September 8, 2003

People illegally distributing copyrighted music on the Internet ("sharing") may wish to check if they are being sued. 11:51:20 PM

The Boston Globe’s Ombudsman jumps through a number of hoops to explain why the newspaper describes al Qaeda as a terrorist jump but not Hamas. The final paragraph of the piece is: It's difficult, given that the definition of Al Qaeda in the United States is almost solely based on the 9/11 attacks, to imagine seeing it as anything else. A more precise definition -- "a radical Islamist network that employs violence against innocents" -- trumps "terrorist" on grounds of specificity, but it ignores one of our most profound national experiences, 9/11. Given Al Qaeda's self-definition and its large-scale embrace of terrorism, it has proven itself an allowable exception. And what about Hamas? The repeated bus, nightclub, restaurant and other suicide bombings in Israel by Hamas members is a profound national experience for Israelis. If the term terrorist is to mean anything it should be used to describe those who blow up buses containing families on their way home from a religious ceremony. 11:30:48 PM