Thursday, December 19, 2002

Washington Post: "Since many bloggers have no background in publishing, they often come to the medium unaware of the rules that apply." [Scripting News] And vice versa? 5:35:22 PM    comment []

Two from BNA News: BANK WEBSITE CONTENT COUNTS AS "PATTERN OR PRACTICE" BNA's Electronic Commerce and Law Report reports that a Federal Reserve examiner has advised that content on a bank's Internet site automatically amounts to a "pattern or practice" for purposes of federal law. Senior Examiner Gary Louis, during a telephone seminar sponsored by the American Bankers Association, said that websites instantly communicate the same content to a global audience and that by definition, content on a Web site can never be considered an isolated occurrence. Article at http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/eip.nsf/is/a0a6f8w8v1 For a free trial to source of this story, visit http://web.bna.com/products/ip/eplr.htm FTC TO CREATE A NATIONAL DO-NOT-CALL LIST The FTC yesterday unveiled plans to create a national do-not-call list to cut down on telemarketing at home. Some experts predict that the list will create an increase in spam, as marketers move from the phone to email. http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,56912,00.html 2:03:15 PM    comment []

Pentagon Debates Propaganda Push in Allied Nations (thanks, Eliot!) When, in February, Rumsfeld was forced to abandon a then-recently-announced plan for an Office of Strategic Initiatives for the express purpose of providing disinformation to shape foreign public sentiment about the US, something seemed fishy about how quickly it all went away. Did we think the menacing shadows would clear out of our bedroom just because we rolled over and mumbled something half-intelligible before settling back down to sleep? I mean, when the government announces its intention to create an agency with the express purpose of lying to the world, you're going to believe them when they tell you they've disbanded it? Here it is again, it would seem, [1] without the name. NY Times In fact, in a November 18 press briefing [2] in which he also comments on the scandalous Poindexter Total Information Awareness project, Rumsfeld said: "And then there was the office of strategic influence. You may recall that. And "oh my goodness gracious isn't that terrible, Henny Penny the sky is going to fall." I went down that next day and said fine, if you want to savage this thing fine I'll give you the corpse. There's the name. You can have the name, but I'm gonna keep doing every single thing that needs to be done and I have." Did you get that? The quote is in the first paragraph of the briefing transcript, but read the whole thing to get a sense of the audacity, the disdain for the niceties of the Constitution and public opinion, and the infantile grandiosity of the man appointed to fight our wars for us. There's also this little exchange, admittedly out of context: "Q: We are not making the Public comfortable here. Rumsfeld: If I haven't answered that I don't have control of the English language." He said it, I didn't, but it certainly raises the question, now that you mention it. To judge from these somewhat extemporaneous remarks, it would seem the man's thinking is somewhat confused, imprecise and vague, when he isn't behind a veil of carefully pre-scripted spin. And here is what appears to be an unclassified version of the "classified" Directive 3600.1 for propaganda operations against US allies. [3] [via cryptome] [1] [2] [3] 12:02:25 PM    comment []

States bypass rural Internet obstacles, by Dibya Sarkar, Federal Computer Week. Although the number of Internet users in rural areas has been increasing steadily, barriers still hinder broadband deployment — namely high cost, low demand, a lack of awareness and infrastructure, and low return on investment. Several state governments have taken different approaches to overcoming such roadblocks, including offering tax incentives, low-interest loans and grants, as well as allowing local public-sector entities to enter the broadband business itself. 12:02:20 PM    comment []

Customer gives waitress $10,000 tip (AP). 11:02:07 AM    comment []

Last-Minute Gadget Gifts [New York Times: Technology] 7:17:36 AM    comment []

'Scorched Earth' Plans in Iraq Cited [Washington Post: Front Page] 7:15:52 AM    comment []

The Salesman as Social Pirate, Op-Ed by IHCOYC, at kuro5hin. 7:14:10 AM    comment []

Cities Say No to Federal Snooping. A handful of U.S. municipalities are refusing to let their employees collaborate with federal officials seeking to spy on residents under the Patriot Act. Meanwhile, librarians are launching their own protests. By Julia Scheeres. [Wired News] 7:13:19 AM    comment []

I was rearranged by the Velvet Underground in 1967. How on earth were they making that sound? And Nico. Nico! [Salon Headlines] Cary Tennis considers life's most pressing questions in audio form most every week on Salon. Struggling to recall who he saw the Velvet Underground with, he resorts to fictive revery. Which, if you ask him, he'll tell you is the memoirist's prerogative. Duration: 4:41 MP3 [2.2 MB] Stream (Real Media) 7:12:21 AM    comment []

Trent Lott daydreams of soft landing in briar patch, by Brenda Payton, in The Oakland Tribune. Now what can po' ol' Uncle Remus do for a big mighty Senate leader like yourself? I was wondering if you could teach me how to tap dance. Tap dance? That's not my game. Maybe you were looking for Bojangles. What you need to learn how to tap dance for? I'm getting ready for my interview on that Black Entertainment Television show. Oh, so you think that's what the folks do on BET, tap dance? No, I think that's what they want me to do. Just then, Br'er Rabbit comes lippity-clippity, clippity- lippity down the road. . . . . . . I get out of the jam, man. Cause the briar patch is where I'm the most comfortable. Now where would you tell them BET interviewers and them ol' Republicans who's after you, where you gonna tell them to drop you down? The Briar Patch? No, Senator. That's my home. Where's you briar patch, you know, metaphorically speakin'? . . . I could say, 'Please Mr. BET, please Republican leaders, whatever you do, don't drop me back in the times before integration when white folks didn't have to see Negroes in their schools or their neighborhoods. Please don't take me back to the days when Martin Luther King's birthday wasn't a holiday and race hate crimes weren't tracked. And whatever you do, please don't take me back before the passage of the Voting Rights Act. Please.' How's that? 6:58:23 AM    comment []

Microsoft to bump Apple into sync-hole?. Apple would love to corner the hot market for software that syncs up PCs with cell phones and other gadgets. But then there's Microsoft--and its pesky bundling habit. [CNET News.com] 6:44:37 AM    comment []