] Just 29% of U.S. Internet users have downloaded music
] files and just 12% both download and share music files
] from their PCs with others, according to the Pew Internet
] & American Life Project.

yes, and I don't speed either.

The Download Tide May Have Ebbed

] Two-thirds of Internet users who download music don't
] care whether they're violating copyright laws

what a surprise...

Two-thirds of adult music downloaders don't care about copyrights

] Concerned that information about your file-sharing
] username may have been subpoenaed by the RIAA? Check here
] to see if your username is on one of the subpoenas filed
] with the D.C. District Court. This information is drawn
] from the court's publicly available PACER database and
] will be updated when that system is updated.

RIAA Subpoena Database

] "He should turn it in to his professor, get his grade --
] and then they both should burn it," said Richard Clarke,
] who until recently was the White House cyberterrorism
] chief.

And it's your ignorance and inability to face reality that will continue to put our lives in jeopardy, you twit. If this grad student can build such a database, then obviously someone with a lot more motivation could as well. Burying our heads in the sand doesn't help.

Dissertation Could Be Security Threat

] The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last Tuesday
] that Web loggers, website operators and e-mail list
] editors can't be held responsible for libel for
] information they republish, extending crucial First
] Amendment protections to do-it-yourself online
] publishers.
]
] Online free speech advocates praised the decision as a
] victory. The ruling effectively differentiates
] conventional news media, which can be sued relatively
] easily for libel, from certain forms of online
] communication such as moderated e-mail lists. One
] implication is that DIY publishers like bloggers cannot
] be sued as easily.

Just a little good news.

Wired News: Bloggers Gain Libel Protection

] The Free State Project is a plan in which 20,000 or more
] liberty-oriented people will move to a single state of
] the U.S., where they may work within the political system
] to reduce the size and scope of government. The success
] of the Free State Project would likely entail reductions
] in burdensome taxation and regulation, reforms in state
] and local law, an end to federal mandates, and a
] restoration of constitutional federalism, demonstrating
] the benefits of liberty to the rest of the nation and the
] world.

I heard about this on NPR this morning. Brilliant idea if they can get it to work. Right now, it seems logistics is the biggest hurdle. People from the east don't want to move west and vice versa. I'd consider this very seriously.

The Free State Project - Liberty in Our Lifetime!

] BILL O'REILLY ENCOUNTERS THE NO-WEENIE ZONE
]
] The Blogosphere is buzzing in response to Bill
] O'Reilly's whiny complaints about the Internet.
] The problem with the Net, according to this Man Of The
] People, is that there aren't enough bosses to
] protect the interests of famous people:
]
] Nearly everyday, there's something written on
] the Internet about me that's flat out untrue. And
] I'm not alone. Nearly every famous person in the
] country's under siege. . . .
]
] The reason these net people get away with all
] kinds of stuff is that they work for no one. They put
] stuff up with no restraints. This, of course, is
] dangerous, but it symbolizes what the Internet is
] becoming.
]
] Well boo-freakin'-hoo. O'Reilly's
] schtick is as a tribune of the people against the
] powerful, but when people start writing about him, well,
] it seems they need to be brought into line, pronto. And
] O'Reilly demonstrates that he's no paragon of
] fairness himself by first ignoring that the particular
] report he's complaining about came from a newspaper
] (the San Francisco Chronicle) and not from "the
] Internet," and then somehow managing to tie bad
] comments about his underperforming radio show to child
] molestation. Excuse me? Does this guy have an editor?
] Because it doesn't show.

Glenn Reynold's take on the O'Reilly remarks.

Glenn Reynolds: Instant punditry on culture, politics, and the law

] U.S. President George W. Bush (news - web sites) is
] pictured in this combo image falling off a Segway
] personal transporter on the front driveway of his
] parents' summer home June 12, 2003 in Kennebunkport,
] Maine. Bush arrived from Washington to spend the weekend
] with his father, former President George Bush, who
] celebrates his 79th birthday today and his mother
] Barbara. Bush was not injured in the fall.

Oh this is hysterical - tipping these things really takes some doing! But then we aren't talking about the sharpest tool in the shed either.

"'being able to ride a segway' is akin to 'being able to ride an escalator' -- what's remarkable isn't that someone can do it, it's only remarkable when somebody can't"

Laughing Boy

Bush falling off a Segway!

] The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Monday that the
] unaccredited copying of an uncopyrighted work does not
] violate the federal law against false representation.

United Press International: Court simplifies origin-of-work law

] HONG KONG (Reuters) - A top Hong Kong scientist said on
] Friday it was likely the deadly SARS virus that has
] killed almost 700 people worldwide jumped to humans from
] civet cats, which are considered a delicacy by many
] people in southern China.

I've always known cats were evil. Long live dogs!

ABCNEWS.com : SARS Virus Likely Came from Civet Cats-Scientists