Citizen.wired.net

Slashdot | EFF Urges Support for Rep. Boucher's DMCRA.
DarkSparks writes "The EFF is urging everyone to contact their Representatives and ask them to co-sponsor Representative Rick Boucher and John Doolittle's recently introduced Digital Media Consumers' Rights Act (DMCRA, H.R. 5544), which would introduce labelling requirements for usage-impaired "copy-protected" compact discs, as well as make several key amendments to the DMCA, including affirming the right of scientific research into technology protection measures and affirming the right of citizens to circumvent technology measures to gain access to copyrighted works they've purchased."
[Privacy Digest]

What's Next, The Death Penalty?

3:14:55 PM

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I hate spam and nefarious computer hacks as much as anyone, but this is an egergious over-reach. A hacker's sentence should be vbased on the nature of his(her) crime and the damage caused, nothing else. This is brain-damaged stupid.

Bill could jail hackers for life.
A last-minute addition to a proposal for a Department of Homeland Security bill would punish malicious computer hackers with life in prison.

Add spammers to the list and I'll be happy...
[Leaders.net]

Baywatch Foreign Policy

10:33:31 AM

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A friend of mine recently suggested that America's best hope for supplanting terrorist Islamic regimes with democratic governments is to leverage one of our greatest cultural treasures -- Baywatch.

The idea is to purchase global rights to the entire Baywatch series, then carpet-bomb the Middle East with video cassettes, magazines, and Pamela Anderson-Lee posters boldly emblazoned with the phrase You too can have this, if you build a democracy.

I don't know, seems like a good, non-violent alternative to me.

I Just Made $2,000

9:33:51 AM

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I changed my auto insurance carrier this morning. I went with GEICO. I called the 800 number, spoke with a very pleasant, professional lady down in Macon, GA, and got new insurance. The whole process took less than 20 minutes and two phone calls. Wonderful experience.

By contrast my old carrier, Progressive, and my independent agent were of no help. Go figure.

Poindexter and Ashcroft Are Not Liars

8:08:48 AM

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Why all the hue and cry over the lying in the current Administration? It's not the lies we ought to be worried about -- it's the forthright, obvious, unrepentant Nazi-fication of the country that ought have our attention. And far too many otherwise intelligent people are being flim-flammed by the manufactured cloak of patriotism that's being laid over this pile of horse manure. (The NYTimes article requires free registration. Would that it were not so...)

William Safire's concern about the Homeland Security Act - He says, if the Act is not amended before passage, here's what will happen to you:
"Every purchase you make with a credit card, every magazine subscription you buy and medical prescription you fill, every Web site you visit and e-mail you send or receive, every academic grade your receive, every bank deposit you make, every trip you book and every event you attend — all these transactions and communications will go into what the Defense Department describes as a virtual, centralized grand database.
[...] [Ernie the Attorney]