Thursday, March 21, 2002
Google Relists Operation Clambake
After almost every tech site and individual geek banded together to either carry the story about Google's delisting of Operation Clambake or flat-out protest it, Google has apparently relisted Xenu.net. Searches forxenuandscientologylist Operation Clambake as the first and fourth results, respectively. The search forscientologyalso lists a story from C|Net about Google delisting Operation Clambake, as well as a protest ad from a kuro5hin reader (oc3).
Woohoo!
Later: Hmm, maybe not...
Anti-Copy Bill Hits D.C.
Declan McCullagh
Senator Fritz Hollings has fired the first shot in the next legal battle over Internet piracy. [ ... ] The bill, called the Consumer Broadband and Digital Television Promotion Act (CBDTPA), prohibits the sale or distribution of nearly any kind of electronic device - unless that device includes copy-protection standards to be set by the federal government.
Discussion at Slashdot.
Copyright — or wrong?
Salon: From July 22, 1999
In the last six months, at least a half dozen critics of the Church of Scientology have reported that the church has demanded that Internet service providers disable their Web sites or reveal their identities as anonymous Usenet posters, because of alleged copyright infringements.
Google pulls anti-Scientology links
Digital rights advocates said the Church of Scientology's takedown request is noteworthy because it underscores potential conflicts between the DMCA and free speech.
Scientology and the First Amendment
Dave Winer
I have no idea what Scientology teaches, but so far I've only heard bad things.
Google Yanks Scientology Sites
Declan McCullagh
Since Xenu.net and its companion sites are in Norway, Scientology can't use U.S. law to remove the pages directly. But in getting Google to delete them from its mammoth database, the church hopes to remove one of the most obvious ways that Internet users can stumble across the sites.
Simpsons Guide to Math
The LA times has done an article titledSimpsonsanalysts show how math figures into episodes based off of work done by two professors Andrew Nestler and Sarah J. Greenwald. The work is a Guide to Appearances of Mathematics and Mathematicians onThe Simpsons. They even gave a talk on it at Harvey Mudd College. It's a fun read. There's a transcript of one of their presentations available.
Of course, the site is slashdotted...
Learning HTML
Russ Lipton
These links should sate your foolish HTML source code curiosities.
Radio UserLand 8.0.7
Dave Winer
Radio UserLand 8.0.7 is available for download.
Google bows to Scientology's DMCA request, yanks critics' site
Deana M. Holmes at Declan McCullagh's Politech
Andreas Heldal-Lund, webmaster of www.xenu.net, got a DMCA notification letter from Google earlier today. In the letter, a long list of URLs were listed as infringing, and Google apparently complied with the DMCA request by removing them. You can see the letter here. Of course this opens up a huge can of worms regarding whether or not mere links are infringing.
I avoided posting the kuro5hin story from yesterday (Google censors xenu.net?) because I was hoping there would be a more benign explanation. Please Google, don't turn to the dark side!
Of course, there is a discussion at Slashdot.
Finding Pay Dirt in Scannable Driver's Licenses
Jennifer 8. Lee
Now, for any given night or hour, he can break down his clientele by sex, age, ZIP code or other characteristics. If he wanted to, he could find out how many blond women named Karen over 5 feet 2 inches came in over a weekend...
Discussion at Slashdot.
