The RIAA says that it’s no longer going to sue individual file sharers and it isn’t seeking ISP filtering. Given the RIAA’s long and storied history of lies, I’ll believe that when I see it. Even if true, however, I’m certain that there is an untold story. The hand that is letting go here will surely soon be wrapped around another part of the consumer in short order.
Category: Law Page 13 of 27
Thanks, Prop 8 voters:
The sponsors of Proposition 8 asked the California Supreme Court on Friday to nullify the marriages of the estimated 18,000 same-sex couples who exchanged vows before voters approved the ballot initiative that outlawed gay unions.
The Yes on 8 campaign filed a brief arguing that because the new law holds that only marriages between a man and a woman are recognized or valid in California, the state can no longer recognize the existing same-sex unions.
Perhaps it’s time to get personal with these people.
I knew that the Vatican opposed the UN statement calling for the decriminalization of homosexuality, but until Silence’s comment here, I had no idea that the United States apparently couldn’t bring itself to stand along side the civilized world in calling for an end to such idiocy:
Sixty-six countries signed a joint statement in support of LGBT human rights, which was tabled at the United Nations General Assembly today (18 December 2008). The full list follows below.
The most surprising non-signers were the United States and South Africa.
So what, right? It’s not like it’s a big problem.
“Some international human rights instruments have, of course, been interpreted to include sexual orientation, but this is not the same as the explicit prohibitions that exist concerning discrimination based on race, nationality, gender and so on.
“Currently, 86 countries (nearly half the nations on Earth) still have a total ban on male homosexuality and a smaller number also ban sex between women. The penalties in these countries range from a few years jail to life imprisonment. In at least seven countries or regions of countries (all under Islamist jurisdiction), the sentence is death, including Saudi Arabia, Iran, Yemen, Sudan, Mauritania and parts of Nigeria and Pakistan,†said Mr Tatchell.
We should be so proud.
One of the reasons I’ll never hold a job requiring a security clearance is my strong belief that people like Thomas Tamm are doing the right thing. When the system itself is corrupt, the doing the right thing sometimes requires you to step outside the system.
The Bush Administration gives civil society the finger one more time, on its way out:
The Bush administration today issued a sweeping new regulation that protects a broad range of health care workers — from doctors to janitors — who refuse to participate in providing services that they believe violates their personal, moral or religious beliefs.
Why don’t we extend this to police, too? Or the military? Or utility workers? If they don’t like what you’re doing, too bad, no protection/service/electricity for you!
A police officer who was caught knocking a man off his bicycle in Times Square over the summer in a video that was distributed widely on YouTube has been indicted by a grand jury, according to lawyers involved in the case.
Well that’s a pleasant surprise.
Related: Another Point In Favor of Helmets
Looks like Illinois is certainly living up to its rep:
Gov. Rod Blagojevich was taken into federal custody at his North Side home this morning.
[ . . . ]
A three-year federal corruption investigation of pay-to-play politics in Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s administration has expanded to include his impending selection of a new U.S. senator to succeed President-elect Barack Obama, the Tribune has learned.
This quote – apparently caught on tape – would be funny, if it weren’t so, you know, utterly appalling:
“I’ve got this thing and it’s [expletive] golden, and, uh, uh, I’m just not giving it up for [expletive] nothing. I’m not gonna do it. And, and I can always use it. I can parachute me there.”
Okay, Illinois, let’s set a record for how quickly an incumbent has been ejected from the governor’s mansion.
Update: If it seems that I’m being a bit hasty (and truly, given the demonstrated willingness of the DOJ to do the Republicans’ political dirty work, that would be a fair concern), I urge you to check out the DOJ release itself, or read TPM’s evolving summary coverage of it. Convincingly damning.
breaking the law isn’t exactly unprecedented in the US. Except in this case, the only ones breaking the law were the police. This is fantastic:
KopBusters rented a house in Odessa, Texas and began growing two small Christmas trees under a grow light similar to those used for growing marijuana. When faced with a suspected marijuana grow, the police usually use illegal FLIR cameras and/or lie on the search warrant affidavit claiming they have probable cause to raid the house. Instead of conducting a proper investigation which usually leads to no probable cause, the [cops] lie on the affidavit claiming a confidential informant saw the plants and/or the police could smell marijuana coming from the suspected house.
The trap was set and less than 24 hours later, the Odessa narcotics unit raided the house only to find KopBuster’s attorney waiting under a system of complex gadgetry and spy cameras that streamed online to the KopBuster’s secret mobile office nearby.
Read more here (note that I endorse Balko’s take on the perpetrator, unfortunately).
You’ve almost certainly heard the news already if you’re interested in Virginia online politics, but I’ll repeat it here – the New Dominion Project is open for business. It’s a collaborative effort by three . . . hmm, I can’t exactly call them “fresh” voices, considering that each of them has been at this for a while. Let’s go with “refreshingly youthful” voices. I expect good things from them.
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Ah, the holiday season, where we all get to reflect upon and celebrate our priorities and values.
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I had forgotten that Italy will be taking the EU G8 Presidency [ed. note – d’oh] in short order, making the corrupt disaster that is Silvio Berlusconi [slightly] more relevant to our lives
Italian president and media baron Silvio Berlusconi said today that he would use his country’s imminent presidency of the G8 group to push for an international agreement to “regulate the internet”.
Speaking to Italian postal workers, Reuters reports Berlusconi said: “The G8 has as its task the regulation of financial markets… I think the next G8 can bring to the table a proposal for a regulation of the internet.”
Thanks, Italy.
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Vivian Paige laments the loss of her weekly milk & eggs delivery from Yoder Dairies. I’m with her, if only in spirit. The last place I had milk delivery was in Nottingham in the mid-80s.
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I am shamed to say that I didn’t lift a glass in celebration of the 75th anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition last Friday (to be clear, I was lifting several glasses in celebration of other things – the anniversary just got lost in the shuffle). Amit Singh had a brief note about it up at Bearing Drift. That post kicked off a discussion that turned into an amusing reminder that the (remaining) Republican rank and file are more concerned with the fact that someone somewhere may be enjoying themselves than actually living up to that small government and personal freedom gloss they love to claim.
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Oh, and a begrudging congratulations to the dolts in Louisiana’s 2nd Congressional District, who finally ousted that crook, Rep. William Jefferson (D). It’s begrudging because that district’s voters apparently weren’t smart enough to do it the last time they had the opportunity. Anyway, it’s good to see him gone, and terribly amusing to see Minority Leader Rep. John Boehner hold up the Republican winner of that race as “the future” of the Republican Party.  If relying on the Democratic incumbent to get found with a freezer full of cash and indicted is the Republican plan to win, well, I can live with that. Note also that the winner – Ahn Cao – will be gone in two years. He may be an entirely competent and decent fellow, but there’s no way a Republican wins reelection in a D+28 district.
Creative Commons is an organization dedicated to ensuring the free exchange and flow of culture by providing ease to understand and use licenses by which creators (such as you and me) can release their works. 
Creators can choose to make their work freely available for any kind of use by anyone, or they can limit that use so that it must give them credit (attribution), and/or may only be used for non-commercial purposes.
On general principle, I put most of my posted work on the web – including this site – under a Creative Commons attribution non-commercial license. I’m quite happy to say that people all over the world have found my work useful for their own projects. My photos help illustrate wikipedia entries, university programs, and news stories. All because the CC licenses made it clear and easy for others to understand that I wished them to be used for those purposes.
Occasionally, however, I’ve had some problems with others understanding the concept of “non-commercial”. It’s not a big deal to me in terms of dashing my own hopes for commercial sales, and the exact definition of non-commercial is certainly unclear. It does bother me greatly, however to see a business abusing the ambiguity of the CC non-commercial license clause. That’s why I’m happy to see that the folks at Creative Commons are working on clarifying that issue. Part of that work is surveying creators and users on exactly what *they* think non-commercial use is. If you’re still reading, you should jump over and take the survey. It’s for the common good.