June 25, 2003

The BBC reports that a key Japanese committee has approved Japan’s participation in a multi-craft mission to send two orbiters and one lander to Mercury. The mission will be scheduled for launch in about seven years as a joint venture Japanese and European Space Agencies. The lander will be the first to attempt a landing on the Mercury, which has only been visited once, by the Mariner Ten probe in mid-1970s. 10:04:42 PM

The RIAA declares war on file swappers. Looks like people who said that the RIAA should not sue p2p companies but people using the sofdtware for illegal sharing are going to get what they asked for, even if they didn’t want it. 9:56:32 PM

Hulk Smash Puny Film Pirate A man who digitized an advance "work print" of The Hulk and then distributed the digitial copies among users of an Internet chat room devoted to bootleg movies is now facing up to three years in prison and $250,000 in fine after pleading guilty to the charges of copyright infringement 9:56:13 PM

David Aaronovitch looks at the new anti-Semitism found in the Arab world, which is actually a rehashing of old European hatred, blood libel and calls for genocide. 9:55:51 PM