] Making Torture Legal, a story by Anthony Lewis about
] an issue that ought to be an issue in this issueless
] campaign, is the best of its kind that I've seen. I
] was referred to it by an Israeli friend. As he said to
] me, "of course there is torture in Israeli prisons,
] but there is nothing remotely as bad as this."
]
] Truth, and justice. May it again be the American way.

Lessig Blog: Making Torture Legal

This pretty much sums up why I hate apple weenies.

Apple zombies attack RealNetworks

] San Diego-based D Squared has been banned from using a
] little known feature, Windows Messenger, to send unwanted
] adverts to computer owners.

It is completely assinine that windows messenger is on by default
in the first place, especially on "home edition" PCs. Its meant
(AFAIK) as a wall service so that your admin can tell you
"save your work, the server's going down in an hour."

US bars backdoor pop-up adverts

] The FCC has approved 13 new copy protection technologies
] that comply with the commission's 2003 broadcast flag
] decision.

FCC Approves Copy Protection Technology

] Virtually everything done via TCP/IP, with the (for now)
] exception of instant messaging, is on its way to becoming
] wiretap-friendly, thanks to a tentative 5-0 decision by
] the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on
] Wednesday.

Easy VoIP wiretaps coming soon

!!!

ACLU - Pizza Flash

]
] In Ruling the Root, Milton Mueller uses the theoretical
] framework of institutional economics to analyze the
] global policy and governance problems created by the
] assignment of Internet domain names and addresses. "The
] root" is the top of the domain name hierarchy and the
] Internet address space. It is the only point of
] centralized control in what is otherwise a distributed
] and voluntaristic network of networks. Both domain names
] and IP numbers are valuable resources, and their
] assignment on a coordinated basis is essential to the
] technical operation of the Internet. Mueller explains how
] control of the root is being leveraged to control the
] Internet itself in such key areas as trademark and
] copyright protection, surveillance of users, content
] regulation, and regulation of the domain name supply
] industry.

I saw this at the library today. Not sure if some of this has
ended up on CircleID, maybe?

Ruling the Root - The MIT Press

] Oprah's Book Club may help sell millions of books to
] Americans, and slam poetry may have engendered a youthful
] new breed of wordsmith, but the nation is still caught in
] a tide of indifference when it comes to literature. That
] is the sobering profile of a new survey to be released
] today by the National Endowment for the Arts, which
] describes a precipitous downward trend in book
] consumption by Americans and a particular decline in the
] reading of fiction, poetry and drama.

!!

Fewer Noses Stuck in Books in America, Survey Finds

] WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Federal Communications Commission
] Chairman Michael Powell plans to offer to Nextel
] Communications Inc. (NXTL.O) the airwaves the company
] wants, in order to end interference with public safety
] communications in another band, a source close to the
] matter said on Wednesday.

F.C.C. Chief Said to Back Nextel Plan for Airwaves

] Mr. Hatch also said the induce bill - the name is short
] for "inducement devolves into unlawful child
] exploitation" - was intended to defend children, who he
] said make up about half of the users of file sharing
] software. "This for-profit piracy scheme mostly endangers
] children, who are ill equipped to appreciate the
] illegality or risks of their acts," he said.

Fuck you, Orin Hatch. Has everyone lost their fucking minds?!

At least we have the telcos lining up to fight this, this time.

Bill to Curb Online Piracy Is Challenged as Too Broad