] She stated that the existing law only covers analog, not
] digital cable theft--giving the impression that, without
] this new bill, digital cable theft is legal.

Read about the obvious lies that various lobbying organizations told the Tennessee legislature yesterday.

U: If you really want to get your blood boiling wait until you get to the place where these mother fuckers tell the legislature that having wifi access points in your home helps terrorists!

10/28/2003 Joint Committee Hearing Notes - Tennessee Digital Freedom Network

] Welcome to Zork.
]
] You are in an open field west of a big white house with a
] boarded front door.
]
] There is a small mailbox here.

This is the most leet 404 error ever. Yes, you can in fact play this. Could be better designed, but in general, two thumbs up.

PHP Zork

] Hey, lookie here. Don't be asking where it comes from.
] Don't matter no how. What matters is we got it and we'll
] send it your way for what we like to call a "Finders
] Fee." You ain't gonna find this stuff nowhere else. Also
] our customar service cannot be beat. Lungs, eyeballs,
] arms intestins, feet -- plenty of feet.

We Got Us Some Medical Waste.....Y'all come on in!

I apologize for the cross posting. Hope everyone had a good time @ PN7. Unfortunetly, I could not attend due to a broken left clavicle. The Oxycodone gave me the same effect though. ;-)

In case you've been living under a rock this summer, the fight against the MPAA, RIAA, and monopolistic telecom providers is still raging. We achieved a small victory at the end of last spring's session to have the issue deferred and put into 'summer study session'. We are now _in_ 'summer study session' and hearings are beginning to commence.

What's at risk? Well, do you use MythTv or Tivo? Do you burn DVDs or VCDs of television content? Have a NAT box on your cable or DSL line? Use VPN from home? Or God forbid, do you have a splitter on your cable line in your home? Doing, possessing, or even TALKING about any of these activities could render you a felon in the state of Tennessee if this bill passes. Even better than jail time, you could be sued into bankruptcy without even being convicted. Civil penalties can be assessed at up to $50,000 per DAY per DEVICE in your possession (no need to have used it in the act). That's right kids. If you have 2 splitters on your line for one year and they go after you, the _minimum_ penalty you will receive is $876,000. That doesn't include fines or attorneys fees.

What can you do? Spend a few hours of your life sitting on your ass in a hearing room. Seriously. Just showing up was perhaps THE KEY reason why this bill was not passed last spring. There are two hearings this week. Day 1 is basically the 'Bad Guys'. Day 2 is the 'Good Guys'. Tuesday's agenda is as follows:
Tuesday, October 28, 1:00 p.m.

Stacy Briggs, Executive Director
Tennessee Cable Television Association

Brian Allen, Director of Corporate Security
Time Warner Cable

Todd Flournoy, Counsel and Director of State Legislative Affairs
Motion Picture Association of America

Jeff Yarbrough
Tennessee-based Charter Cable Operator

Jim Spears, Vice-President of Government Relations
BellSouth

Ross Loder
Tennessee Municipal League

Wednesday's agenda is:
Wednesday, October 29 at 9:00 a.m.

Jonathan Band
American Library Association, Association of Research Libraries and the American Law Library Association

Scott Lyon or Scott Kozicki
Tennesseans for Digital Freedom Association (sic) Tennessee Digital Freedom Network)

Arnold Grothues, Vice President of Industry & Government Affairs
Radio Shack Corporation

Both of these hearings should be held in the 12/14 Legislative Plaza hearing rooms, HOWEVER, if they are still under construction, they may be moved. Ask anyone at the Plaza and they should be able to redirect you. For specifics, you can contact Sen. Trail's office for exact instructions: 615.741.1066. Ask about the "Joint Committee on Communications Security" hearing. Yea. We thought it was about cable theft too.

If you wish to be actively involved, please call me or email as soon as possible. 615.429.4502.

Cheers,
Scott

State DMCA Part 2 - Electric Boogaloo

] Astronomers have spotted a strange, obvious and
] inexplicable black spot near the equator of Jupiter. A
] picture of the object was circling this planet
] electronically this week as researchers scratched their
] heads about what they'd found.

"My God. It's full of stars"

Mystery Spot on Jupiter Baffles Astronomers

] A hip-hop parody of the "Monopoly" board game has
] generated a buzz in the 'hood, but marketer of the
] classic game Hasbro wants to stop the maker of
] "Ghettopoly" from passing "Go".
] Outraged by the game where players buy "stolen property"
] and build "crack houses", Hasbro filed a lawsuit on
] Tuesday against the gamemaker citing trademark rights and
] copyright violation.

This will be interesting to follow. (Scott remember that idea I told you about a few months ago concerning a variation on a popular board game? Same owner.)

Yahoo! News -

] Governor Bredesen wants help from Senate Majority Leader
] Bill Frist on a bill pending in the Senate that could
] cost Tennessee up to 360 (M) million dollars a year in
] lost tax income. The bill ostensibly deals with state
] taxation of access to the Internet, which Congress has
] deemed a service that states should not tax. But
] Tennessee and other states fear it would have broader and
] more costly consequences. Tennessee is one of a handful
] of states that put a sales tax on Internet access before
] Congress placed a moratorium on such taxes in the 1990s.
] Tennessee's tax was allowed to stand when the moratorium
] was instituted. The concern for Tennessee is that the
] bill might allow telecommunications companies to shift a
] broad array of services to the Internet and avoid
] taxation.

You know, I really have always liked this guy but this pisses me off.

Bredesen Seeks Help From Frist On Internet Taxation Bill

This webpage will redirect you to a Google image search using a random search term based on the filename scheme used by many popular digital cameras. What results is the most random, random sampling of pictures.

The Google random picture generator

Decius wrote:
] This is probably the scariest Microsoft related footage that I
] have ever seen. Its called Dance Monkey Boy.

He needs to lay off the crank.

RE: Steve Ballmer: When marketing goes too far... [MPG]

] Folk-punk singer/songwriter Elliott Smith has died, an
] apparent suicide, according to the Los Angeles County
] Department of the Coroner's office. Smith's body was
] found in his apartment, in the Silverlake section of Los
] Angeles, by a female friend, who took him to a local
] hospital at approximately 12:18 p.m. on Tuesday.
]
]
] He was pronounced dead at Los Angeles County University
] of Southern California Medical Center just over an hour
] later. He was 34.

Another talented songwriter gone this year. Sad.

Singer/Songwriter Elliott Smith Found Dead, An Apparent Suicide