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Kim Dot Com resigns from Mega to pursue plans for NZ political party

“Internet mogul Kim Dotcom said on Thursday he was resigning from his new venture Mega to focus on fighting extradition to the United States and his plans for a New Zealand political party. The 39-year-old, who was arrested when armed New Zealand police involved in the US probe raided his Auckland mansion, confirmed that he had resigned as a director of Mega at an August 29 board meeting. Dotcom said he was still working on development of a web-based music service called Megabox. The extradition case has dragged on in the courts and is subject to numerous appeals, with Dotcom estimating earlier this year that his legal bills could exceed US$50 million.” Continue reading →

Privacy fears cause more to cover online tracks

“The Pew Research Center report said 86 percent of US Internet users have taken some steps to avoid online surveillance by other people or organizations. ‘Our team’s biggest surprise was discovering that many Internet users have tried to conceal their identity or their communications from others,’ noted Sara Kiesler. ‘It’s not just a small coterie of hackers. Almost everyone has taken some action to avoid surveillance. And despite their knowing that anonymity is virtually impossible, most Internet users think they should be able to avoid surveillance online — they think they should have a right to anonymity for certain things, like hiding posts from certain people or groups.'” Continue reading →

Will Warrants for Searches Become a Thing of the Past?

“Help us ask the Supreme Court to review a terrible decision made by the 9th Circuit Court. Here’s what happened: Border guards seized an American citizen’s computer when he re-crossed the border from Mexico. They did this because the man had an old criminal record, NOT because there was evidence of a new crime. This was clearly an illegal search without a warrant. He was arrested and convicted on the basis of forensically-uncovered, deleted files. Nevertheless, the 9th Circuit upheld this seizure as a legal search. This decision combines with other recent events to erode the 4th Amendment close to a vanishing point. We want to reverse this trend!” Continue reading →

Families upset with how deputies handled boys’ arrests

“‘I frantically ran across the police officers where threatening to put us under custody for wanting to know what was going on with our children,’ she said. Her child, Josmir, along with two of his friends, was being arrested by Charlotte County deputies. ‘I saw some of the police officers laughing at me,’ said Josmir. ‘Like I deserved this, like I was a horrible person, a criminal. They were just laughing, laughing at all of us.’ The charge was trespassing on Port Charlotte Middle School grounds. ‘I think this was an innocent mistake that went too far because they have power and they though they were going to get away with it,’ Mirna said.” Continue reading →

America’s real divide: The political class, and the rest of us

“The political class is subject to a different set of laws than the rest of us. Instead of a nation based upon the idea that all citizens have equal rights before the law, politicians, bureaucrats, and their minions are regularly shown special preference. In the words of George Orwell, ‘some animals are more equal than others.’ While some states are now liberalizing their drugs laws, America — the Land of the Free — has the highest incarceration rate in the world due to the War on Drugs. On the other hand, Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama have both admitted to using marijuana when they were younger. Many other high government officials are on the record as marijuana users.” Continue reading →

Will Congress Support Military Action In Syria? A ThinkProgress Whip Count

“A ThinkProgress analysis of the public statements of 400 Representatives found that 200 lawmakers have either decisively ruled out supporting the measure or say they are unlikely to back it. Just 48 of the 400 members of the House of Representatives said they will definitely or likely vote in favor or the resolution. A vote in the House is not expected until next week at the earliest. 152 members have publicly said they are undecided and the positions of 33 members are unknown. All told, 361 members either have not decided, or indicated they are willing to consider changing their position.” Continue reading →

UN seeks Syria peace talks amid military strike threat

“”The United Nations is making a desperate new push for a Syria peace conference even as the United States prepares a possible military strike, according to diplomats. UN Under Secretary General Jeffrey Feltman discussed a possible conference during a landmark visit last week to Iran, a key backer of President Bashar al-Assad, UN officials and diplomats said. The prospect of a military strike and Syria’s divided opposition, which has demanded that Assad be kept out of any transitional government, bears heavily on the prospects for talks however. Some western leaders believe there can be no conference until Assad has been punished for his alleged use of chemical weapons.” Continue reading →

Jon Stewart to McCain: Does war with Syria interrupt video poker time?

“‘Is this possible global conflagration interrupting your video poker time?’ Stewart mockingly asked McCain, pointing out that the senator has been pushing for the U.S. to attack Syria for a year, only to devote the moment to picking up an imaginary winning hand. Stewart also pointed out that the U.S. has tried seemingly everything with regards to the Middle East: dialogue (every 8 years or so), sanctions, explicit and not-so-explicit rewarding of coups. ‘It’s like, even though we’re a superpower, we haven’t figured out that we don’t actually have superpowers,’ Stewart said. ‘But we just keep jumping out of the building, thinking we’re gonna fly.'” Continue reading →