- London 2012 Olympics fails at Internet | THE FREE SPEECH BLOG
It turns out that a certain organisation of dogshit peddlers disguised as sporting event is trying to tell people under what circumstances they may links to said organisation's website. I would put a link to their site calling them a bunch of cunts, in direct violation of those policies, but it turns out I've already done that, years ago, when they first announced the logo, and before they had the ludicrous policy of attempting to tell people what they could do with their own, totally unaffiliated websites.
God, I really do hate the Olympics. I sort of hope everyone who is in any way involved with it gets ebola and dies. Except Doug.
Excuse me, I have to go take a few deep breaths now.
- New Statesman – Lansley opens the door to full-scale NHS privatisation
Oh look: the NHS is now over. And yet for some reason no-one is hounding Andrew Lansley through the streets with whips made from scorpions. Why are we not doing this? I mean, it can't be a crime, can it? To hound scumbags and monsters with whips made from scorpions?
Tag: censorship
Bookmarks for January 30, 2012
- Pirate Bay Hosts Physical Objects – And Is Accused Of Infringing Games Workshop Copyright?
Mr Bradshaw, sometimes seen around this parish, did sterling work in predicating exactly this event a few years ago. Nice to see him proved right, and so swiftly, too.
- Why Twitter’s new policy is helpful for free-speech advocates | technosociology
Are you one of the people going on about how Twitter's new censorship policy is the beginning of the end, and a disaster, and how Twitter should be ashamed for caving like they have? No? Good. If you are, then read this, and shut up. There new policy was quite clearly a model for how to handle this sort of shit, and the on-line wailing completely bewildered me. I was going to write about it, but someone smarter than me has already done so.
Bookmarks for January 18, 2012
- SOPA/PIPA blackout | MetaTalk
Another story about what it's like to get a bogus takedown letter. 2 weeks of work and stress, without getting compensation from the party that caused the work and stress.
- Takedown Hall of Shame | Electronic Frontier Foundation
Just in case you're thinking that this SOPA business is a fuss over nothing, than that it is what its supporters say it is – an act targeting pirates and criminals, and that it won't hurt the average innocent internet user – here is a link to a page collating the worst abuses of the existing law in this area, the DCMA, which is what companies currently use to require takedowns of infringing material. Take a look at the list of companies who have used the existing law in a way that was never intended.
Bookmarks for December 2, 2010
- I, Reader by Alexander Chee – The Morning News
This is a really really good personal summary of an obsessive book collector's relationship with his new e-readers. If you're a bibliophile who is wondering if there's a place for e-readers in your life, I suggest you read this.
- How Lieberman Got Amazon To Drop Wikileaks | TPMMuckraker
This is idiotic rubbish on the part of Lieberman, and worse, Amazon. It isn't at all clear that Wikileaks has done anything illegal, and presuming they have just because powerful people don't like it is exactly the wrong response, and sends all sorts of hideous messages about society.
- After secrets: Missing the point of WikiLeaks | The Economist
And of course, as this makes clear, Lieberman and Amazon are very much missing the point. This is not a problem that can be fixed by attacking Wikileaks, or any similar service.
Bookmarks for October 6, 2010
- The .ly domain space to be considered unsafe | :Ben Metcalfe Blog
This could get slightly interesting if they ever come for bit.ly – engendering the single most massive dose of instant linkrot the intertubes have ever seen. (This is, of course, why URL shorteners are evil, and why anyone who uses them outside of twitter is a fuckwit). It's strongly suggest that if you need to post a shortened link anywhere, you use is.gd or goo.gl or another similar service. (Incidentally, in case anyone's wondering, it's stuff like this that made me use black-ink.org and not sda.ir as my primary domain when I consolidated everything.)
- Say hello to mechanically separated chicken. It’s…
Horrifying. I knew about this, but I didn't *know* about this. From now on, I'm only eating chicken where I can name the specific part of the chicken it came from.
- Is your private phone number on Facebook? Probably. And so are your friends' | Technology | guardian.co.uk
I know I sound like a broken record when I link this stuff. Tough. I can't decide if Facebook are stupid, or actively malevolent, but here's the bottom line: a service I quit using, because I didn't trust them with my person data, as a result of a number of breaches of privacy and security, has my phone number, something I regard as one of my most personal items of data, despite my best efforts. It's not something I give out to just anyone. Yet, tt's an accepted social norm to meet people at parties, and become friends on Facebook, and that's fine. But just because I'm someone's friend on Facebook does not mean I want them to have my number. A practical example: I do have a work account on there. It has two friends. I have neither of their phone numbers. Or rather, I *had* neither of their phone numbers. Now I've got them both. Neither of them has uploaded their number to Facebook. (I checked.) Read this article, then write to Facebook.
- russell davies: something something something
Lot of interesting stuff about the lack of future (for lack of a better term) that's around at the moment. Playing join the dots with Mr Stross' idea that we might be suffering from massive future shock as a culture, it's not hard to see why we might be lacking a bit
- Think Progress » Tennessee County’s Subscription-Based Firefighters Watch As Family Home Burns Down
There's so much going on here, it's just not funny. Mob jokes, political commentary against a conservative/libertarian point of view. But here's the thing: it's just not funny. A family's home burned down, and people with the equipment to help them stood and watched the flames. In what world is selfishness on that scale not a crime punishable by imprisonment?
Bookmarks for September 7, 2010
- danah boyd | apophenia » How Censoring Craigslist Helps Pimps, Child Traffickers, and Other Abusive Scumbags
Again, relevant to the interests of a number of parties I know, I imagine. Absolutely excellent argument for why the censorship of Craigslist is *not* a good thing, and will not help in the fight against sex trafficking and exploitation of women.
- TUNED UP! PHONE CASE & STAND
I may be developing an addiction to iphone cases. But tell me this isn't awesome. You can't can you?
- Dave Gorman: Google Him
Dave Gorman demonstrates remarkable sanity, as per. In fact, here's a quote that basically runs my entire life: "Either way, there's no value in wasting energy in getting upset. The next thing is always more exciting than the past."
Bookmarks for January 13, 2010
- Marco.org – How to post photos on the internet
I don't think I'm <em>too</em> guilty of these. Generally, I've only done one or two of these things to a photo. Honest.
- Clegg lays down law to Cameron on gay rights – UK Politics, UK – The Independent
Wow. This is an excellent move. Certainly it's making me seriously consider voting for them.
- Official Google Blog: A new approach to China
You're bound to see/have seen this one all over the place today. Still worth logging, and very, very impressive of Google to do it. Will be interesting to see what the outcome shakes out to be, although I suspect I can guess… Also, obviously, this is a massively concerning thing that China is doing, and well, fingers crossed it'll stop with exposure, although again….
Bookmarks for January 4, 2010
- A Form of Madness – Dive Into HTML5
HTML 5 forms. Oh, this is going to make interface design much nicer. In about four of five years, anyway.
- What Could Have Been Entering the Public Domain on January 1, 2010?
Thought it was worth pointing this one out, as there's bound to be another round of copyright extension lobbying fairly soon – when isn't there? Here's a list of what could have been public domain today, were it not for the 1976 extension. Can you find an argument for any of these works not being in the public domain now?
- Atheist Ireland Publishes 25 Blasphemous Quotes | blasphemy.ie
For all I make jokes about being a "good protestant boy", in the years since the Good Friday Agreement, I had more or less come to believe that a united Ireland was a good and desirable thing – the British have unquestionably fucked the place for centuries, and eventually the majority opinion in the North is going to be in favour of a united Ireland. That was until today, when I discovered that Ireland have enacted a law forbidding blasphemy. That's so fucking retrograde it's unreal, and genuinely makes me concerned about a united Ireland again. And if you need a demonstration of why it's stupid, well, take a look here.
Bookmarks for February 27, 2009
- The Convention on Modern Liberty
Shit, the London event is sold out. Still, I suppose that might be taken as a good sign. Maybe.
- The size of social networks | Primates on Facebook | The Economist
Starts of with some talk of Dunbar's number as it applies to social networks, then gets into the much tighter sphere of the number of people we actually interact with.
- Translating "The Economist" Behind China's Great Firewall
Really interesting look at how a group of volunteers in China translate each issue of The Economist.