Phyrfight Intel

Google has put its self between a rock and a hard place with the the recent news that it would not allow the United States government access to its search logs, while simulaneously succumbing the the wishes of the Chinese government to censor information on the Internet. This company is fighting the law of a democratically elected government which may or may not be legal (that has yet to be determined), and at the same time censoring free speech which should be a right of every person on this planet. Google along with other companies in the United States have been far too willing to censor information, some of which is historical information pertaining to the violence of the Chinese government. These companies are becoming more responsible for the formation of an Orwellian Chinese society.

P.S. There are some corporations and institutions attempting to turn the United States into an Orwellian society as we speak, starting with the Broadcast Flag.

From the WSJ

“…the tour to Caracas belongs in the “you-can’t-make-it-up” category: A bitterly outspoken American citizen who has made a career of lambasting her president, she travels abroad to celebrate with a dictator who has thrown his own critics out of work and even put them in prison, stripped the press of its freedom, destroyed property rights and militarized the government. His political supporters are known to be armed and dangerous and many Venezuelans in poor neighborhoods have reported that they are afraid to disent from the Chavez agenda. Venezuela’s arms build-up is frightening his neighbors and threatening regional stability. ”

Scary Homeland Securty/Privacy stuff from WSJ.com

“Google will “vigorously” oppose a Justice Department legal motion requiring it to disclose information about consumer Web searches.”

WSJ.com – Google to Buck U.S. on Data Request

From the NRA

On Wednesday, October 26, President George W. Bush signed into law the NRA-backed “Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act” (S. 397)–legislation to end politically motivated lawsuits designed to bankrupt law-abiding American firearm manufacturers and retailers. S. 397 passed both chambers of Congress with broad bipartisan support; in recent years, 33 states have passed similar legislation.

Having lost this extremely significant battle in Congress, the anti-gunners have again taken their show to the courts–and activist judges–in an attempt to circumvent and challenge the new law.

On December 2, anti-gun New York Federal Judge Jack B. Weinstein ruled that New York City’s lawsuit against law-abiding firearm manufacturers and retailers could move forward.

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From the AOPA:

“Perhaps. In the 9/11 Commission’s first “report card,” it gives the
government a “B-” for homeland airspace defense. The commission notes
that there is “no overarching plan to secure airspace outside the National
Capital region.” “That’s most ominous,” said Andy Cebula, AOPA senior
vice president of government and technical affairs, “because what ‘secures’
the National Capital region is the Washington, D.C., Air Defense
Identification Zone (ADIZ)! I’m not sure which is more distressing–that
the commission thinks the Washington, D.C., ADIZ works, or that they think
the model should be applied elsewhere.” This makes it all the more critical
that pilots tell the government that they don’t want the Washington, D.C.,
ADIZ to continue and that they definitely don’t want an ADIZ in their
airspace. In its original report, the 9/11 Commission said that NORAD–
the North American Aerospace Defense Command–focused only on threats
from outside the United States, even though terrorists might “use planes
as missiles.” The report card, issued Monday, adds that “no single agency
currently leads the interagency response to airspace violations.” “What
we have seen before with these kinds of reports is a knee-jerk reaction
to do something–anything–to prove that you’re doing something,” said
Cebula. “And the easiest thing for them to do would be to create more
ADIZs.” But ADIZs would be the wrong thing to do, according to AOPA.
The ill-conceived, poorly executed approach unfairly penalizes general
aviation, damages small businesses, increases transportation inefficiencies,
and adds additional non-safety-related burdens upon already over-tasked
air traffic controllers.”
See AOPA’s Member Action Center: Operation ADIZ

IGN: Judge Kills Illinois Violent Game Law

IGN: Industry Responds to Federal Game Regulation

The State of Texas has filed suit against Sony.

The EFF anounced today they are filing a class action against Sony.

All people whether they are programmers or those who are tech-illiterate need to read this article. The recent Sony debacle has brought many of these issues to the forefront of public discussion. I urge all who care about any of their rights to participate in any manner possible. This country was founded by the people for the people and can still be run by the people if we wish. By participating in greater numbers and telling those in the government that we control them and not the other way around we can continue this greatest of experiments. Read the whole article with links here.

The EFF makes it easy to participate.

How to stop Hollywood and Congress from trampling on your constitutional rights from ZDnet
Posted by David Berlind @ 10:35 am

“Earlier today, I wrote a blog entry entitled The day the broadcast died. It talks about how the RSS subscription protocol has been married to TV programming in a way that could completely disintermediate the current channels of TV program distribution. In response, you should expect the entertainment industry to pursue every avenue at its disposal to clamp down on such innovations, stifling both the Internet and your constitutional rights in the process. Here’s what you need to know and what you need to do about it right now.”

more

The more and more I read about what has transpired the more and more infuriated I become with Sony. The record labels and the RIAA have no idea what is going on and soon there will be no need for either of them. Power to the people! EFF: An Open Letter to Sony-BMG

Wired News: Real Story of the Rogue Sony Rootkit

It’s a David and Goliath story of the tech blogs defeating a mega-corporation.

“Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.” —John F. Kennedy

Do the Democrats agree with this statement, or not?

From: The Federalist Patriot

“On the heels of the “White House — CIA leak” investigation, which concluded that no laws were broken (but charged one administration staffer with perjury), liberals are attempting to parlay that non-starter into a much bigger political brawl. Their charges have no substance, and are completely contrived to keep Republicans off balance through next year’s midterm elections.

Sens. Ted Kennedy, Harry Reid and Dick Durbin have accused President George Bush of lying about Iraq’s Weapons of Mass Destruction, insisting he “lied us into war.” They are even floating the suggestion that he be impeached.

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By: John R. Lott Jr

Who wrote the following?

“[I]t is possible that once residents gave up their handguns, San Francisco would be seen as an easy hunting ground for criminals who have no intention of giving up their own pistols.”

Is it the NRA claiming that gun laws disarm law-abiding citizens and not criminals? No. Amazingly enough it was the San Francisco Chronicle, one of the more liberal newspapers in the U.S., in an editorial arguing against Proposition H, the initiative that passed on Tuesday to ban handguns in the city.

Read more:
John Lott’s website

If you haven’t heard yet, Sony/BMG has been using Trojan Horse programs to protect it’s music CDs, and if you try to uninstall the program it will destroy your hard drive. This is one of the reasons the EFF exists.

The “Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act” (S. 397) passed last week but the fight is far from over.

From the NRA

“S. 397 won’t become law until the House and Senate formalize their passage of the bill and send it to President Bush for signature. When he does, it will be the law of the land but just the beginning of another phase of the battle.

The gun-ban groups and their cronies in the courtrooms have vowed to fight this law, in the same courtrooms that have allowed their baseless lawsuits to proceed unchecked. They will search for the right judge and hand-picked jury, and they will attempt to have this law declared unconstitutional. The Brady Campaign has already announced its intention to challenge the law commenting “Congress can pass the bill, the president can sign it, but this shameful law will not stand.” If they succeed, all of our hard-fought progress will be immediately undone.

We must defend this law in every jurisdiction of the land. We must defend our gains from rollback. And we must continue our overarching mission, the defense of the Second Amendment, against new threats that have emerged.”

From the NRA-ILA

(Fairfax, VA) – Today the United States House of Representatives passed the “Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act” (S. 397) by a bipartisan vote of 283-144. The legislation now moves to President Bush’s desk for his expected signature.

Commenting on the passage of this landmark legislation, NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre said, “This is an historic victory for the NRA. Freedom, truth and justice prevailed, and today S. 397 is one step closer to becoming the law of the land. No other industry is forced to defend themselves when a violent criminal they do not know, have never met and cannot control, misuses a legal non-defective product. American firearms manufacturers will now receive the same fair treatment.”

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Wired 13.09: A Rotten Ruling

“…The Grokster ruling in June was just the latest example. The Court decided that “one who distributes a device with the object of promoting its use to infringe copyright … is liable for the resulting acts of infringement by third parties.” Pundits bathed the Court in praise for its “sensible balance” between the demands of Hollywood and the pleas of technologists. The pundits are idiots. The Grokster case revealed the worst in Supreme Court ivory towerism. Astonishingly, hardly anyone noticed…

…Apple has sold about 15 million iPods, each capable of holding between 1,000 and 15,000 songs. Its iTunes music store has sold about 500 million songs for 99 cents each. That works out to only 30 songs or so per device. Does this surprise Apple? Did it really expect that people would buy a 60-gig iPod for $400 and then put $14,850 of music in it? No. Apple expected precisely what it advertised – that people would “Rip. Mix. Burn.” music from CDs to iTunes and, in turn, to their iPods. After all, as the ads say, “It’s your music.”

Well, is it? That’s still unclear. Congress passed a law to give consumers the right to copy music to analog devices – cassette tapes. But courts have held that that law does not extend to digital devices – iPods.And if it took a law (rather than the principle of fair use) to give you the right to make a mix tape, then, as many have argued, it takes a law to authorize transferring songs to an iPod…”

Wired 10.10: Lawrence Lessig’s Supreme Showdown
Lawrence Lessig helped mount the case against Microsoft. He wrote the book on creative rights in the digital age. Now the cyberlaw star is about to tell the Supreme Court to smash apart the copyright machine.

Once a “right-wing lunatic,” he’s become a fire-breathing defender of Net values.

Some think it prudent to reinstate this for a time:

Sedition Act

Whoever, when the United States is at war, shall willfully make or convey false reports or false statements with intent to interfere with the operation or success of the military or naval forces of the United States, or to promote the success of its enemies, or shall willfully make or convey false reports or false statements, or say or do anything except by way of bona fide and not disloyal advice to an investor or investors, with intent to obstruct the sale by the United States of bonds or other securities of the United States or the making of loans by or to the United States, and whoever when the United States is at war, shall willfully cause or attempt to cause, or incite or attempt to incite, insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, or refusal of duty, in the military or naval forces of the United States, (more…)