"The 40-year old lawyer, head of the Public Knowledge nonprofit group here, plans to recruit a ragtag band of technophiles and train them to become a corps of effective political activists on the Internet front. "

Someone with real funding finally attempts to organize the grass roots internet users for political purposes. This stands in stark contrast to Lawrence Lessig's opinion that geeks are "too apathetic" to wield political power.

Bring in the geeks - Tech News - CNET.com

Here is a list of stations that have shutdown because of CARP royalties. (I think the list would be much longer if one were to include the stations that haven't started up because of CARP royalties. I'd be at least two of those...) The list is actually maintained on a different site (mentioned here) but this page is easier to link to...

The CARP graveyard

"Legislators are readying a bill that could sharply limit Americans' rights relating to copying music, taping TV shows, and transferring files through the Internet. "

More bullshit from Washington...

Lawmakers: Keep your tunes to yourself - Tech News - CNET.com

"An advisory committee appointed by President Bush to study modern medicine's bioethical frontiers has completed its highly anticipated report on human cloning without reaching a consensus as to whether U.S. scientists should be allowed to conduct research involving cloned human embryos."

The worst thing that can happen in politics is when everybody thinks they are right and they all have the documentation to prove it, and they are all talking about the same document.

Bush Panel Has 2 Views on Embryonic Cloning (washingtonpost.com)

Innovation is stifled as new uses are discouraged, said Mark Cooper, director of the Consumer Federation of America.
"Why bother to develop a service if the gatekeeper will determine whether or not they will let it go?" Cooper said. "The policy destroys the innovation before it happens." "

Keep broadband pipes open, ACLU says - Tech News - CNET.com

"The draft seen by News.com says the privacy officer will be responsible for "evaluating legislative proposals involving collection, use, and disclosure of personal information by the federal government" to ensure consistency with privacy laws. In addition, the officer must prepare an annual report to Congress identifying privacy complaints raised by the public and how the department responded."

A privacy ombudsman for the Dept. of Homeland Security. This is surprisingly good news, even if you are cynical about it...

Privacy central to Bush security plan - Tech News - CNET.com

"P2P piracy does not promote legitimate sales, it replaces them. How do I know? I have some common sense, a grasp of fundamental economics, and a college-age daughter with lots of friends. Frankly, it is galling that creators must even respond to such laughable sophistry. "

California congressman declares war on you, your friends, AND the rule of law. Do these people really beleive that they can out-tech the computer underground?!

Just desserts for scofflaws - Tech News - CNET.com

The discussion on Kuro5hin about ICC. Lots of different perspectives offered. Of course, 50% of Kuro5hin's readers feel that US citizens should be unconditionally subject to the ICC even if they have already been convicted under U.S. law, and given that the U.S. has no representation at the ICC. So I'm not saying the overall skew here is either balanced or even particularily intelligent, but there are some gems.

kuro5hin.org || USA: we're above the law, but you're not.

"After numerous consultations with our legal team and all kinds of internal debate, we have decided that we've gotten the DeCSS case as far as we can."

2600 Drops DeCSS case

"Major music companies are preparing to mount a broad new attack on unauthorized online song-swapping. The campaign would include suits against individuals who are offering the largest troves of songs on peer-to-peer services."

Here comes the storm.

Music labels go after song-swappers