Wednesday, January 14, 2004

Iranian protestor MPs urged to blog their sit-in Regarding sit-ins by Iranian MPs over a decision to ban thousands of reformists from February elections in Iran, Hoder blogs: I just posted an open letter to Reza Khatami, deputy Parliament Speaker who is also one of the organizers of the ongoing sit-in in the Parliament, in my Persian weblog. I asked him to start a weblog in Persian and English and get some reporters to post unofficial news and updates along with unofficial pictures; of course if they want to be heard in the world. Weblogs are their best live medium while the Iranian TV and Radio is totally ignoring them and their only newspaper is not capable to be published more than once a day. This could give a serious recognition to this amazing democratic ethnology among Iranian activists and politicians. They must do it immediately. They'll never regret it. Hoder's blog related BBC News story. [bOing bOing] 3:37:49 PM    comment []

Iran facing election U-turn. CNN via NewsIsFree: Popular Items. Iran's supreme leader has told the state's top clerical body to reconsider the disqualifications of pro-reform electoral candidates, the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency reported. Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei met with the Guardian Council Wednesday and told them to review their decisions, which have sparked protests and a political crisis in Iran. Since distinguishing the qualification has different stages, we should not go far in confirming the qualification of the members of parliament, Khamenei was quoted as saying. 3:27:57 PM    comment []

McHand test hits the 'Peg: Biometrics raise privacy concerns. Kathleen Martens, The Winnipeg Sun. News that McDonald's restaurants are using controversial thumb and handprint scanners to monitor employees is a little scary but not surprising, privacy experts say. "I'm not really shocked," said Valerie Price of the Manitoba Association of Rights and Liberties. You sort of get a sense that these things are coming. The fast-food chain has been testing the controversial biometric devices at 22, or more than half of its Winnipeg outlets for a year, confirmed McDonald's spokesman Ron Christianson. In place of punching a time clock, employees scan their thumbs or palms when they arrive and again when they leave. . . . Peter Bower, executive director of access and privacy at the provincial ombudsman's office, said the practice raises concerns about what happens to the information once it is collected. You have to look at how intrusive is it and what can be done with it. I'm particularly concerned with anything that can be rendered into an electronic form, because of all the data matching and linking that can go on with that kind of information. 1:26:26 PM    comment []

Casino chips may be implanted with RFID tags 12:26:16 PM    comment []

WHAT'S YOUR LAW? -- The Edge Annual Question—2004 11:26:12 AM    comment []

FCC Chairman Seeks Reversal on Profanity, by Frank Ahrens, Washington Post. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael K. Powell asked his four fellow commissioners yesterday to overturn a heavily criticized agency ruling that found a profanity uttered on network television by rock-and-roller Bono was not indecent. If passed by the five-member FCC commission, Powell's proposal would outlaw Bono's profanity in almost all instances, singling it out as the one word that would nearly guarantee an FCC fine if uttered between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. on radio and broadcast television. Exceptions would include if the profanity is used in a political situation; the FCC's indecency rules include no mandates that might chill political speech. 11:26:07 AM    comment []

Italian Court Rejects First EU Copyright Directive Seizure: Rules Modification of Sony Playstations is Legal. ) In an important victory for Italian consumer rights, an Italian court has rejected the seizure of Sony Playstation game consoles that use modified chips to permit unauthorized uses of the game systems. The case is one of the first to be brought in Italy under the new European Union Copyright Directive (EUCD), which is modeled on the controversial US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). . . . The question before the Italian court was simple: Does the producer of a device or computer, such as the Sony Play Station Console, have the right to forbid or prevent consumers from making different uses of the device other than the particular use the manufacturer intends? According to this court’s decision under Italian civil law, the answer is no. The case was brought under article 171-ter of the Italian copyright law, which implements the EUCD in Italy and was passed in April of 2003. The Bolzano Court ruled that the new law does not apply because the modified chips are not primarily intended to circumvent copyright protection measures, explained University of Milano Law Professor Giovanni Ziccardi. The court held that the aim of the modified chips is not to create infringing copies, but rather to fight Sony’s monopolistic business practices and to allow consumers to exercise a fuller range of their rights such as reading imported discs, back-up copies of games, and other lawful but unauthorized discs, said Ziccardi, IP Justice Board Member in Italy. 10:25:57 AM    comment []

Ultima III and Ultima IV. Why are retro classics like the early Ultima games popular? Is it just nostalgia - adults pining for what they enjoyed in childhood/adolescence? Is it because mobile phones, PDAs and mp3 players offer a similar a similar gaming environment to... [explodedlibrary.info] 6:50:19 AM    comment []

The media vs. Howard Dean. Democrats haven't voted yet, but reporters have got the story: The former Vermont governor is angry, gaffe-prone and unelectable. How do they know? Republicans, and anonymous Democrats, told them so. [Salon.com] 6:49:07 AM    comment []

Improving the People at the Head of the Class. A panel of marquee figures has been looking at how to entice the best and brightest to become teachers: a profession woefully ill equipped to compete for them. By Greg Winter. [New York Times: Business] 6:45:53 AM    comment []

A simple, poetic indictment. The winner of MoveOn.org's "Bush in 30 Seconds" contest is a subtle ad with the power to sway even some of his defenders. Now the ad may be headed for the Super Bowl. [Salon.com] 6:39:50 AM    comment []

Ring Tones Bringing in Big Bucks. Sales of cell-phone ring tones hit $3.5 billion this past year, according to a study. The worldwide sale of ring tones now amounts to about 10 percent of the $32.2 billion music market. [Wired News] 6:37:18 AM    comment []