] Some in the technocamp imagine requiring a license to
] operate a computer, just like the one required to drive a
] car. Others are calling for a punishment that fits a
] careless crime. People who click on virus attachments,
] for instance, could be cut off by their Internet service
] providers until they proved that their machines had been
] disinfected.

Heh.

Geeks Put the Unsavvy on Alert: Learn or Log Off

... Until the president is willing to employ carrots as well as sticks, he will make little headway in changing Iranian or Syrian behavior. The president's lack of initiative on this point is especially disappointing.

!!!

Why Libya Gave Up on the Bomb

inignoct wrote:
] ] Blockbuster Inc. president and chief operating officer
] ] Nigel Travis on Thursday called for an end to regional
] ] coding on DVDs, saying they merely create more
] ] opportunities for piracy.
]
] weren't the region codes supposed to prevent piracy? Oops!
] That was back when you needed a compliant, hardware DVD player
] to watch video...

Region codes enable:

1. selling for different prices in different countries. (see e.g. the Levis/EU/Trademark case for a particularly gross example of this!)
2. releasing at different times in different countries.

RE: Blockbuster CEO comes out against region codes...

] PARIS, Dec. 11 — A report delivered to President Jacques Chirac
] on Thursday called for a new law banning the wearing of
] "conspicuous" religious symbols in French public schools — large
] crosses for Christians, head scarves for Muslim girls, or
] skullcaps for Jewish boys.

Ban Religious Attire in School, French Panel Says

] There are always defining moments in anything’s lifetime and the
] Internet is no exception.
]
] A meeting in Geneva on 10-12 December promises to be one of them -
] to define what is, what was and what shall become of the global
] electronic medium known as the Internet.

Pick your poison: ICANN or ITU...

The Register

Decius wrote:
] ] This is concrete evidence of the direct financial
] ] incentive that so-called "safety advocates" have to
] ] promote red light and speed camera technologies. The
] ] Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), the
] ] leading U.S. proponent of the technology, is directly
] ] funded by the top 66 insurance companies.

Well, speeding is against the law, after all ...

Seriously, the right answer here is to make it safer to drive fast -- I'm thinking various driver assist technologies. High-end Mercedes have had (for a few years now) a doppler radar coupled to the cruise control -- you practically tell the thing "stay 200 feet from the car in front of me" ...

RE: [Politech] Speed cameras main purpose? To raise more revenue [priv]

Decius wrote:
] ] Global Internet,
] ] Once a spring of liberty,
] ] Autumn chill so near.
]
] This is the founder of Autodesk on how the potential for
] freedom represented by the internet could be rolled back over
] the next few years.

While I agree that in principle this is possible, I'm not terribly worried by it. I think it would be extrordinarily expensive to deploy and maintain... I may have some more to say about this later.

RE: The Digital Imprimatur

] In his 2 1/2 years in office, Attorney General John
] Ashcroft has earned himself a remarkable distinction as
] the Torquemada of American law. Tomas de Torquemada was
] the 15th century Dominican friar who became the grand
] inquisitor of the Spanish Inquisition. He was largely
] responsible for its methods, including torture and the
] burning of heretics - Muslims in particular.

DenverPost.com - Walter Cronkite on the DOJ

] Israel has asked the United States for $9 billion in loan
] guarantees aimed at jumpstarting its economy which has
] been damaged by nearly three years of violence.
]
] The United States had threatened to reduce the package by
] the amount Israel spends on a security barrier cutting
] through the West Bank. Israel and the United States
] disagree over the course of the barrier, with Washington
] trying to minimize the amount of West Bank land included
] on the ``Israeli'' side.

Finally, the US is starting to take a harder line against Israel. I think its fair to say that a lot of our troubles with the Islamic world are directly attributable to our (totally bogus) policy towards Israel.

U.S. Threatens to Cut Aid to Israel Over Barrier

] In the past two decades, the price of textbooks has
] soared. The price of educational books and supplies has
] risen 238 percent, while the price of consumer goods over
] all has increased only 51 percent, according to the
] Consumer Price Index. At four-year private colleges, the
] College Board found, students spent an average of $807 on
] books last year. Some students, particularly science and
] math majors, spent that much in one semester.

I'm glad this issue is getting some attention. We've all had this experience and it keeps getting worse and worse. The textbook industry is totally evil. Maybe its high time for Open Curricula or something.

When Books Break the Bank