Network neutrality is back on the docket, in the form of the Internet Freedom Preservation Act, introduced to the Senate on 9 January 2007. The last time a bill like this was introduced it was shot down with a vote along partisan lines but thankfully grassroots efforts kept anything bad from happening to the Net as a result. It's time to write your representatives and ask them to vote in favour of this bill, everyone. Get to it.
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A major precedent has been set in net.law following Apple losing its lawsuit against Apple Insider and O'grady's Power Page. In those lawsuits, Apple sued to uncover the identities of the people who leaked information about an audio playback device that Apple was going to release at some point (I think it was supposed to be the iPod Nano - I don't follow Apple news), and stated that amateur news sites and writers are not covered by the laws that protect professional journalists. The court, however, decided that there is no reliable test that can be used to distinguish legitimate …
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Thank you, thank you, and fuck you, Sun Microsystems for having Solaris 10 print "Do you wish to automatically update boot archives?" when you really mean "Your root filesystem is fucked - attempt a fsck(1M)?"
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Between 5 and 7 October 2007 in Las Vegas, Nevada will be held the International Alchemy Conference at the Palace Station House and Casino. The list of guest speakers at this time includes Robert Allen Bartlett, Dr. Thom Cavalli, and Jeff McBride.
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Something that a lot of people might not know: Radiation detection equipment is being deployed more and more in government facilities and major public events (such as the Superbowl) to detect people that might be carrying radioactive materials or even nuclear weapons (the latter is highly improbable for many reasons, most of which have to do with how heavy fissile materials are and the requisite size of nuclear warheads). The reason this is now known is because radiotherapy patients are tripping those alarms in public and are being questioned as a result. Geiger counters are in use at this time …
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Here's a neat riff on Google Earth: A realtime world map of emergencies around the world, including bird flu outbreaks and toxic spills.
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Technically, Microsoft Windows Vista hasn't even been released yet and the DRM system has been cracked. DRM, the so-called Digital Rights Management system that the MPAA and RIAA are blackmailing hardware and software vendors into supporting so that they can control what you watch or listen to, how, when, and for how long uses strong crypto to encrypt media files and control who and what can access them. In Vista, it's called PMP, the Protected Media Path, and reaches all the way down to the level of the hardware drivers. In theory, if all of the drivers on the system …
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It's come out on the stand that Ari Fleischer, former White House Press Secretary was the one who leaked Valerie Plame's identity to Scooter Libby. He admitted this under oath, but of course he cut a deal so he won't be punished for revealing classified information. The whole thing comes down to Plame's husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, who got into hot water for researching and writing a report that debunked the party line that Iraq was trying to buy weapons grade Uranium from the country of Niger. Fleischer related to David Gregory (NBC) and John Dickerson (Time Magazine) that …
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This morning, after arriving at the Metro station closest to my office and climbing the escalator (I need exercise, what can I say?) to the platform closest the street, I noticed something that you don't hear very often in downtown DC: Swimming through the air thanks to the odd accoustics of the Metro station above the sound of the traffic was music. Live music, replete with the little vibratos and imperfections that come with playing the same particular instrument for many years for hours on end. Pan pipes, a wooden flute, bass, and a drum machine.
After going topside again …
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