Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Springfield) today joined his colleagues at a press conference to announce the introduction of the ?Freedom to Read Protection Act,? a bill to exempt libraries and booksellers from certain provisions of the USA Patriot Act. The lawmakers were joined by members of the American Library Association and representatives from the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression.

?Attorney General Ashcroft thinks we need to shred the Constitution and Bill of Rights to safeguard the American public from terrorists,?

Lawmakers Introduce %u2018Freedom To Read Protection Act%u2019 (01068)

] "Russian FSB (Federal Security Service, successor to KGB)
] is preparing regulations and technical requirements to
] facilitate field operative work in computer networks.
] SORM (in Russian - System for Conduct of Investigations
] and Field Operations) is a set of regulations and
] technological equipment facilitating access of FSB to all
] computer communications and internal documents of telecom
] providers (including phone and internet companies). The
] technology provides an effective mechanism to by-pass a
] Constitutionally required process of court authorization
] for wire-tapping of electronic communications."

Bush is learning from these guys!

SORM at Moscow Libertarium

] "he Bush administration is planning to propose requiring
] Internet service providers to help build a centralized
] system to enable broad monitoring of the Internet and,
] potentially, surveillance of its users."

George "Big Brother" Bush just loves this wild run he has on the constitution.

Bush Administration to Propose System for Monitoring Internet

] "Bush has given us the worst of both political worlds:
] the wasteful tax-and-spend big government of wild-eyed
] liberalism without any of the compassion or desire for
] justice that normally goes along with bleeding-heart
] bureaucracy; the most tyrannical aspects of right-wing
] demagoguery--scapegoating, depriving people of basic
] rights, domestic spying, warmongering--without any of the
] positive attributes that usually accompany it, such as
] attention to reducing waste and balancing the budget."

I would be interested in your feedback on this article.

GEORGE W. BUSH, LIBERAL

] "Today, at the Justice Department, some laws are more
] equal than others.
] One 36-year-old U.S. law can be broken, it seems.
] Attorney General John D. Ashcroft, who is sworn to
] enforce all laws, has told federal employees that they
] can bend -- perhaps even break -- one law, and he will
] even defend their actions in court.
] That law is known as the Freedom of Information Act."

Ashcroft chars my feathers...

At Justice, Freedom Not to Release Information

] Last week, a member of Congress asked Federal Reserve Chairman
] Alan Greenspan to assess investors’ views about the
] administration’s long-term fiscal plan. His answer: “That there
] isn’t one.”
] "Republican regime could swiftly launch us back into an
] era of seemingly permanent structural deficits, just when
] the baby boomers are set to retire. "

From deficit hawk to GOP hack - Greenspan & the Republican regime

] "The Justice Department has broad discretion in the use
] of wiretaps and other surveillance techniques to track
] suspected terrorists and spies, a federal appeals court
] panel ruled Monday."

Appeals panel upholds wiretaps

] "
] WASHINGTON--A last-minute addition to a proposal for a
] Department of Homeland Security bill would punish
] malicious computer hackers with life in prison.
]
] The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday evening
] voted 299 to 121 to approve the bill, which would reshape
] large portions of the federal bureaucracy into new a
] department combining parts of 22 existing federal
] agencies, including the Secret Service, the Coast Guard,
] and the FBI's National Infrastructure Protection Center."

This better not even make it to a vote.

Proposed bill could jail hackers for life - Tech News - CNET.com

[Originally from Decius:]

"Britney Spears is among the pop stars fronting a new advertising campaign aimed at warning people against online piracy."

...

The TV adverts will be shown at a Congressional hearing on piracy in Washington on Thursday before making their debut on US screens a few weeks later.

...

"We want to hit fans with the message that downloading music illegally is, as Britney Spears explains, the same as going into a CD store and stealing the CD," said Hilary Rosen of the Recording Industry Association Of America (RIAA)

...

[Hijexx's Commentary]

piracy (from dictionary.com):

1. a) Robbery committed at sea. b) A similar act of robbery, as the hijacking of an airplane.
2. The unauthorized use or reproduction of copyrighted or patented material: software piracy.
3. The operation of an unlicensed, illegal radio or television station.

I agree, begrudingly, that downloading and using copyrighted music does, in fact, break the law. That is not to say that the law is just (thanks to Walt Disney's palm greasing.) If all the RIAA can muster is Britney's Pears (sorry little girl, it's all about your tits, always has been) and Missy Elliot to preach to the masses, I'd say we have not a thing to worry about on that front.

What is disconcerting to me is the Nazi style, Joseph Goebbels inspired propaganda being spewed by Hilary Rosen. Two times in this article the idea of an "unlicensed internet service" is mentioned. I am not making this up. Folks, there is NO SUCH THING as an "unlicensed internet service" in the context of peer to peer networking. It's a glorified telephone with theoretically unlimited conferencing abilities, that's about it.

As Goebbels proved, if you repeat a lie enough, eventually people believe it. This is especially the case when said people are unwashed (dare I say brainwashed?) mass consumers.

Moo.

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Music | Britney's Pears warns against piracy

This is an extremely frightening development in the United States of America:

[ Originally from Hijexx, comments edited for brevity and stridency-removal. --Rek ]

---

Agreed. It is not the threat of Iraq that is the real issue. It is because "they" think that Iraq is a safe haven for terrorist. And if they really did the hardware, they could and would be a threat to Isreal. --T

Bush Aides Say Iraq War Needs No Hill Vote