It’s a week of contrasts: BBC signs a deal with Google to distribute British TV to the world via the web. Contrast that with ABC/Disney/Academy Awards, which demanded that Oscar clips be removed from YouTube … even though the Academy was not planning to re-use them (no DVD) nor was it showing them on its own website.
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What is wrong with America? In Connecticut, a 40 year old substitute teacher is about to be labeled a sex offender and sentenced for up to 40 years in prison for exposing kids to porn … when it looks like she was the victim of spyware. Add to this the Genarlow Wilson case in Georgia, and we have a country obsessed with punishing alleged sex crimes. Color us Puritan. Read Rasch’s take.
Sphere: Related ContentTo think that this man almost became Vice President …. maybe he was pandering to his audience …. but if so, he (and the other politicians out there) better understand that THOSE days are over.
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The Army Times reports that soldiers in Building 18 at Walter Reed Hospital must have to have rooms ready for daily inspection by 7 am — and they can’t talk to the press. “It is unusual for soldiers to have daily inspections after Basic Training.” Seems to me that it would be unusual to have people in a hospital facility subject to an inspection, period. Are these soldiers being penalized for media reports on conditions at the hospital?
Sphere: Related ContentA first-step counterpoint to the The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998? U.S. Rep. Rich Boucher (D-VA.) and John Dolittle (R-CA) have introduced the “The FAIR USE Act” (long title: Freedom and Innovation Revitalizing U.S. Entrepreneurship Act — don’t ya love how bill names conveniently add up to a catchy acronym?).
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Analysis of the White House technique of refusing to go on the record, the “senior Administration official” routine. It seems that in nine days of traveling with the Veep on his world trip, the reporters had 18 (18!) minutes with Cheney. From The Swamp, a Chicago Tribune blog. I railed against anonymous sources in the Pelosi story and against unprincipled media manipulation in a followup. Of course, the media _let_ itself be manipulated.
Sphere: Related ContentThe Dow says its computers were swamped with so many trades that they couldn’t keep up — the delay, supposedly, exacerbated the sell-off that accompanied the Chinese market plunge.
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VoteTrust US analyzed New Mexico voting data from 2002 to 2006 … and discovered a dramatic increase in undervote rates in Native American and Hispanic precincts in 2004. For Native Americans, the rate was almost eight (8) times as great in 2004 (electronic voting, DREs) as in 2002 or 2006 (paper). Even the Caucasian precincts showed an increase in undervotes in 2004, although not to the degree of the minority population. The report does not attempt to explain “why” … only “what.”
Sphere: Related ContentThe WaPo investigation into the paperwork hell that faces Iraq soliders trying to get out of Walter Reed Hospital has paid off: the Senate Armed Services Committee to investigate.
Sphere: Related ContentAre these corporate contests exploitive? Is there any difference in the behavior of Microsoft and Google? Is “everybody does it” a valid rationalization for this business practice?
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