Daily Archives: 5. Dezember 2013


05.12.2013 - 22:25 [ archbishop-cranmer ]

Nelson Mandela walks to eternal freedom

Nelson Mandela is dead. From passive resistance against apartheid to charges of treason; to ANC violence; to life imprisonment on Robben Island; to international symbol of hope; to respected global statesman; to Nobel Laureate; to President of South Africa; to World Elder and a remaining lifetime dedicated to peace and reconciliation. It was as though his life had an appointment with destiny – to be a living incarnation of grace and forgiveness.

05.12.2013 - 21:35 [ Techdirt ]

Holy See (The Pope) Criticizes TPP And TAFTA/TTIP In WTO Speech

There‘s no shortage of critics of massive trade agreements like TPP and TAFTA/TTIP, but today saw strong condemnation from a very unexpected quarter: the Holy See, often, if erroneously, equated with the Vatican. Whatever the jurisdictional differences, the statement delivered by His Excellency Archbishop Silvano M. Tomasi, Apostolic Nuncio, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations and Other International Organizations in Geneva at the 9th Session of the Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization presumably comes with the full approval of Pope Francis himself. We can assume that because of the extremely controversial statements it contains, which would have required approval at the highest level. Things like this:

05.12.2013 - 21:33 [ Techdirt ]

Administration Can‘t Let Go: Wants To Bring Back Felony Streaming Provisions Of SOPA

We‘ve been working our way through a paper released last week by the Commerce Department, concerning copyright reform, and will have a much more detailed post about it soon (there‘s a lot in there), but over at the Washington Post, they‘re highlighting the silly recommendation to bring back the plan to make unauthorized streaming a felony. This was a part of SOPA and was widely discussed. It wasn‘t technically in PIPA, but there was something of a „companion“ bill from Senator Amy Klobuchar that effectively had the same thing. This got a fair amount of attention when Justin Bieber was asked about the law, and said that Klobuchar should be locked up.

05.12.2013 - 21:30 [ Demand Progress ]

Obama‘s Commerce Department wants to revive one of SOPAs worst provisions: making unauthorized streaming a FELONY.

Here we go again.

The Obama administration apparently hasn‘t been paying close attention the past two years. Let‘s put it plainly: The American people don‘t want SOPA-style internet censorship. Period.

The Commerce Dept‘s Internet Policy Task Force has proposed making it a felony to stream copyrighted content (aka SOPA Section 201).

05.12.2013 - 20:48 [ We the People ]

Reform ECPA: Tell the Government to Get a Warrant

That law, known as the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), was written over 25 years ago, before the services we use today even existed.

Right now, several bills in Congress would fix this by updating ECPA to require a warrant, but regulatory bodies are blocking reform in order to gain new powers of warrantless access.

05.12.2013 - 20:46 [ Wetteronline / Twitter ]

FAKE – dieses Bild ist eine Montage! Man kann es nicht oft genug betonen!

RT @TugbahanSs: #Xaver #orkan pic.twitter.com/tP6ypvSpK3

05.12.2013 - 20:42 [ Broadway World ]

Sundance Selects THE INTERNET‘S OWN BOY Documentary for 2014 Film Festival Series

The film explores Aaron‘s arrest, the prosecution‘s tactics in bringing the case to trial through the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, the CFAA, and the impact a seemingly small hacking gesture had on Aaron‘s life and the possible future of information access on the Internet.

05.12.2013 - 19:57 [ Radio Utopie ]

Onkel Martin als Moralapostel: General Dempsey’s sittlicher Anfall

Dabei trieb General Martin Dempsey die grosse Sorge um, dass die Teenager mit ihrem unbedarften Umgang in den sozialen Medien durch Einträge ihrer “schlechten” oder “illegalen” Aktivitäten auf Facebook oder Twitter sich ihre Einstellung und Karriere verbauen würden – die in der U.S.-Armee, versteht sich.

05.12.2013 - 18:02 [ Press TV ]

Over 100 Pakistani MPs protest at US drone attacks

The national and provincial deputies gathered outside the parliament building in the capital, Islamabad, on Thursday, shouting slogans against the United States and the government of Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

05.12.2013 - 16:50 [ Abgeordnetenwatch ]

47 Abgeordnete ersetzen jetzt das Parlament

Warum ist ein einzelner Ausschuss problematisch?

Im parlamentarischen Alltag bearbeiten Ausschüsse festgelegte Fachbereiche, alle Abgeordneten des Bundestages sind in die Ausschussarbeit eingebunden. Aktuell haben diese Befugnis aber nur 47 Abgeordnete. Das bedeutet: Die große Mehrheit, 584 Abgeordnete, ist vom Kern der parlamentarischen Arbeit ausgeschlossen.

05.12.2013 - 16:42 [ Huffington Post ]

Tell the White House to Fix ECPA and Protect Our Electronic Privacy

The angry email you wish you didn‘t send last spring where you said those unflattering things. That text message you sent a long time ago at 3:00 a.m. that you were horrified to remember the next day. Those links to those videos you shared a year ago on what you thought was your private Facebook account. Sorry to break it to you, but they‘re all available to the government after 180 days.

That‘s because the law governing access to our online communications was written in 1986–before the age of Facebook, Twitter, and cloud computing. The Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) permits government and law enforcement officials to access private online information–emails, social media accounts, photos, and even online documents–without a warrant from a judge, once it reaches that ripe old age of six months. Under that outdated law, government agents can force the service providers we‘re entirely dependent on for communicating–Verizon, Apple, Facebook–to turn over their customers‘ private data based on the government‘s authority alone.

05.12.2013 - 16:30 [ Natural Society ]

What Big Pharma is Afraid Diabetes Patients Will Find Out

Don’t allow Big Pharma to use you to inflate their stock holdings. In a popular pharmacy magazine, there was recently a slick, full-color, 4-page advertisement that said “The Diabetes Consumer: Shops More. Spends More. Shops the Whole Store.” Its disgusting the lengths these companies will go to in order to keep their profits high while caring so little about your health.

05.12.2013 - 16:25 [ Russia Today ]

US aircraft bombard Guam with thousands of mice

Despite the risks, however, the plan to “bomb” the island with dead rodents has caused a stir among animal rights activists. It has drawn condemnation from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which would prefer the snakes to be captured and humanely euthanized.

“Brown tree snakes did not ask to be stowaways on planes or ships and then forced to survive on a foreign island,” Martin Mersereau, director of PETA’s cruelty investigations, said in February.

“Although the snakes are considered invasive, no animal should be forced to endure cruel death,” he added.

05.12.2013 - 16:10 [ Spiegel ]

Berlin: Fahrbereitschaft des Bundestags droht die Pleite

Rocvin ist nicht unumstritten, viele Fahrer verdienen durch wenige Einsätze und Niedriglöhne Berichten zufolge nur knapp 950 Euro im Monat oder kommen ausschließlich mit Zweitjobs oder Sozialleistungen über die Runden. Die Firma verdiente vor allem mit dem Autohandel Geld, der Fahrdienst war offenbar lange ein Zuschussgeschäft.