evgenymorozov Evgeny Morozov
The Slits - The Peel Sessions
3 hours ago
Friday 5 August 2011
US seeks to counter extremism on Facebook & Twitter
A White House counter-terrorism strategy released on Wednesday says that Facebook, Twitter and other social networks aid in "advancing violent extremist narratives" and should be monitored by the government.
The 12-page strategy (PDF), which outlines ways to respond to violent extremism, promises that: "We will continue to closely monitor the important role the internet and social-networking sites play in advancing violent extremist narratives." President Obama said in a statement accompanying the report that the federal government will start "helping communities to better understand and protect themselves against violent extremist propaganda, especially online."
While much of the White House document is focused on Al Qaeda — which The Washington Post recently reported is on the "brink of collapse" — it also talks about domestic terrorists, neo-Nazis, anti-Semitic groups, and a broad "range of ideologies" that promote radicalisation.
@'ZDNet'
The 12-page strategy (PDF), which outlines ways to respond to violent extremism, promises that: "We will continue to closely monitor the important role the internet and social-networking sites play in advancing violent extremist narratives." President Obama said in a statement accompanying the report that the federal government will start "helping communities to better understand and protect themselves against violent extremist propaganda, especially online."
While much of the White House document is focused on Al Qaeda — which The Washington Post recently reported is on the "brink of collapse" — it also talks about domestic terrorists, neo-Nazis, anti-Semitic groups, and a broad "range of ideologies" that promote radicalisation.
@'ZDNet'
Al Gore: We need an "American Spring"
Former Vice President and Current TV chairman, Al Gore, made an appearance on his own channel Tuesday to decry the state of American politics.
He told "Countdown" host Keith Olbermann that we need an "American Spring" like the Arab Spring, with our own version of Tahrir Square, to reinvigorate political activism in America. However, Gore made clear with a number of qualifications that he was not calling for revolution. Rather than advocating taking to the streets, he seemed to be calling for more Americans to get online to make their political views heard -- a far cry from the revolutionary activity in the Arab world.
Gore also emphasized that he does not see the Tea Party as an example of grassroots political activism, largely because the movement has the support of billionaires like the Koch brothers pushing agendas in Washington.
Via
'Friends With Benefits': The New Casual Sex?
So what is it about the romcom that draws in so many of us who do not identify with being white, skinny, straight or upper class? It rises from the dichotomy between acknowledging that idealistic love is in reality unattainable, and the masochistic longing for that “one true love” despite it all. Yet in 2011, the millennial's vision of the romantic comedy has shifted to a structured kind of free love, reflecting our generation's changing feelings about sex and flip attitude toward romanticism.
Generally, the overall framework remains unchanged—the romcom continues to reincarnate, with slight revisions that allow us to relate to its promise. New iterations reflect the progressiveness of time, but ultimately reinforce antiquated ideals of monogamous, heterosexual love. In the 1980s, there were a rash of films about (not so) liberated women “married” to their jobs—who, even with success, would be nowhere without the love of a man. (See Baby Boom and Working Girl.) The 1980s was the first full decade after a mostly white and middle-class feminist movement that focused on achieving equity for other mostly white, middle-class women in the workforce. The romantic comedies of the period reflected the realities of becoming working women, but reinforced the age-old necessity for a man’s love to provide true happiness. Progress—but only to a certain point...
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Thursday 4 August 2011
Mexico arrests 'deputy financier of Zetas drug cartel'
The Mexican military says it has arrested the alleged number two financial operator of the Zetas drug cartel.
Valdemar Quintanilla Soriano was captured in the northern city of Saltillo in Coahuila state, where weapons and cash were also found. Another Zetas suspect, Jose Guadalupe Yanez Martinez, was also detained.
The Zetas and the Gulf Cartel are in a bloody battle for control of drug smuggling routes to the United States.
"During the last months, Quintanilla Soriano often travelled to Monterrey in Nuevo Leon, Saltillo and Monclova in Coahuila to coordinate finance matters as well as the payment to authorities working for the criminal organisation," said Colonel Ricardo Trevilla, spokesman for Mexico's National Defence Secretariat.
Another key Zetas suspect, Jesus Enrique Rejon Aguilar, was arrested a month ago.
The Zetas were formed by former Mexican special forces soldiers.
Mr Rejon was a member of the Mexican special forces but deserted in 1999, officials say.
The Zetas initially acted as armed enforcers for the Gulf Cartel.
The Zetas have since split with their former paymasters, and have been engaged in brutal turf wars for control of smuggling routes.
@'BBC'
Amateur scientist caught trying to split atoms in his kitchen
A Swedish man who was arrested after trying to split atoms in his kitchen says he was only doing it as a hobby.
Richard Handl said that he had the radioactive elements radium, americium and uranium in his apartment in southern Sweden when police showed up and arrested him on charges of unauthorised possession of nuclear material.
The 31-year-old Handl said he had tried for months to set up a nuclear reactor at home and kept a blog about his experiments, describing how he created a small meltdown on his stove.
Only later did he realise it might not be legal and sent a question to Sweden’s Radiation Authority, which answered by sending the police.
‘‘I have always been interested in physics and chemistry,’’ Handl said, adding he just wanted to ‘‘see if it’s possible to split atoms at home.’’
The police raid took place in late July, but police have refused to comment. If convicted, Handl could face fines or up to two years in prison.
Although he says police didn’t detect dangerous levels of radiation in his apartment, he now acknowledges the project wasn’t such a good idea.
‘‘From now on, I will stick to the theory,’’ he said.
@'The Age'
Richard Handl said that he had the radioactive elements radium, americium and uranium in his apartment in southern Sweden when police showed up and arrested him on charges of unauthorised possession of nuclear material.
The 31-year-old Handl said he had tried for months to set up a nuclear reactor at home and kept a blog about his experiments, describing how he created a small meltdown on his stove.
Only later did he realise it might not be legal and sent a question to Sweden’s Radiation Authority, which answered by sending the police.
‘‘I have always been interested in physics and chemistry,’’ Handl said, adding he just wanted to ‘‘see if it’s possible to split atoms at home.’’
The police raid took place in late July, but police have refused to comment. If convicted, Handl could face fines or up to two years in prison.
Although he says police didn’t detect dangerous levels of radiation in his apartment, he now acknowledges the project wasn’t such a good idea.
‘‘From now on, I will stick to the theory,’’ he said.
@'The Age'
British government agrees that copyright has gone too far
The British government today pledged (PDF) to enact significant changes to copyright law, including orphan works reforms and the introduction of new copyright exceptions. And the tone of the comments was surprising: the government agrees that "copyright currently over-regulates to the detriment of the UK." CD (and perhaps DVD) ripping for personal use should become legal at last—and the government is even keen to see that the consumer rights granted by law can't simply be taken away by contract (such as a "EULA" sticker on a CD demanding that a disk not be ripped).
Responding to an independent study done earlier this year, the government has also endorsed the creation of a digital copyright exchange to facilitate licensing. Within limits, the government endorses the view that "the widest possible exceptions to copyright within the existing EU framework are likely to be beneficial to the UK."
The government's report is also significant for what it pledges not to do. The government says it will not bring forward the "site blocking" provisions of last year's Digital Economy Act. This is evidently not referring to the power of copyright holders to compel individual ISPs to block infringing sites after a lawsuit, but to a more comprehensive system whereby the government maintains a list of sites that all ISPs in the country would be required to block.
Probably the most important announcement is the expansion of copyright exceptions. Unlike the US, the UK does not have a broad, judge-made "fair use" doctrine that allows transformative uses of copyrighted works. Today's report doesn't use the phrase "fair use," but it endorses legalizing many of the same ideas. The government proposes to create "a limited private copying exception," to "widen the exception for non-commercial research," to "widen the exception for library archiving," and "to introduce an exception for parody."
Orphan works are out-of-print works that cannot be used by anyone because their copyright holders cannot be found. Legislation to address the problem has languished in the US Congress for years. The British government has now pledged to enact orphan works reform that would allow "both commercial and cultural uses of orphan works," once a prospective user has conducted a diligent search for the copyright holder and paid standard licensing fees.
The report devotes significant attention to the creation of a Digital Copyright Exchange, a centralized clearinghouse to improve the efficiency of copyright licensing efforts. The project is still in the planning phase and participation in the scheme would be voluntary. But the government vows to study ways to encourage and facilitate the creation of an exchange. One way it will do that is by ensuring that the government's own "Crown copyright" works will be available for licensing.
Patents receive only a brief mention in the report. The government pledges to "resist extensions of patents into sectors which are currently excluded unless there is clear evidence of a benefit to innovation and growth." It also promises to investigate the problems created by patent thickets, although it doesn't endorse any specific proposal for addressing the problem.
The report is significant not only for the specific policies it endorses, but also for the shift in tone it represents. For decades, policymakers around the world have steadily expanded the breadth of copyright and patent protections and ratcheted up enforcement. So the fact that the UK's official copyright agenda now consists mostly of creating new copyright exceptions and abandoning previously announced enforcement efforts suggests the pendulum may finally be swinging in the other direction. The individual reforms are important, but it is most significant as a barometer of the shifting political climate.
Timothy B. Lee @'ars technica'
Responding to an independent study done earlier this year, the government has also endorsed the creation of a digital copyright exchange to facilitate licensing. Within limits, the government endorses the view that "the widest possible exceptions to copyright within the existing EU framework are likely to be beneficial to the UK."
The government's report is also significant for what it pledges not to do. The government says it will not bring forward the "site blocking" provisions of last year's Digital Economy Act. This is evidently not referring to the power of copyright holders to compel individual ISPs to block infringing sites after a lawsuit, but to a more comprehensive system whereby the government maintains a list of sites that all ISPs in the country would be required to block.
Probably the most important announcement is the expansion of copyright exceptions. Unlike the US, the UK does not have a broad, judge-made "fair use" doctrine that allows transformative uses of copyrighted works. Today's report doesn't use the phrase "fair use," but it endorses legalizing many of the same ideas. The government proposes to create "a limited private copying exception," to "widen the exception for non-commercial research," to "widen the exception for library archiving," and "to introduce an exception for parody."
Orphan works are out-of-print works that cannot be used by anyone because their copyright holders cannot be found. Legislation to address the problem has languished in the US Congress for years. The British government has now pledged to enact orphan works reform that would allow "both commercial and cultural uses of orphan works," once a prospective user has conducted a diligent search for the copyright holder and paid standard licensing fees.
The report devotes significant attention to the creation of a Digital Copyright Exchange, a centralized clearinghouse to improve the efficiency of copyright licensing efforts. The project is still in the planning phase and participation in the scheme would be voluntary. But the government vows to study ways to encourage and facilitate the creation of an exchange. One way it will do that is by ensuring that the government's own "Crown copyright" works will be available for licensing.
Patents receive only a brief mention in the report. The government pledges to "resist extensions of patents into sectors which are currently excluded unless there is clear evidence of a benefit to innovation and growth." It also promises to investigate the problems created by patent thickets, although it doesn't endorse any specific proposal for addressing the problem.
The report is significant not only for the specific policies it endorses, but also for the shift in tone it represents. For decades, policymakers around the world have steadily expanded the breadth of copyright and patent protections and ratcheted up enforcement. So the fact that the UK's official copyright agenda now consists mostly of creating new copyright exceptions and abandoning previously announced enforcement efforts suggests the pendulum may finally be swinging in the other direction. The individual reforms are important, but it is most significant as a barometer of the shifting political climate.
Timothy B. Lee @'ars technica'
phbarratt Paul Barratt
David Hicks, abandoned by Howard Govt enters plea bargain under extreme duress. Gillard goes after his "proceeds of crime". Stay classy, JG.
Wednesday 3 August 2011
The Wingnut Doughnut
Kicking off a new jobs campaign, Florida’s Governor Rick Scott went to work in a Tampa doughnut shop this morning. Apparently, Scott worked in a doughnut shop in his youth. Scott’s campaign slogan was “Let’s get to work.” For the unemployed in Florida that probably did not imply clerking in a doughnut shop, but here’s the message being sent to unemployed Floridians: “You better find something, anything, and get your lazy butt on a treadmill in a low wage, low skill job.” The move to do the doughnut gig comes as no surprise though. Scott’s ratings are in the basement and this jobs thing just so happens to coincide with a new media campaign clearly trying to clean up Scott’s tarnished reputation, but trying to put a shine on shit is tricky business. Honestly, with Florida’s unemployment at 9%, shouldn’t Scott try to put the focus on skilled jobs available in Florida and take to moment to tie in these jobs with the numerous workforce training programs available in Florida? For years, the administrations in Tallahassee have been courting the lucrative Biotechnology industry into the state and they have answered the call. Now, there is a need for trained lab techs, jobs available for those trained at the post-secondary certificate, associates, bachelors and higher levels. Florida high school graduates can land good work with just one year of college, but Scott says, “Start at a doughnut shop.” This just does not send a resonating message needed from a campaign designed to highlight work in Florida. All it says is “Look at me I still remember how to sprinkle doughnuts.”
'Collar bomb' alert grips Sydney
Australian bomb squad officers are working to defuse a suspicious device found at a home in a wealthy suburb of Sydney, police have said. Surrounding streets have been closed to traffic and emergency services rushed to the scene.
New South Wales police said in a statement that an 18-year-old woman called them to the house in Mosman, on Sydney's north shore, at around 2.30pm Australian time and that the bomb squad was in the process of examining the device.
Reports that a "collar bomb" had been strapped to the woman by someone else could not be immediately confirmed. But police told the Associated Press the incident was "not being treated as self-harm".
Asked by the Australian Daily Telegraph whether the girl could move away from the device, Mark Murdoch, an assistant police commissioner, was quoted as saying: "No, she can't get away from it."
"I can't confirm whether it is strapped to the woman involved but she is still in the vicinity of the device," he said. The paper quoted an unnamed police officer as describing the device as a "collar bomb" and the incident as an extortion attempt. This could not be independently confirmed.
The house is in Burrawong Avenue, an exclusive road full of multi-million dollar properties including one belonging to the Scottish-born horse trainer Gai Waterhouse. Homes near the house involved have been evacuated.
Police said defusing the device demanded "a high level of skill and must be meticulous".
Lizzy Davies @'The Guardian'
UPDATE
Nosh: 404
Periodically, pages go missing, assets get misplaced -- you should not be concerned. This is a startup, this kind of thing happens. At Nosh, we are fortunate to have a relationship with several teams of ex-special forces operatives who help us track down these missing pages. When a page on this website goes rogue -- and a code 404 arises -- we dispatch one of our teams to bring it back. Ideally they are able to salvage the missing page, but sometimes, if the page is truly lost, they have to take it out (resulting in the subsequent code 500 when the page gets taken down).
Regarding the page you are currently looking for, one of our teams actually did find it, but it did not want to be found and a firefight ensued. This encounter is documented above.
We are very sorry we are not able to display the page you were looking for. Please go back home and we’ll do our best to ensure this kind of mix up is resolved peacefully in the future.
Behind the scenes: vimeo.com/26952527
nosh.me/404
Via
Gillard keeps mum on News Ltd meeting
Ms Gillard had a private meeting with editors from Rupert Murdoch's News Ltd newspapers in Sydney on Tuesday night after she was invited to address a gathering of editors and executives by News Ltd CEO John Hartigan.
Last month, Ms Gillard said revelations of the UK phone hacking scandal, which resulted in the demise of Mr Murdoch's 168-year-old newspaper News of the World, had disturbed Australians.
She said Australians would have questions to ask of News Ltd and the company had a responsibility to answer those questions.
But as for her meeting with News Ltd editors, those talks were private.
"I'm not going to go to individual matters discussed," she told reporters in Melbourne on Wednesday.
"It was a broad-ranging discussion, it was a good discussion, canvassing a number of topics."
Opposition communications spokesman Malcolm Turnbull said Ms Gillard should reveal what "hard questions" she posed during the meeting.
"I'd be interested in what she said," Mr Turnbull told ABC Radio on Wednesday.
"She said in a rather menacing way that Rupert Murdoch had some hard questions to answer in Australia.
"Then when she was asked what those questions were, she couldn't nominate them."
On Tuesday the prime minister said it would be a private meeting, but she expected to talk about her vision for the future and the government's reform agenda.
"Such meetings have been addressed by prime ministers and opposition leaders in the past, so when I was invited by Mr Hartigan I accepted the invitation," Ms Gillard said.
@'SBS'
Last month, Ms Gillard said revelations of the UK phone hacking scandal, which resulted in the demise of Mr Murdoch's 168-year-old newspaper News of the World, had disturbed Australians.
She said Australians would have questions to ask of News Ltd and the company had a responsibility to answer those questions.
But as for her meeting with News Ltd editors, those talks were private.
"I'm not going to go to individual matters discussed," she told reporters in Melbourne on Wednesday.
"It was a broad-ranging discussion, it was a good discussion, canvassing a number of topics."
Opposition communications spokesman Malcolm Turnbull said Ms Gillard should reveal what "hard questions" she posed during the meeting.
"I'd be interested in what she said," Mr Turnbull told ABC Radio on Wednesday.
"She said in a rather menacing way that Rupert Murdoch had some hard questions to answer in Australia.
"Then when she was asked what those questions were, she couldn't nominate them."
On Tuesday the prime minister said it would be a private meeting, but she expected to talk about her vision for the future and the government's reform agenda.
"Such meetings have been addressed by prime ministers and opposition leaders in the past, so when I was invited by Mr Hartigan I accepted the invitation," Ms Gillard said.
@'SBS'
Mushroom Death Suit
@'The Infinity Burial Project'
Designing a mushroom death suit
Fault Lines: The Top 1%
The richest 1% of US Americans earn nearly a quarter of the country's income and control an astonishing 40% of its wealth. Inequality in the US is more extreme than it's been in almost a century — and the gap between the super rich and the poor and middle class people has widened drastically over the last 30 years.
Meanwhile, in Washington, a bitter partisan debate over how to cut deficit spending and reduce the US' 14.3 trillion dollar debt is underway. As low and middle class wages stagnate and unemployment remains above 9%, Republicans and Democrats are tussling over whether to slash funding for the medical and retirement programs that are the backbone of the US's social safety net, and whether to raise taxes — or to cut them further.
The budget debate and the economy are the battleground on which the 2012 presidential election race will be fought. And the United States has never seemed so divided — both politically and economically.
How did the gap grow so wide, and so quickly? And how are the convictions, campaign contributions and charitable donations of the top 1% impacting the other 99% of Americans? Fault Lines investigates the gap between the rich and the rest.
This episode of Fault Lines first aired on Al Jazeera English on August 2, 2011 at 0930 GMT.
Meanwhile, in Washington, a bitter partisan debate over how to cut deficit spending and reduce the US' 14.3 trillion dollar debt is underway. As low and middle class wages stagnate and unemployment remains above 9%, Republicans and Democrats are tussling over whether to slash funding for the medical and retirement programs that are the backbone of the US's social safety net, and whether to raise taxes — or to cut them further.
The budget debate and the economy are the battleground on which the 2012 presidential election race will be fought. And the United States has never seemed so divided — both politically and economically.
How did the gap grow so wide, and so quickly? And how are the convictions, campaign contributions and charitable donations of the top 1% impacting the other 99% of Americans? Fault Lines investigates the gap between the rich and the rest.
This episode of Fault Lines first aired on Al Jazeera English on August 2, 2011 at 0930 GMT.
'UK's biggest' cocaine haul found on Southampton yacht
The UK's largest ever seizure of a Class A drug has been made from a luxury yacht in Southampton, the UK Border Agency has said.
Officials found 1.2 tonnes of cocaine with a street value of between £50m and £300m in the yacht two months ago.The 90% pure drugs were so well hidden in the 65ft pleasure cruiser, the Louise, it took six days to find them.
They had originated in the Caribbean and were en route to the Netherlands. Dutch police have arrested six men.
They are thought to be an organised crime gang.
Morning raids French authorities were alerted to the £1m craft Louise while it was in the Caribbean in May and it was then tracked to Southampton, on its way to Holland.
Officials spent six days searching the vessel and found the drugs packed in a specially-designed compartment beneath the boat's bathing platform, UKBA said.
It is understood the cocaine, which originated in South America, was packed inside the boat while it was in Venezuela.
Since the drugs were found in June, the UKBA has helped Dutch police track members of the gang and six men were arrested during early morning raids on Tuesday.
Two 44-year-olds were arrested in Amsterdam, a 60-year-old was held in Meppel, a 32-year-old and 34-year-old were arrested in Heusden, while a 27-year-old was held in Waalwijk.
A total of 100,000 euros (£87,300), two Harley Davidson motorcycles, two firearms, a silencer and a quantity of ecstasy were also seized.
@'BBC'
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