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Simon Singh: This is goodbye
,----[ Quote ]
| I recently discussed this with Dr Peter
| Wilmshurst, the eminent cardiologist who is
| being sued for libel for commenting on the
| efficacy of a new heart device. Peter was
| put under immense stress when he received
| legal papers on Friday 21 December 2007 at
| 5.09pm, which was nine minutes after most
| solicitors closed for their Christmas
| holiday. It was not until the new year that
| Peter was able to get any legal advice, so
| it was an anxious Christmas.
|
| Perhaps it was just as well that Peter was
| not aware of the full implications of what
| lay ahead of him, namely at least two years
| of anxiety, misery and the threat of
| bankruptcy. Almost all his spare time has
| been spent on the libel case. When
| finalising his defence, he took two weeks of
| annual leave to work on the documents.
| Moreover, dealing with ongoing legal issues
| has prevented him from carrying out his
| usual medical research, and a number of
| publications have been put on hold.
`----
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/mar/12/simon-singh-goodbye-libel-reform
Science journo quits writing to fight chiropractic libel suit
,----[ Quote ]
| The UK's libel laws, which place the burden
| of proof onto those who have published
| inflammatory statements, have had a chilling
| effect on journalism in that nation, and
| have led to a closet industry in "libel
| tourism." As such, there have been repeated
| efforts to reform the laws, often led by
| professional organizations of writers and
| journalists. A 2008 case, however, brought a
| new community into the fight: science
| communicators, drawn in when the British
| Chiropractic Association sued a journalist
| for calling some of its medical claims
| "bogus." Although the legal fight has
| continued, the journalist in question, Simon
| Singh, has now been forced to quit his job
| at The Guardian in order to defend himself.
`----
http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2010/03/science-journo-quits-writing-to-fight-chiropractic-libel-suit.ars
Censors of the Net (from LeMonde2)
,----[ Quote ]
| The last weapon in the Internet usersâ
| arsenal is humor, and it can be devastating.
| Ridicule always kills a policyâs
| credibility. In China, since February, a
| tough âantivulgarityâ campaign for a Web
| without crude language or photos forced ISPs
| to ask public forgiveness for the âindecent
| contentâ they had provided and to sanitize
| thousands of sites and social networks.
`----
https://sesawe.net/blog/censors-of-the-net/
Donkey-politician vid keeps two Azerbaijani bloggers in jail
,----[ Quote ]
| Two Azerbaijani bloggers will remain in jail
| after using a donkey to represent their
| government in a satirical YouTube video.
| Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli lost an appeal
| Wednesday asking for them to be released
| from their respective 2 and and 2.5 year
| sentences. Their lawyer vowed to continue
| appealing all the way up to the Azerbaijan's
| Supreme Court and the European Court of
| Human Rights if necessary.
`----
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/03/donkey-politician-vid-keeps-two-azerbaijani-bloggers-in-jail.ars
Govt internet filter going live is sad day for NZ
,----[ Quote ]
| The Department of Internal Affairs has
| admitted that the internet filter is now
| operational and is already being used by
| ISPs Maxnet and Watchdog. It appears that
| Maxnet have not told their customers that
| they are diverting some of their internet
| traffic to the government system to be
| filtered.
`----
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1003/S00159.htm
Chinese minister insists Google obey the law
,----[ Quote ]
| China's top Internet regulator insisted
| Friday that Google must obey its laws or
| "pay the consequences," giving no sign of a
| possible compromise in their dispute over
| censorship and hacking.
`----
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gKrY51vO2V86xiICf35Q05J0FIEAD9ED1NF80
Beijing official warns Google to obey China's laws
,----[ Quote ]
| A Chinese government minister has issued a
| stern warning to Google in the event the
| company stops filtering search results at
| its Chinese Web site: Follow our laws, or
| else.
`----
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10467952-38.html?tag=newsEditorsPicksArea.0
Recent:
Internet restrictions curtail human rights, says US
,----[ Quote ]
| Many governments have used the internet to
| curtail freedom of expression at home, the
| US state department says in its latest
| annual human rights report.
|
| In many cases new forms of electronic
| communications are restricted to control
| domestic dissent, it says.
`----
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8563084.stm
Enhancing Democracy by Banning Speech
,----[ Quote ]
| Imagine how life will be now that giant
| corporations may spend as much as they want
| on political campaigns, as the Supreme
| Court recently decreed. All they will have
| to do to get their way is ask members of
| Congress: Do you want our money helping you
| âor your opponent? Given the sums available
| to Big Business, most politicians will be
| desperate to please.
`----
http://reason.com/archives/2010/03/11/enhancing-democracy-by-banning
Hundreds rounded up in Tibet crackdown
,----[ Quote ]
| Hundreds of Tibetans are being rounded up
| and detained in Lhasa and armed
| paramilitary groups are patrolling the
| streets in advance of the anniversary of
| fatal riots in 2008, The Times has learnt.
|
| Authorities are anxious to avoid a repeat
| of the anti-Chinese attacks, in which about
| 20 people were killed when Tibetans
| rampaged through the city, setting fire to
| shops and offices.
`----
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article7056345.ece
Mobile that allows bosses to snoop on staff developed
,----[ Quote ]
| Researchers have produced a mobile phone
| that could be a boon for prying bosses
| wanting to keep tabs on the movements of
| their staff.
|
| Japanese phone giant KDDI Corporation has
| developed technology that tracks even the
| tiniest movement of the user and beams the
| information back to HQ.
`----
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8559683.stm
Pushing for press access for bloggers
,----[ Quote ]
| Jay Linerâs business card for The Baltimore
| Organ lists him as âFounder & Chief
| Protagonistâ of the Web site. The
| Pikesville lawyer is a self-described
| boomer from the anti-Vietnam generation, a
| progressive who writes about âwhat piques
| his curiosity,â from the slots debate to
| Baltimore County politics to Viagra
| commercials.
|
| [...]
|
| Liner has no desire to become a trailblazer
| in the blogosphere, but he acknowledges the
| lawsuit reflects how the Internet has
| forever changed the way people consume
| news.
`----
http://mddailyrecord.com/2010/03/07/pushing-for-press-access-for-bloggers/
Lessig Gives A Well-Timed Speech To The Italian Parliament On Internet Freedom
,----[ Quote ]
| We have noted, recently, that Italian laws
| and politicians seem to have a somewhat
| troubling view of the internet, where they
| are quick to blame the internet for
| anything bad that happens, and then look to
| pass laws that would throw out plenty of
| good just to protect against the
| possibility of any bad happening. This, of
| course, culminated just recently in the
| ruling in an Italian court that three
| Google execs were guilty of criminal
| violations, over a Google-hosted video.
|
| Given all that, it's quite interesting
| timing to see that Larry Lessig just gave a
| speech to the Italian Parliament about how
| Internet is Freedom. You can see it below
| (assuming YouTube doesn't take it down) and
| it runs a little over half an hour...
`----
http://techdirt.com/articles/20100311/1347368524.shtml
Turkish Reporters Unite to Protest YouTube Ban
,----[ Quote ]
| The Turkish courts banned YouTube in May
| 2008, and now a new protest campaign
| launched by the editorial team of the
| Milliyet newspaper is drawing attention to
| how long the country has been prevented
| from using the website.
|
| The initiative, which was was launched on
| February 19, is not the first campaign of
| this type. But it's notable because
| previous protests came from the blogosphere
| and, as a result, did not receive
| international coverage. The current ban is
| the fourth such action by the Turkish
| courts since 2007; hopefully, this campaign
| will draw attention to this policy of
| censorship.
`----
http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2010/03/turkish-reporters-unite-to-protest-youtube-ban068.html
Newegg Ships Fake Intel Chips; Supplier Threatens Journalists For Reporting It
,----[ Quote ]
| You know what's even better than weird
| news? Weird news well-flavored with legal
| stupididy, that's what. Our saga today
| starts with a shipping oddity; specifically
| the fact that Overclockers.com forum member
| Dreadrok ordered a Core i7 920 from Newegg
| and received a completely fake processor.
| It's a good fake, tooâif it weren't for a
| few misspellings on the outside of the box,
| we'd believe it was completely legit,
| particularly if we didn't take the time to
| scour the box looking for the telltales.
`----
http://hothardware.com/News/Newegg-Ships-Fake-Intel-Chips-Supplier-Threatens-Journalists-For-Reporting-It/
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