statism

Paleo Diet Blogger Loses Round One of Free Speech Case

"A federal judge has thrown out Paleo-diet blogger Steve Cooksey’s lawsuit against the North Carolina state agency he claims censored his blog and violated his freedom of speech. U.S. District Court Judge Max Coburn agreed with the North Carolina Board of Dietetics/Nutrition that Cooksey has no grounds to sue because he has not been injured yet. Nearly 10 months ago, the board’s director Charla Burill told Cooksey he was under investigation for 'practicing nutrition' without a license. A week later she went through his website with a red pen telling him what he could and couldn’t say legally." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPaleo Diet Blogger Loses Round One of Free Speech Case

Microsoft DMCA Notice ‘Mistakenly’ Targets BBC, Techcrunch, Wikipedia and U.S. Govt

"Over the last year Microsoft asked Google to censor nearly 5 million webpages because they allegedly link to copyright infringing content. While these automated requests are often legitimate, mistakes happen more often than one might expect. In a recent DMCA notice Microsoft asked Google to censor BBC, CNN, HuffPo, TechCrunch, Wikipedia and many more sites. In another request the software giant seeks the removal of a URL on Spotify.com. In recent months the number of DMCA takedown requests sent out by copyright holders has increased dramatically, and it’s starting to turn the Internet into a big mess." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMicrosoft DMCA Notice ‘Mistakenly’ Targets BBC, Techcrunch, Wikipedia and U.S. Govt

Free Online Education Is Illegal in Minnesota

"The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that the state has decided to crack down on free education, notifying California-based startup Coursera that it is not allowed to offer its online courses to the state’s residents. Coursera, founded by Stanford computer science professors Daphne Koller and Andrew Ng, partners with top-tier universities around the world to offer certain classes online for free to anyone who wants to take them. You know, unless they happen to be from Minnesota. State law prohibits degree-granting institutions from offering instruction in Minnesota without obtaining permission from the office and paying a registration fee." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFree Online Education Is Illegal in Minnesota

Pirate Bay and Mega: Treating the State as Damage and Routing Around It

"Most recently, it’s come out that The Pirate Bay has moved to the cloud, thus rendering itself invulnerable to website takedowns. TPB has already taken considerable countermeasures against government raids, backing its site up on several servers and concealing the location of some of them. Meanwhile Kim Dotcom of MegaUpload is rolling out Mega, a new service duplicated on a network of servers in countries all around the world, and therefore far less vulnerable to takedowns by any national government." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPirate Bay and Mega: Treating the State as Damage and Routing Around It

Textbook Publisher Pearson Takes Down 1.5 Million Teacher And Student Blogs With A Single DMCA Notice

"From shuttering a legitimate ebook lending site to removing negative reviews to destroying a user's Flickr account to knocking a copyright attorney's site offline, the DMCA notice continues to be the go-to weapon for copyright defenders. Collateral damage is simply shrugged at and the notices continue to fly at an ever-increasing pace. And now because Pearson somehow feels that a 38-year-old questionnaire is worth $120, ServerBeach felt compelled to take down 1.5 million blogs over a single DMCA notice." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTextbook Publisher Pearson Takes Down 1.5 Million Teacher And Student Blogs With A Single DMCA Notice

Google threatens to drop links to French media if pay-per-link law passes

"Internet giant Google has warned it would exclude French media sites from its search results if France adopts a law forcing search engines to pay for content, in the latest confrontation with European governments. A letter sent by Google to several French ministerial offices this month said it 'cannot accept' such a move and the company 'as a consequence would be required to no longer reference French sites,' according to a copy obtained by AFP. France’s new Socialist government, which is open to helping struggling media companies, warned Google that it should not threaten democratic governments." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGoogle threatens to drop links to French media if pay-per-link law passes

French Jews to sue Twitter over anti-Semitic tweets following German neo-Nazi ban

"Twitter, a day after saying it blocked a neo-Nazi group’s account in Germany in a global first, faced a new battle Friday in France where Jewish students are taking it to court to force it to remove anti-Semitic messages. The hashtag #unbonjuif — which in English means 'a good Jew' — has been one of the top trending words on French-language tweets and is often followed by offensive comments such as: 'A good Jew can pump up your tyre with his nose.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFrench Jews to sue Twitter over anti-Semitic tweets following German neo-Nazi ban

Cubans ditch exit permits for international travel

"Cubans will no longer need an exit permit to travel abroad from January, the communist regime said on Tuesday, in a major overhaul of a half-century-old policy despised by the island’s citizens. The changes are the latest in a series of gradual reforms implemented in recent years by President Raul Castro, who took the helm from his ailing brother Fidel Castro in 2006. Cubans will no longer have to apply for a 'white card' to leave the island from January 14, and the period allowed for overseas stays will be extended from 11 to 24 months, according to decrees published in the official journal." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCubans ditch exit permits for international travel

U.S. Jails More People Than Any Other Country

"The U.S. has the world’s highest incarceration rate, with Department of Justice data showing more than 2.2 million people are behind bars, equal to a city the size of Houston. With a rate of 730 people per 100,000, the U.S. jails a higher proportion of its citizens than any other country. The U.S. also leads the world in the number of prisons in operation at 4,575, more than four times the number of second- place Russia at 1,029. U.S. states spent $52 billion to construct and operate those prisons in 2011, more than quadruple the $12 billion spent in 1987, according to data from the Pew Center on the States." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingU.S. Jails More People Than Any Other Country

British couple who helped Kenyan village with cannabis profits jailed

"Michael Foster, 62, and Susan Cooper, 63, made hundreds of thousands of pounds from a sophisticated cannabis growing operation at their Lincolnshire farmhouse, which was only discovered when a police officer chasing a burglar recognised the distinctive smell. The couple paid for live-saving surgery for a villager near Mombasa, Kenya, purchased computers for an eye hospital, and paid for schooling for children, the court heard." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBritish couple who helped Kenyan village with cannabis profits jailed