[11. 21. 2002]
The terrible piece of legislation that the DMCA (.PDF) is has once again been used to silence speech. Several retailers
(Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy, and Staples) are using the law to stop Web sites from posting the sale prices of items being offered on "Black Friday." The retailers claim the sale prices
are "proprietary information" and are therefore protected under the act. Sound ridiculous to you? Then take a stand. Boycott "Black Friday" AND the retailers. Use your
hard-earned dollar to send the message that such nonsense will not be tolerated.
(Read More)
Need another reason to boycott them? The first of 39 class-action lawsuits against Wal-Mart went to trial on Tuesday. The
lawsuit seeks to reclaim several million dollars in back pay for unpaid overtime. The plaintiffs claim that Wal-Mart managers "got their employees to work off the clock" by having them
"clean up the store after they'd clocked out and by deleting hours from time records." Two similar cases were previously settled in Colorado and New Mexico.
(Read More)
PBS president and chief executive officer Pat Mitchell recently gave a lecture at Ithaca
College entitled "Media Consolidation, Convergence, Connection: The Good, the Bad and the Downright Dangerous." Her message regarding the trend in media consolidation could not
have been more true. The few multi-national media conglomerates serve as "the gatekeeper's for us and the rest of the world, determining what we and they see." Perhaps this explains why
our American Idol received more media coverage than the recent national elections, as the important news stories get marginalized to attract
advertising dollars.
[11. 20. 2002]
Have you sent your fax yet to (p)Resident Bush? If not, please urge him to terminate the Defense Departments "Total Information Awareness" program. Simply put, this program would give
our government officials immediate access to all our personal information and grant them the ability "to snoop into all aspects of our private lives without a search warrant or proof
of criminal wrongdoing."
(Take Action | Learn More | Read More)
The 4th Amendment states "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers,
and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation,
and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized." In a blatant disregard for it, the ultra-secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court
on Monday gave Attorney General Ashcroft the green light to spy on U.S. citizens. Conveniently, there's no way for anyone, except the U.S. government, to appeal the decision to the Supreme
Court.
(Read More)
Lastly, please remember to send a letter to your U.S. Representative regarding the Cyber Security Enhancement Act (H.R. 3482, CSEA) and the Homeland Security Act (H.R. 5710, HSA). Why should
you be concerned? Because CSEA would allow "any government entity (federal, state, or local) to request email and voicemail from your ISP or telephone provider without a warrant or probable
cause."
(Take Action)
[11. 14. 2002]
For quite a while now Hollywood's biggest movie studios and the MPAA have been lobbying Congress to get legislation passed that'll protect their intellectual property from being illegally
copied. Isn't it a little bit ironic then that Disney Enterprises and Pixar Talking Pictures have been sued by Stanley Mouse, claiming that "the Mike and Sully characters featured in
'Monsters, Inc.' were copied without credit from his catalog of work?" Drawings which are dated from the early 1960s were attached to the complaint, along with the claim that "a story
artist from Pixar visited Mouse in 2000, described himself as a fan of the artist and discussed Mouse's work with him."
(Read More)
According to a New York Times article, Vice Admiral John M. Poindexter, with the
help of the U.S. military, is planning to take Big Brother a giant step forward. His "Total Information Awareness" (TIA) program would permit unfettered "eavesdropping and tracking of
Americans," and the world over, without a search warrant or proof of criminal wrongdoing.
(Read More)
[11. 06. 2002]
Thank God for the net. When Kevin Mitnick released his book The Art of Deception,
his publisher decided to omit an important chapter from it. Originally slated to be the first chapter to the book, it recounts Mitnicks life as a hacker on the run, his arrest, trial, and
life in prison. It also tells Mitnicks side of the story of how John Markoff, reporter for The New York Times, printed malicious and false lies about Mitnick while he was a fugitive.
According to Kevin, "I really wanted to be able to tell my side of the story. I wanted to be able to explain exactly what I did and what I didn't do to people who thought they knew me."
Now he can. We present his side of the story.
Big brother seems to be everywhere these days. In our streets.
In our airports. Now it appears he may even be in our libraries. Better return that copy of
Catcher in the Rye.
(Read More)
[11. 01. 2002]
According to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Judge Collen Kollar-Kotelly will be issuing her opinions in the Microsoft case
at approximately 4:30 PM today (Friday, November 1, 2002). At that time, PDF copies of the opinion can be downloaded at http://www.dcd.uscourts.gov/.
Furthur information can also be obtained by calling (202) 354-3036. It'll be interesting to see whether or not she accepts the settlement offer by the U.S. Justice Department.
In other legal news, a federal grand jury yesterday handed down a 78-count indictment on ex-Enron chief financial officer Andrew Fastow, accusing him of engaging in fraud and money laundering.
He is also charged with masterminding the whole debacle in which he and other Enron executives profitted. Fastow's attorneys claim their client is innocent because of the fact that the crooked
deals were engaged in with the blessing on Enron's board and management. If convicted on all counts, Fastow faces between 30 years to life in prison. We, on the other hand, doubt he'll see any
jail time.
