk of being shut down completely.

Swedish ISP Deletes Customer ID Info 177

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Friday April 17, 2009 @12:56PM from the putting-tread-on-the-slippery-slope dept.

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "A Swedish internet service provider, Bahnhof, has begun deleting customer identification information in order to prevent it from being used as evidence against its customers under Sweden's new legislation against copyright infringement via peer-to-peer file sharing. According to this report on 'The Local,' it is entirely legal for it to do so. The company's CEO, Jon Karlung, is identified as 'a vociferous opponent of the measures that came into force on April 1st,' and is quoted saying that he is determined to protect the company's clients, and that 'It's about the freedom to choose, and the law makes it possible to retain details. We're not acting in breach of IPRED; we're following the law and choosing to destroy the details.'"

German Wikileaks Domain Suspended Without Warning 215

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Friday April 10, 2009 @05:41PM from the boom-headshot dept.

mb writes to mention that Germany has gone one step further in impeding access to Wikileaks. Germany's registration authority, DENIC, recently suspended Wikileaks.de without notice. "The action comes two weeks after the house of the German WikiLeaks domain sponsor, Theodor Reppe, was searched by German authorities. Police documentation shows that the March 24, 2009 raid was triggered by WikiLeaks' publication of Australia's proposed secret internet censorship list. The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) told Australian journalists that they did not request the intervention of the German government."

Comment Ad Adjusts To Increase Attentiveness (Score 1) 238

by davidpfarrell on Saturday January 31, 2009 @04:34AM (#26675731) Attached to: New Ads That Watch You

And I expect to see it done on The Simpsons first:

Homer stops to daydream in front of an ad cam.

The cam notices Homer and begins playing a Duff Beer ad.

Homer starts to lose interest so the ad steps it up with increased babeage.

Homer eventually loses interest again, so the ad steps up the babeage again.

But this time it doesn't work and Homer turns to leave.

In a last ditch effort, the ad tosses in some donut references and BAM!

Homer is locked into the ad again.

MMMM, beer and donuts...

Comment equivalent on Wii ? (Score 1) 63

by davidpfarrell on Saturday December 27, 2008 @05:57AM (#26240537) Attached to: 10 Years of <em>Baldur's Gate</em>

Some friends of mine, a couple, love to play Baulder's Gate together on their PS2.

They just recently acquired a Wii, and wanted to know if there are any equivalent games for the Wii?

I tried to do some research for a 2 player simul dungeon crawler but honestly couldn't find anything.

Anyone got any suggestions?

Thanks in advance for your time,

-DavidPFarrell

RICO Class Action Against RIAA In Missouri 213

Posted by kdawson on Friday November 21, 2008 @01:49PM from the take-'em-down-dano dept.

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "In Atlantic Recording v. Raleigh, an RIAA case pending in St. Louis, Missouri, the defendant has asserted detailed counterclaims against the RIAA for federal RICO violations, fraud, violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, prima facie tort, trespass, and conspiracy. The claims focus on the RIAA's 'driftnet' tactic of suing innocent people, and of demanding extortionate settlements. The RICO 'predicate acts' alleged in the 42-page pleading (PDF) are extortion, mail fraud, and wire fraud. The proposed class includes all people residing in the US 'who were falsely accused ... of downloading copyrighted sound recordings owned by the counterclaim Defendants and making them available for distribution or mass distribution over a P2P network and who incurred costs and damages including legal fees in defense of such false claims' or 'whose computers used in interstate commerce and/or communication were accessed ... without permission or authority.' This is the second class action of which we are aware against the RIAA and the Big 4 recording companies, the first being the Oregon class action brought by Tanya Andersen, which is presently in the discovery phase."

Judge Orders White House To Produce Wiretap Memos 178

Posted by Soulskill on Sunday November 02, 2008 @10:10AM from the show-and-tell dept.

sv_libertarian sends this excerpt from the Associated Press: "A judge has ordered the Justice Department to produce White House memos that provide the legal basis for the Bush administration's post-Sept. 11 warrantless wiretapping program. US District Judge Henry Kennedy Jr. signed an order (PDF) Friday requiring the department to produce the memos by the White House legal counsel's office by Nov. 17. He said he will review the memos in private to determine if any information can be released publicly without violating attorney-client privilege or jeopardizing national security. Kennedy issued his order in response to lawsuits by civil liberties groups in 2005 after news reports disclosed the wiretapping."

RIAA Litigation May Be Unconstitutional 281

Posted by timothy on Wednesday October 29, 2008 @06:05PM from the what-about-ritchie-chaz-and-margot? dept.

dtjohnson writes "A Harvard law school professor has submitted arguments on behalf of Joel Tenenbaum in RIAA v. Tenenbaum in which Professor Charles Nesson claims that the underlying law that the RIAA uses is actually a criminal, rather than civil, statute and is therefore unconstitutional. According to this article, 'Nesson charges that the federal law is essentially a criminal statute in that it seeks to punish violators with minimum statutory penalties far in excess of actual damages. The market value of a song is 99 cents on iTunes; of seven songs, $6.93. Yet the statutory damages are a minimum of $750 per song, escalating to as much as $150,000 per song for infringement "committed willfully."' If the law is a criminal statute, Neeson then claims that it violates the 5th and 8th amendments and is therefore unconstitutional. Litigation will take a while but this may be the end for RIAA litigation, at least until they can persuade Congress to pass a new law."

Comment Follow-Up By OP (Score 1) 586

by davidpfarrell on Sunday October 26, 2008 @06:22PM (#25521075) Attached to: Reliable, Free Anti-Virus Software?

I just wanted to give a follow-up on my search for a 64-Bit Virus solution.

I ended up going with AVAST Free for now.

Installation was pretty smooth with the hardest part being updating my firewall to allow AVAST to grab updates.

In case anyone wonders, the following AVAST proggies need outbound access through the firewall:

* ashServ.exe
* ashWebSv.exe
* aswUPdSrv.exe
* Setup\avast.setup

"avast.setup" was a bit hard to configure because the "choose program" widget in the Vista firewall app only allows you to select ".exe" files - Just choose any nearby .exe file and then modify the input box by hand to point to avast.setup

If I end up having any problems with Avast, then I'll look into NOD32 and then Kaspersky

Thank you to everyone who took time to reply.

International Spam Ring Shut Down 243

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday October 14, 2008 @06:19PM from the spamhaus-top-ten dept.

smooth wombat writes "An international spam ring with ties to Australia, New Zealand, China, India, and the US is in the process of being shut down. Finances of members in the US are being frozen using the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 while the FBI is pursuing criminal charges. The group sent spam advertising male enhancement herbs and other items using a botnet estimated at 35,000 computers, and able to send 10 billion emails per day. The Federal Trade Commission monitored the group's finances and found that they had cleared $400,000 in Visa charges in one month alone."

Jack Thompson Disbarred 522

Posted by timothy on Thursday September 25, 2008 @02:41PM from the it-burns-it-burns dept.

Sockatume writes "The Florida Supreme Court has approved Judge Dava Tunis' recommendations for the permanent disbarment of John B. "Jack" Thompson, with no leave to reapply and $43,675.35 in disciplinary costs. The ruling is a step up from the enhanced disbarment that had been suggested by the prosecution, which would have forbidden him from reapplying for ten years. Thompson has 30 days to appeal the ruling before the disbarment is permanent. Thompson responds to the ruling."

Apple Censors App Store Rejection Notices 477

Posted by CmdrTaco on Thursday September 25, 2008 @08:33AM from the because-they-can dept.

isBandGeek() writes "After a few reasonable App Store bans, such as the ones on I Am Rich and NetShare, developers started complaining about excessive restrictions on applications like Podcaster and MailWrangler, supposedly because they provided 'duplicate functionality.' In response, Apple rubbed salt in their wounds by slapping non-disclosure agreements on application rejection notices. Now developers are not even allowed to tell their fanbase that Apple decided to withhold approval for an application. Is Apple confident that Google's open platform Android won't be much of a threat?"

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