The State of the RIAA Today
One defendant of the RIAA inquisition has just been awarded attorney’s fees against the RIAA. The article does a good job of summarizing the history of this case and includes links to articles about more resistance from defendants and the courts againts their unethical practices. It’s worth a read.
US Builds Iraqi Biometric Database
Under the guise of security, the Iraqi people are being cataloged into a US database. First, I want to make it clear that I do not necessarily oppose this move in that it's possible that it will be used properly to target terrorist while leaving innocent people alone. As with all the various privacy concerns here, though, the problem is in what else they plan to do with the data. .... [Click here to read the rest of this post]
Tags: Big BrotherA Blurb About Manhunt 2
I don't know a lot about this game other than it's very violent and has been banned from the UK. Reading about it doesn't make it any better:
“In Manhunt 2, players can mutilate their enemies with an axe; saw their skulls in half castrate them with a pair of pliers; or kill them by bashing their head into an electrical box, where a power surges eventually .... [Click here to read the rest of this post]Your Printer Spies on You
I just want to remind everyone about this so here’s a list of printers that print yellow “Tracking dots” on everything you print. The dots can be used to trace a print directly back to your printer in case of a crime or if something you printed is anywhere near a crime thus possibly involving you.
Tags: Consequences, If You Only KnewBeware Microsoft “Try before you buy” Deal
A Slashdot user warns us not to use the “Try before you buy” deal based on his experience with the same deal and Office 2003. He said it changed all the file types to 2003 so when the trial was over, he wasn’t able to access any of his files. Usually, the program will warn you before updating the format, but it won’t warn you that anything you create from .... [Click here to read the rest of this post]
Tags: MicrosoftNo Unistall Command in Vista?
Apparently, a recent update to Vista has disabled program uninstall. That sounds like a big problem to me, but so far, no word from Microsoft on the issue.
Tags: WindowsHackers Winning Microsoft DRM Battle
Let’s hear it for the winning team! Yeah!
Tags: MicrosoftMore Bad News For the RIAA
Two things today: This and this. I didn’t have the strength to summarize these, but check them out if you’re a fan of watching the RIAA scum writhe.
Criminal Probe at FBI Over Patriot Act Violations
The Patriot Act should never have been passed. We all saw the potential for abuse, but our "trust us" government assured us that it would never happen. Yeah, right. Now that the inevitible abuses have come to light, it would be nice if someone would face some consequences for a change. Like maybe Alberto Gonzales who lied to congress saying that there were no abuses during the hearing for the .... [Click here to read the rest of this post]
Tags: George Bush, Well Duh!Maryland Gets Credit Freezes!
I feel pretty dumb for not noticing this new law, but now Maryland residents will get credit freeze protection! It doesn’t go into effect until Jan 1st, 2008, but as soon as it does, people in Maryland will no longer have to worry about most ID theft or data breaches. Here’s a link to the PDF describing the process for implementing the freeze: Consumer’s Union Writeup of Maryland Credit Freeze .... [Click here to read the rest of this post]
Tags: Good Stuff, Identity Theft