Alternative News

UK Information Commissioner Blasts License Plate Readers

"The UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) on Wednesday ordered a review of Hertfordshire Constabulary's use of the technology in Royston, the first town in England to adopt the technology. All six possible routes into and out of the town are covered by license plate cameras creating what police like to call a 'ring of steel.' The system keeps a log of the movements of all automobiles, something the commissioner found unnecessary. 'It is difficult to see why a small rural town such as Royston, requires cameras monitoring all traffic in and out of the town 24 hours a day,' ICO enforcement chief Stephen Eckersley said in a statement." Continue reading →

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TSA: Give Us Fingerprints, Web History and You Can Keep Your Shoes On

"In order to participate in the ‘PreCheck’ TSA program, you will need to allow them to reach down into the proverbial pants of your personal life as well. Under PreCheck, you are required to not only present your fingerprints to the TSA in person and pay a fee of $85, but the agency is also looking to gather all forms of your data as well — which reports state includes your web history and online data. With the help of a third party organization, the TSA seeks to ‘pre-screen’ (think pre-crime) individuals based on their activity in order to determine if they are worthy of bypassing the most minimal of security checkpoints." Continue reading →

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Plan To Defund NSA Phone Collection Program Defeated

"A controversial proposal to restrict how the National Security Agency collects telephone records failed to advance by a narrow margin Wednesday, a victory for the Obama administration, which has spent weeks defending the program since media leaks sparked international outrage about the agency’s reach. Lawmakers voted 217 to 205 to defeat the proposal. Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), who as head of the House rarely votes on legislation, voted against the amendment." Continue reading →

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Bradley Manning Trial: ‘Aiding the Enemy’ Charge is a Travesty of Justice

"The government’s charge that Manning 'aided and abetted the enemy,' which carries a possible life-sentence in prison, is based on the argument that the information Manning leaked was of interest to Osama bin Laden and other terrorist organizations. But as Glenn Greenwald points out in a recent Guardian column, the prosecution’s theory poses a serious threat to the freedom of the press and turns virtually all leaks and whisteblowing into a form of treason. Since bin Laden claimed to have read and recommended Bob Woodward’s journalism, should Woodward also be locked in solitary confinement and stripped of his clothing?" Continue reading →

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Japanese companies using ‘banishment rooms’ to push employees to resign

"While business circles are trying to make it smoother and easier for companies to let go of employees (with full benefits of course) they feel lack initiative and drive and are not a good fit, it’s having a reverse effect on employers. Those who want to fire certain workers but cannot bring themselves to do so are using 'banishment rooms' to indirectly force them to resign on their own. Basically, banishment rooms are departments where companies transfer surplus employees and give them menial or useless tasks or even nothing to do until they become depressed or disheartened enough to quit on their own, thus not getting full benefits, unlike if they were actually let go." Continue reading →

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Are You Earning More or Less Than the US Median Income?

"Median weekly earnings of the nation's 104.2 million full-time wage and salary workers were $776 in the second quarter of 2013, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Among men, those age 45 to 54 and 55 to 64 had the highest median weekly earnings, $1,007 and $1,023, respectively. Usual weekly earnings were highest for women age 35 to 64; weekly earnings were $760 for women age 35 to 44, $767 for women age 45 to 54, and $789 for women age 55 to 64. Workers age 16 to 24 had the lowest median weekly earnings, at $452." Continue reading →

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PayPal Cuts Off VPN Provider iPredator, Freezes Assets

"PayPal has cut off VPN provider iPredator, an anonymity service launched by Pirate Bay co-founder Peter Sunde. The popular VPN provider is no longer allowed to accept payments and PayPal has frozen all funds for up to 180 days. PayPal didn’t provide any details as to why iPredator was banned, but the action comes after their credit card processor stopped doing business with all VPN services." Continue reading →

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If you get caught selling Bitcoin hardware, Paypal will “sever business relationships with you”

"Hello [name removed], We have reviewed your PayPal account and found that you are selling bitcoin mining machines. Per our current Acceptable Use Policy for Money Service Businesses, PayPal may not be used to operate a currency exchange, bureau de change or check cashing business including the sale of bitcoins, bitcoin mining units, and other related bitcoin products. To continue using your PayPal account, we need some additional information from you. Keep in mind that we have placed a limitation on your PayPal account, and this limitation will remain until we receive and review this information." Continue reading →

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Nintendo kicks “Let’s Play” videos off YouTube then slaps ads on them

"Now, it looks like Let's Play videos are one more piece of content that's being caught up in YouTube's Content ID system. It's an automated copyright-enforcement system that's been glitchy from the start and often criticized for taking down legitimate content. Remixes of cultural icons have been taken down with no good explanation, as well as NASA content that should be in the public domain. Political satire didn't stand a chance either. Until October, there wasn't even a meaningful appeal system for owners of wrongly removed videos." Continue reading →

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TV station uses copyright law to erase embarrassing broadcast

"A San Francisco Bay Area television station that became world famous for a humiliating gaffe during a news broadcast about a deadly plane crash is apparently trying to erase the event through copyright law. While Campbell and the station quickly issued an apology, that did not stop clips of the broadcast from flooding video-sharing sites and social networks. But the Fox TV affiliate has arrived at a novel solution to its embarrassing moment: the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which requires Web sites to remove copyrighted material at the copyright holder's request." Continue reading →

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