Wednesday, September 29, 2004

ACLU and EFF strike down part of PATRIOT Act [boingboing] USA PATRIOT ACT SMACKDOWN. In a 120-page decision, Judge Victor Marrero of the Southern District of New York struck down Section 505 of the USA PATRIOT Act (a provision that allowed the government to issue "National Security Letters" to obtain customer records from ISPs... [Begging To Differ] 5:29:54 PM    comment []

Banned Books Week. It's Banned Books Week. Though I search in vain among the PR for much consideration of the banning of websites, which seems to me to be so relevant after the library censorware law went into effect. The ACLU's Banned Books Week page actually makes a mention of censorware, among all the Patriot Act references (emphasis added): Libraries are at the center of the struggle to preserve everyone's freedom to access a diversity of ideas, information and opinions. Banned Books Week, from Sept. 25 to Oct. 2, calls attention to the wealth of creative expression that is stifled when libraries are forced to remove some books from their shelves. When a Web site is blocked on a library computer or a book is taken off the library shelves, it is easy to see how your freedom to access information is being compromised. But other threats to our freedoms in the library can occur in secret. When you check out a book and visit a Web site, do you know if somebody else is watching?  . . . [Infothought] 7:31:12 AM    comment []

FUD success story. J.D. Lasica: Dawn C. Chmielewski takes an extended look at BitTorrent in a San Jose Mercury News article today headlined, "File-swap software poses threat to Hollywood." Naturally, there's no evidence presented that file-sharing software like BitTorrent does anything of the sort, and no one is quoted questioning Hollywood's assertions. The operative adverb is "naturally." [The Doc Searls Weblog] 7:29:27 AM    comment []

Yesterday a friend showed me Replay Radio. He also had a super-cool new laptop. I almost bought the laptop on the Web yesterday, but instead went for RR. I told it to record two programs from KQED, the NPR affiliate in San Francisco. At midnight it started recording All Things Considered. If all goes well, at 1AM there will be an MP3 in its output folder containing the show. And get this, it has an iPodder built in. It can tell iTunes to load the MP3 and copy it onto the hard disk of my iPod. Pretty cool. I'll let you know if it works. [Scripting News] 7:29:10 AM    comment []

Two from The New York Times > Dining and Wine: Rocco DiSpirito Is Out at Union Pacific. Union Pacific, once the jewel in Rocco DiSpirito's crown, will close at the end of the year. By By FLORENCE FABRICANT and MARIAN BURROS. So a Purist Goes in a Bar and Starts to Pour Art. New York is seeing a new breed of serious ingredient-obsessed, purist bartenders, a few of whom actually call themselves bar chefs. By By FLORENCE FABRICANT. 7:28:57 AM    comment []

The Crusade Against Evolution. In the beginning there was Darwin. And then there was intelligent design. How the next generation of 'creation science' is invading America's classrooms. By Evan Ratliff from Wired magazine. [Wired News] 7:28:33 AM    comment []

Iran vows to defend nuclear plants. On CNN [NewsIsFree: Popular Items] 7:28:22 AM    comment []

Today's Morning Coffee Notes explains the open source release of Frontier. Jeff Sandquist previewed the audio and said he had never understood what Frontier was before. It's good that this event which is probably one of the largest releases of open source code ever, may mean that more people appreciate this interesting and unique piece of software. Or it may be a time capsule, a message in a bottle, or a bridge to the future, and that would be fine too. One thing it's not is an attempt to boil the ocean, or a threat to your favorite scripting language, Web content system or HTTP server. Just trying to preserve a life's work of programming, so it doesn't end up lost or forgotten. Peace brother. [Scripting News] 7:18:59 AM    comment []