Wednesday, June 07, 2006

Wal-Mart's data center remains mystery, by Max McCoy, Investigative Writer, Joplin Globe. 5:27:20 PM    comment []

R.I.P., Billy Preston. I was just enjoying his Concert for Bangladesh performance over the weekend. 5:27:13 PM    comment []

Four from BNA News: EC TO DECIDE MICROSOFT'S FATE BY MID-JULY The European Commission may take until the middle of July to decide whether to impose on Microsoft a daily fine of 2 million euros. Europe's commissioners will meet for the last time sometime before the summer break on July 19. A commission representative told journalists yesterday that this was the latest date on which a decision could be taken on the fine, which follows a landmark 2004 antitrust ruling. PIRATE BAY BLAMES ERRORS, PERFORMANCE ON USAGE The once Swedish-based Bittorent site The Pirate Bay claims the problems many visitors have noticed on the resurrected hub are the result of a surplus of new users, rather than recent troubles with police. The reborn site, which has been relocated to servers in the Netherlands, appeared much as it was before the police action, but included a mocking message for the authorities, and a revamped logo that shows the site's trademark pirate ship hurling a cannon ball at the Hollywood sign. RWB SAYS CHINA HAS TIGHTENED GRIP ON WEB Reporters Without Borders condemned the Chinese government yesterday for its increasing censorship of the Internet. RWB claims that the Chinese government has expanded its efforts to block Chinese citizens from accessing Google, Google News and Google Mail, and that software programs like Dynapass, Freegate and Ultrasurf, which were designed to allow users to bypass China‚s censorship methods, have been neutralized. AUSTRALIAN POLICE TO GET PASSWORD POWERS Police officers in Queensland, Australia will be given power to force suspects to hand over passwords and encryption codes. The legislation, which comes into force in July, covers mobile phones, PCs, handhelds and other electronic devices. Non-compliance carries up to 12 months' jail. [Australian IT] 5:26:46 PM    comment []

Goes well with the Ryan's Cosmpolitans discussion: The New Middle Ages, by John Rapley -- excerpt from Foreign Affairs. Summary: The Middle Ages ended when the rise of capitalism on a national scale led to powerful states with sovereignty over particular territories and populations. Now that capitalism is operating globally, those states are eroding and a new medievalism is emerging, marked by multiple and overlapping sovereignties and identities -- particularly in the developing world, where states were never strong in the first place. 7:50:44 AM    comment []

Live discussion about whether broadband providers should be forbidden to offer different rates or levels of service to different customers, today, Wednesday, June 7, 2006, noon EDT (11:00 a.m. in St. Louis, 9:00 a.m. in San Francisco). Features Christopher S. Yoo, a law professor at Vanderbilt University. (CHE site) 6:52:03 AM    comment []

To sell antivirus software, first you must sell the fear. So say Matthew Rand and David Whelan, in Fraidy Cat Marketing, in Forbes. 6:51:57 AM    comment []

Warning on air traffic hacking, by Steve Creedy, aviation writer, The Australian. 6:51:49 AM    comment []

Cosmopolitans, by Alan Ryan, in NYRB, reviews new books by Kwame Anthony Appiah, Amartya Sen, and Martha C. Nussbaum. It's a good read. 6:50:41 AM    comment []