08 Sep 2006
Cops raid Usenet provider over porn

SPAM has made Usenet virtually unusable. But if this legal theory is allowed to proceed it'll kill it dead:

he raid was closely watched by other Internet and Usenet providers at the time, because of the nature of Usenet: A post by any user is automatically distributed to thousands of servers at corporations, ISPs, and universities. That means, in other words, if one Usenet provider is liable for illegal content on its servers that it doesn't even know exists, any provider could be potentially liable as well.

This is akin to holding the phone company liable for threatening calls - mercifully the judge has allowed the ISP lawsuit against the police and DA to proceed, but has unfortunately not ruled in a definitive fashion to preclude such actions by the authorities in the future.

And what happens when some enterprising prosecutor gets a hold of the notion that the web should be subject to the same rules? The Internet goes away, that's what: who wants to risk criminal liability for some data they don't (and can't) even know exists?

In this week's installment, judge lets civil rights lawsuit proceed that Usenet provider filed against Pa. police after being raided.

(link) [CNET News.com]

19:27 /Technology | 0 comments | permanent link

Wal-Mart Finds an Ally in Conservatives

This is a real problem with "vulgar" libertarians: they assume that business is always right, and that if you criticize a business you must be a socialist of some stripe ...

Meanwhile, big box stores like Wal-Mart go on using eminent domain and collecting what amounts to corporate welfare checks by the boatload.

Add in the interlocking funding and you'll understand why I cannot take such otherwise admirable institutions as the Manhattan Institute very seriously as defenders of freedom anymore.

As Wal-Mart struggles to rebut growing criticism, it has discovered a reliable ally: conservative research groups.

(link) [New York Times]

13:25 /Politics | 1 comment | permanent link

Netflix Sues Blockbuster for Patent Infringement

If you still don't believe the patent system is broken, read and learn. Then do the right thing and avoid Netflix like the plague that they are...

Is the concept of renting movies over the Internet an original idea that deserves patent protection? Netflix claims it is, and is suing Blockbuster for patent infringement, alleging they are copying its seven-year-old online movie-rental business method. Netflix argues that it has patents covering its many online features, including allowing subscribers to keep DVDs for as long as they want without incurring a late fee, obtaining new DVDs upon return of those already watched, and prioritizing their own personal movie list. Blockbuster, for its part, has counterclaimed, insisting that Netflix is trying to monopolize the online movie-rental industry and stifle competition. Blockbuster also alleges that Netflix obtained its patents fraudulently by failing to disclose pertinent information to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and further contends there is nothing original about renting videos online in the first place.

(link) [Slashdot]

13:11 /Copywrongs | 1 comment | permanent link

I knew I was a nerd, but ...

I am nerdier than 98% of all people. Are you nerdier? Click here to find out!

12:43 /Humor | 4 comments | permanent link

State helps turn up heat over CAFO public relations

What a way to wake up: I'm a terrorist!

I'm against huge confined animal feeding operations, I'm opposed to NAIS, and our farm is listed in the Eat Well Guide, which is run by the GRACE Foundation. Therefore, I'm a terrorist:

"Incited by GRACE activists' inflammatory rhetoric, some extreme elements of the anti-agriculture movement may take matters into their own hands," the Animal Agriculture Alliance said in a news release. "Documents recovered from al-Qaeda training camps indicate that the USA's food supply is a high-priority target. Domestically, terrorist/activists within our own borders have declared war on modern food and agriculture."

Checking into this Animal Agriculture Alliance that seems to be receiving "technical assistance" from the State (and therefore my tax dollars) I find it to be nothing but a shill, an "astroturf" group for large agribusiness interests. Just check out their links page. Oh yeah, and just search their site for info on NAIS: it's a wonderful idea, don't you know, that's only opposed by terrorists!

I wonder if this makes me a "pagano-fascist", too? Everybody that opposes these people seems to be a "fascist" of some sort or another. They do this so often that I'm beginning to suspect that their fixation on "fascism" may be similar to those cases where the loudest homophobes are really homosexuals who're still locked in the closet.

Just in case you're looking for the real terrorists, I'd suggest that you start here. It's a whole site devoted to combating agricultural terrorism, and, perhaps not surprisingly, a site I'm sure that the State of Indiana and the AAA would love to see shut down.

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels and several Hoosier agricultural organizations are firing back in the public relations battle over concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs).

(link) [Muncie Star-Press]

via Ring Family Farm

07:12 /Agriculture | 0 comments | permanent link