Morph3ous’s Weblog

ArsTechnica: Cell phone unlocking legal (for three years)

Every three years, the Copyright Office develops a list of approved exemptions to the DMCA’s anti-circumvention protections. This is the third time through the process, and the government has approved the largest number of exemptions to date—though they’re still incredibly narrow.

Exemptions are allowed for 1) the educational library of a university’s media studies department, in order to watch film clips in class; 2) using computer software that requires the original disks or hardware in order to run; 3) dongle-protected computer programs, if the the dongle no longer functions and a replacement cannot be found; 4) protected e-books, in order to use screen-reader software; 5) cell phone firmware that ties a phone to a specific wireless network; and 6) DRM software included on audio CDs, but only when such software creates security vulnerabilities on personal computers.

Here is John Stewart’s reaction to FOX News’ “mistake” labeling Foley as a Democrat.

There are many versions of this video on Youtube. I linked to the one that has the full version of the story. Look at the graphic under the image of Mark Foley and you will see that he is labeled D-FL. Mark Foley is not a Democrat.

As far as I am aware at this moment neither FOX News or the O’Reilly factor appologized or even admitted to the error. It could be an honest mistake, but it really seems a little fishy when there is no acknowledgement.

John Stewart has also commented on this. I will try to find that clip and post it as well.

In this video the incorrect graphic shows up twice. Once around 58 seconds into it, and again at around 2:38. It is also the same photo both times.

MiamiHerald.com | 09/18/2006 | Securing sensitive data

Recently, The Miami Herald brought to light the threat of identity theft facing Floridians because of the prevalence and accessibility of personal information online Public records easy targets for ID thieves, Aug. 27.

This follows the announcement by the Transportation Department that two computers containing sensitive data — in one case, the personal information of more than 133,000 Floridians — have been stolen in the last several months.

Note to the American people, the words liberal and conservative are useless. These words are thrown around instead of intelligently debating the issues at hand. We need to express exactly what actions a government official has taken that we feel are clearly wrong, or what a news personality said that we feel distorts the facts. Why do I feel it is so important that we have more intelligent discourse and stop bickering using words that are too general to be of use?
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Video clips of Bill Clinton’s interview with Fox News as presented by The Daily Show.

MSNBC.com: Media ownership study ordered destroyed - Politics

WASHINGTON - The Federal Communications Commission ordered its staff to destroy all copies of a draft study that suggested greater concentration of media ownership would hurt local TV news coverage, a former lawyer at the agency says.

The report, written in 2004, came to light during the Senate confirmation hearing for FCC Chairman Kevin Martin.

YouTube Video: Venezuela’s Chavez says Bush planned 9/11 attacks

Let me just say that I highly doubt this. The video is embedded after the jump.
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I had downloaded the Discussion Draft of the National Surveillance Act of 2006 from a link in an article in Wired. The link pointed to one of Wired’s servers. I trust Wired as a news source; however, wished to get my hands on the primary document directly from the government.
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Wired News: NSA Bill Performs a Patriot Act

A bill radically redefining and expanding the government’s ability to eavesdrop and search the houses of U.S. citizens without court approval passed a key Senate committee Wednesday, and may be voted on by the full Senate as early as next week.

By a 10-8 vote, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved SB2453, the National Security Surveillance Act (.pdf), which was co-written by committee’s chairman Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pennsylvania) in concert with the White House.

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