The Taming of the Fans

Australia Steps Closer To 3-Strikes for Pirates

Last month we reported on a threat made by AFACT to Australian ISP’s – talk to us on a ‘graduated response’, OR ELSE. Since no-one apparently took the offer up, the ‘or else’ has appeared, in the form of the Australian Attorney General.
The Australian has confirmed that Attorney-General Robert McClelland will be holding a meeting with copyright advocacy groups next month and has invited some ISPs to take part. The meeting will reportedly be to negotiate more copyright ‘protection’ laws.
A letter, obtained by The Australian, has stated that the meeting will allow stakeholder (read: Copyright Industry) views to be pitched to the government, as ‘advice’. While ISP’s have been invited, no invitations have apparently been sent to groups looking out for the public interest.
Telstra has already confirmed it’s attending, as will AFACT. Time will tell if the meeting, scheduled for September, will end up with the same whitewash as has characterised the introduction of such laws in other countries.
Ben Jones @'Torrent Freak'

Snowflakes Simulated in 3-D

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wikileaks WikiLeaks

If you think getting rid of #Gaddafi was hard, wait till you see what happens when Libyans try to get rid of NATO.

Famous Lives in Minimalist Pictogram Flowcharts

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WTF???

IMPORTANT @wikileaks @rixstepnews @m_cetera @ChrisStoecker
WTF DDB now states to a heise "journo" he DIDN'T! delete the files but the Keys! translation: To all my readers: according to Daniel Domscheit-Berg some minutes ago: His statement: "Right now only the key material is deleted. regarding the ongoing of this action there will follow an extra, extensive statement which will also explain the origin of this data backup" link http://www.heise.de/newsticker/foren/S-Fuer-alle-meine-Leser-nach-Auskunft-von-Daniel-Domscheit-Berg-vor-paar-Min/forum-207712/msg-20673342/read/
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As Britain's alienated young rose up, where was the NME? Watching Wild Beasts and worrying about indie stock, sadly

Riots: Metropolitan police planned to hold all suspects in custody

Patti Smith Co-Writing ‘Just Kids’ Film

Patti Smith’s excellent National Book Award-winning memoir, Just Kids, might become a feature film, as Smith herself has reportedly teamed up with Tony Award winner and Oscar-bait heavyweight John Logan (Gladiator, The Aviator, The Last Samurai) to pen a screenplay based on the book’s account of her relationship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. No distribution deals are in place as of yet, so the project is very much in its beginning stages. Meanwhile, Smith has a number of other ambitious projects on her plate (in addition to covering Adele): an extension of her first memoir, a detective novel, and a new LP inspired by Saint Francis of Assisi, the home of Dylan Thomas, and Mikhail Bulgakov’s 1967 novel The Master and Margarita.
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