M&Mâs World Headlines: Feb 17, 2009
Check the first five stories for how the “War On Terror” is really turning into an erosion of rights and freedoms.
Duh? U.S. ‘war on terror’ eroded human rights globally say Experts Montreal Gazette
Washington’s “war on terror” after the Sept. 11 attacks has eroded human rights worldwide, creating lingering cynicism that the United Nations must now combat, international law experts said on Monday. “Seven years after 9/11 it is time to take stock and repeal abusive laws and policies,” the former Irish president said, warning that harsh U.S. detentions and interrogations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba gave a dangerous signal to other countries that could easily follow suit. While new U.S. President Barack Obama has announced he will close Guantanamo to break from the practices of his predecessor George W. Bush, Robinson said sweeping changes needed to take place to ensure Washington abandons its “war paradigm”. “There has been severe damage and it needs to be addressed,” she told a news conference in Geneva. “We are not more secure. We are more divided, and people are more cynical about the operation of laws.” [Comment: It took 7-years, upteen legal experts, and a dozen or so former/current world leaders to conclude this? Heh, check the next article out in this "War On Terror".]
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New British law – Think twice before snapping pix of British bobbies CNet News
Tourists better think twice now before snapping pictures of the iconic British bobby. A new British anti-terrorism law went into effect Monday that could effectively bar photographers from taking pictures of police or military personnel – a move that prompted some 200 photographers to protest outside of Scotland Yard’s headquarters. Although the measure aims to prevent terrorists from taking reconnaissance shots, photographers say it could be misused at a whim to stop any pictures from being taken – especially images involving police abuse and demonstrations. Britain has come under fire in recent years for several measures that civil liberties groups say erode people’s freedoms. In 2005, another law prohibited demonstrations around Parliament. Britain’s Home Office said in a statement that the law is designed to protect police officers on counterterrorism operations. In many cases, officers could allow photographers to keep taking pictures. In other cases, they could ask them to stop or threaten them with arrest. Photographers who refuse to stop taking pictures after a warning face arrest, up to 10 years in prison or unspecified fines. [Comment: LOL. This is the same country that has like 30 camera's (CCTV) per city block to spy on their citizens! No taking pictures! LOL that's an insane one sided law. Now Check out the next one on the "War On Terror".]
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Spy chief: We risk a police state UK Telegraph
Dame Stella Rimington, the former head of MI5, has warned that the fear of terrorism is being exploited by the Government to erode civil liberties and risks creating a police state. Dame Stella accused ministers of interfering with people`s privacy and playing straight into the hands of terrorists. Since I have retired I feel more at liberty to be against certain decisions of the Government, especially the attempt to pass laws which interfere with people`s privacy, Dame Stella said in an interview with a Spanish newspaper. It would be better that the Government recognised that there are risks, rather than frightening people in order to be able to pass laws which restrict civil liberties, precisely one of the objects of terrorism: that we live in fear and under a police state, she said. Dame Stella, 73, added: The US has gone too far with Guantánamo and the tortures. MI5 does not do that. Furthermore it has achieved the opposite effect: there are more and more suicide terrorists finding a greater justification. She said the British secret services were no angels but insisted they did not kill people. Dame Stella became the first woman director general of MI5 in 1992 and was head of the security agency until 1996. Since stepping down she has been a fierce critic of some of the Government`s counter-terrorism and security measures, especially those affecting civil liberties. Her latest remarks were made as the Home Office prepares to publish plans for a significant expansion of state surveillance, with powers for the police and security services to monitor every email, as well as telephone and internet activity. Despite considerable opposition to the plan, the document will say that the fast changing pace of communication technology means the security services will not be able to properly protect the public without the new powers. Local councils have been criticised for using anti-terrorism laws to snoop on residents suspected of littering and dog fouling offences. In a further blow to ministers, an international study by lawyers and judges accused countries such as Britain and America of actively undermining the law through the measures they have introduced to counter terrorism. [Comment: ah the propaganda "war On Terror" is being exploited by the Governments to erode civil liberties? We never new that. Now Check out the next one on the "War On Terror"]
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Landlord fights police plan for CCTV at pub The Guardian
A prospective pub landlord says the police insistence on him installing CCTV cameras to film everyone entering his pub threatens his customers’ civil liberties. Nick Gibson says he has been in a “silent rage” since the police outlined conditions to his licence application, which also requires him to hand over any film of drinkers on request. “I have been spitting teeth … since I first heard of this request, but at every turn I am alternately advised to keep my head down or laughed at for my naivety,” said Gibson, who plans to reopen the Drapers Arms in Islington, north London, in April. The row comes a week after a House of Lords report stated that the steady expansion of the “surveillance society” risked undermining fundamental freedoms including the right to privacy. Lord Goodlad, the former Conservative chief whip and committee chairman, said that there could be no justification for this gradual but incessant creep towards every detail about an individual being recorded and pored over by the state. “The huge rise in surveillance and data collection by the state and other organisations risks undermining the long-standing traditions of privacy and individual freedom which are vital for democracy,” he said. Also check out, http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/02/17/met_cctv [Comment: The crazies rule the world. Maybe Jon should run one day covering just the "War On Terror" happening around the "free" world.]
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UK mobile phone firms to sell data about customer activity Mathaba
The UK’s mobile phone networks are to start selling data about the internet sites visited by their customers to advertisers. The companies have been collecting the information over the past year and will use it in an attempt to generate more advertising. News that the industry has been monitoring what users do on the mobile web is likely to infuriate privacy campaigners. The GSMA’s chief marketing officer, Michael O’Hara, said: “We can see the top sites, see where people are browsing regularly. See the time that sites are being viewed, the number of visits, the duration of visits and we can also get demographic data so you can have age ranges, male/female ranges. “You can really start to build up a compelling case that says if you are a media company or advertising company, this is where you should be targeting your spending.” The GSMA will announce at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona today that it plans to make this data available to commercial third parties later in the year. The GSMA stressed that the traffic data it had been collecting in the UK had also been anonymised and it had checked with European regulators to ensure that its service complied with the relevant laws. In its trial, the UK’s five networks 3, O2, Orange, T-Mobile and Vodafone used deep packet inspection technology to collect data covering about half the UK’s entire mobile web traffic.
[Comment: Anonymized, unh-hunh.]
Chinese blogger stabbed after public reading CTV
A Chinese blogger whose satirical postings have gained a wide following was stabbed in the stomach at a Beijing book store after giving a reading, witnesses and friends said Monday. Xu Lai, who writes under the pseudonym Qian Liexian, was attacked Saturday evening at the Wanda branch of the Beijing Danxiangjie Book Store, a staffer there confirmed Monday. Xu, who is also culture editor at the Beijing News paper, was apparently stabbed in the store’s bathroom by two men who later fled, according to friends and fellow bloggers who posted the news online. The motive was unclear for the assault, which was the first known physical attack on a prominent blogger. Xu’s blog, entitled “Qian Liexian Wants to Speak,” offers witty, satirical observations on society and politics. At times provocative, he has also commented on government corruption and the recent scandal of milk contaminated with an industrial chemical. Last year, he was listed among the “20 Most Influential Figures in China’s Cyberspace” by Southern Metropolis Weekly. Xu’s blog was one of many hosted on the Chinese blogging website bullog.cn, which was shut down in January as part of a government crackdown on the Internet. The successor site, bullogger.com, is hosted overseas.
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N.Y. Gov. Aims To Tax Downloads, Including Porn NPR
In an effort to curb New York’s nearly $15 billion budget deficit, Gov. David Paterson is suggesting a tax on Internet downloads. His so-called “iPod tax” would levy a 4 percent fee on all music and video downloads â including pornography. Supporters say they’re merely bringing the tax code into line with shifting technologies. But not everyone is on board with the idea of profiting off porn. The chairman of New York’s Conservative Party says that taxing it legitimizes it.
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Hackers: BitDefender site exposes private data (yet again) The Register
Romanian hackers have discovered a security flaw in the website of anti-virus provider BitDefender. They said it was the second time in a week the company has inadvertently exposed a database that is supposed to remain private. According to an item posted to HackersBlog, BitDefender’s main website can be tricked into disclosing database contents by embedding commands into the BitDefender.com URL.
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Could Cow Urine Cola Make a Splash? ABC
In a country where cows are sacred, drinking their urine is close to godliness. And better yet, it’s marketable. Along with protecting the bovine beast, the Cow Protection Department of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) wants to make a cola from the cow’s urine, which they say has curative properties. “It has been established that cow urine is capable of curing even cancer, so imagine a drink which would not only be tasty but also healthy,” Om Prakash, leader of RSS, told ABC News. Curing cancer with cow urine? Cancer prevention experts said this seems like an unlikely stretch. So How’s It Taste? Keith-Thomas Ayoob, nutritionist at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, said there are a couple of potential problems with the drink, including the taste. “Just trust me on this — this drink really will require flavoring,” Ayoob said.
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Movie Box Office: Friday the 13th scares up $42.2 Million Buzz Newsroom
Only surprise here was how much loot Friday the 13th took in. Scoring an estimated $42.2 million from Friday-Sunday. Final numbers and standings will be out tomorrow.
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Lawton teen films himself abusing cat, posts on YouTube-Gets caught KSWO
An animal abuse story that has sparked outrage across the country has Comanche County Sheriff Kenny Stradley saying that two local boys are responsible. The teen was filmed beating and torturing a cat, and uploaded it to YouTube over the weekend. It was viewed about 30,000 times. The horrifying day may be over for the cat, but it is just getting started for its abusers. “We’ll put it together and take it to the D.A. It will be up to the D.A. whether or not he files charges or not. Our job is to put the investigation together as a case and take it to the DA and that’s what we’ll do,” said Stradley. Stradley says the teens responsible were released to their parents by the DA and they and their lawyer will meet with investigators to determine their fate on Tuesday. Dusty, the cat, is alive and was taken to a veterinarian where it will remain until the investigation is complete.
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Ottawa recalls sensitive database in border project CBC
The federal government is repatriating a database of personal information about Canadian citizens after warnings that the U.S. government might misuse it. The database with details about several hundred British Columbians was turned over to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency last year as part of a controversial project to issue “enhanced driver’s licences” instead of passports for land border crossings. The pilot project is the first step in a Canada-wide program that could have seen the personal information of hundreds of thousands of Canadians handed over wholesale to U.S. officials. But the Canada Border Services Agency has bowed to pressure from privacy advocates and is recalling the database, with the U.S. border agency promising to erase its records. However, the USA Patriot Act could trump that clause, forcing the U.S. border service to turn over information to American security agencies.
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French ’spider-man’ scales Hong Kong skyscraper CNet News
French daredevil scaled a 73-story Hong Kong skyscraper barehanded Tuesday in his latest attempt to draw attention to global warming by climbing up the world’s tallest buildings. Alain Robert, dubbed the French spider-man, has scaled dozens of tall structures without ropes or harnesses. These include the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Empire State Building in New York and Malaysia’s Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur.
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Vietnam censors Vietnamese-American site The Inquirer
A WEB SITE owned by a US bloke is about to be shut by the Socialist Republic of Vietnam because it says things that the government does not like.
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Canon tries to shut down Fake Canon blog The Inquirer
PRINTER MAKER Canon has sent a rocket to bog site Wordpress.com ordering it to shut down its Fake Chuck Westfall Bog. The bog which claims to be written by a fake version of Canon’s technical information advisor Chuck Westfall goes down the same tired lines as the Fake Steve Jobs site. The only difference is that people know who Steve Jobs is but few would know or care about Chuck. However that has not stopped Canon throwing all its toys out of the pram over the creation of the site. While Apple was reluctantly forced to admit that the Fake Steve Jobs site was probably legal, Canon has no such qualms. Canon claims some blog posts violate Wordpress.com’s Terms of Service as well as “many and federal state laws” by “threats of physical violence,” and “the outrageously privacy-invasive identification… of Westfall’s wife, Ying, and young daughter, Anne.” Canon also thinks that the blog looks too official and might actually confuse those who are easily confused. Over the weekend, Fake Chuck Westfall has removed the Canon logo and toned down one of his posts. And the outfit which runs Wordpress.com, Automattic, has decided tell Canon to go forth and multiply on some of the other points.
February , 2009
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February 24th, 2009 at 8:49 am
@NY Governer
Why dont you Catch Criminals and Murderers instead of ‘trying’ to cash in on the Citizens of the Internet?
Who elected you? damn republicans