No access to world’s servers thwarts “criminal and national security investigations.”
Source: US renews fight for the right to seize content from the world’s servers | Ars Technica
Month: October 2016
How Big Pharma’s Shadow Regulation Censors the Internet
Americans pay by far the highest prices in the world for most prescription drugs, and of course big pharma would like to keep it that way.
Source: How Big Pharma’s Shadow Regulation Censors the Internet
U.S. Admits Israel Is Building Permanent Apartheid Regime — Weeks After Giving It $38 Billion
After serving as the key protector of South Africa’s apartheid regime, the U.S. is playing the same role for Israel.
Source: U.S. Admits Israel Is Building Permanent Apartheid Regime — Weeks After Giving It $38 Billion
In the Chicago Police Department, If the Bosses Say It Didn’t Happen, It Didn’t Happen
It’s really sick how some persons of authority can misuse public trust for personal gain, and how many of their colleagues help them hide it
Two young officers began to hear rumors of a drug gang operating within the Chicago Police Department. They were skeptical at first.
Source: In the Chicago Police Department, If the Bosses Say It Didn’t Happen, It Didn’t Happen
I had to pay $39.35 to hold my baby after he was born. – Imgur
Yahoo’s CISO resigned in 2015 over secret e-mail search tool ordered by feds | Ars Technica
Reuters: Yahoo “complied with a classified US government directive.”
Presuming that the report is correct, it would represent essentially the digital equivalent of a general warrant—which is forbidden by the Fourth Amendment
Source: Yahoo’s CISO resigned in 2015 over secret e-mail search tool ordered by feds | Ars Technica
After police violence against unarmed black men, 911 crime calls drop | Ars Technica
Communities skip reporting crime out of distrust of law enforcement.
Source: After police violence against unarmed black men, 911 crime calls drop | Ars Technica
Former CIA Detainees Describe Previously Unknown Torture Tactic: A Makeshift Electric Chair
In independent interviews with Human Rights Watch, two former detainees described a metal device that had wires with clips that would attach to the fingers, and a helmet connected to wires.
Source: Former CIA Detainees Describe Previously Unknown Torture Tactic: A Makeshift Electric Chair
Stupid Design Patent of the Month: Rectangles on a Screen | Electronic Frontier Foundation
This month’s stupid patent, a design patent, shows just how broken the current system of design patents is. Design patents, unlike the utility patents we usually feature, consist only of a single claim followed by pictures. It is generally the pictures that inform the public as to what is claimed. Importantly, in a design patent only the features drawn in solid lines are claimed. Anything in dotted lines is generally not part of the claim.U.S. Patent D767,583, issued on September 27, 2016, is a patent on a design for a “display screen portion with graphical user interface.” Here, the claim is to “the ornamental design for a display screen portion with graphical user interface, as shown and described.” As most design patent owners do, the patent also makes clear that “the broken line showing of the display screen in the figure forms no part of the claimed design.” Below is the sole picture from the patent showing the patented design:
Source: Stupid Design Patent of the Month: Rectangles on a Screen | Electronic Frontier Foundation
Lawmaker Who Pushed Bill to Protect People Filming Police Arrested for Filming Police
Arkansas State Rep. John Walker told the black man whose arrest he was filming: “I’m just making sure they don’t kill you.” Then he was arrested.
Source: Lawmaker Who Pushed Bill to Protect People Filming Police Arrested for Filming Police