TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design): ideas worth spreading

TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design): ideas worth spreading. This organization holds a conference each year dedicated to innovative thinkers and ideas. Its website hsa interesting talks from these conferences and is worth a look.

From the site:

"We believe passionately in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and ultimately, the world. So we're building here a clearinghouse that offers free knowledge and inspiration from the world's most inspired thinkers, and also a community of curious souls to engage with ideas and each other. Over time, you'll see us add talks and performances from other events, and solicit submissions from you, as well. This site, launched April 2007, is an ever-evolving work in progress, and you're an important part of it."

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How the law strangles creativity, an introduction to Creative Commons by Lawrence Lessig

Lawrence Lessig discusses remix culture and how the law strangles creativity at TED(Technology, Entertainment, Design): Ideas worth spreading in Monterey California. The video has some wonderful remixed videos including a video of Jesus set to I will survive and a music video created from remixed footage of President George Bush and then Prime Minister Tony Blair.

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Torture Device Coloring Book

Display Thumbnail Ruhlinnggg
Erik Ruhling is author of the book Infernal Device: Machinery of Torture & Execution, a visual history of such devices as the Iron Maiden, Guillotine, Tongue Tearer, and Ear Chopper. I've just discovered that Ruhling also created The Torture Device Coloring Book. It's available for download for $3.44 or as a print-on-demand from Lulu for $8.85. The 20 drawings are accompanied by a rhyme. Sounds like more fun than a barrel of rabid monkeys!

Link to buy The Torture Device Coloring Book
Link to buy Infernal Devices: Machinery of Torture & Execution

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Judge Dissolves Wikileaks.org Injunction

San Francisco - A federal district court judge in San Francisco today rescinded a controversial order that disabled the "wikileaks.org" domain name which had -- until two weeks ago -- pointed to Wikileaks, a website designed to give whistleblowers a forum for posting materials of public concern.

This week, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) moved to intervene in the case, along with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Northern California and the Project on Government Oversight (POGO). In a hearing in federal court today, EFF and its fellow intervenors and amici argued that the order infringed on the First Amendment rights of Internet users who have an interest in accessing material of public concern on the site. Ruling from the bench, Judge Jeffrey White cited concerns about the First Amendment, the effectiveness of disabling the wikileaks.org domain name, and the court's own jurisdiction over the case as reasons to dissolve his previous orders.

"We're very pleased that Judge White recognized the serious constitutional concerns raised by his earlier orders," said EFF Senior Staff Attorney Matt Zimmerman. "Attempting to interfere with the operation of an entire website because you have a dispute over some of its content is never the right approach. Disabling access to an Internet domain in an effort to prevent the world from accessing a handful of widely-discussed documents is not only unconstitutional -- it simply won't work."

Wikileaks permits third parties to post corporate and government documents that they believe expose wrongdoing. For example, in the past year individuals have posted materials documenting alleged human rights abuses in China and political corruption in Kenya.

The lawsuit began earlier this month, when Swiss bank Julius Baer filed suit against Wikileaks for hosting allegedly leaked documents regarding personal banking transactions of Julius Baer customers. Also sued was Wikileaks' domain name registrar, Dynadot LLC. On February 15, following a stipulation between Julius Baer and Dynadot, the court issued a permanent injunction, disabling the wikileaks.org domain name and preventing that domain name from being transferred to any other registrar.

In addition to dissolving the permanent injunction, which permits the wikileaks.org domain name to be reactivated, the court also declined to extend a previous temporary restraining order requiring Wikileaks to disable access to 14 disputed Julius Baer documents.

Joining the EFF, ACLU, and POGO motion to intervene was Wikileaks user Jordan McCorkle. The papers were filed in consultation with and on behalf of the intervenors by Steven Mayer of the law firm of Howard Rice Nemerovski Canady Falk & Rabkin. Other attorneys on the case include Christopher Kao and Shaudy Danaye-Elmi of Howard Rice; Zimmerman, Cindy Cohn, and Kurt Opsahl of EFF; and Aden Fine and Ann Brick of the ACLU and ACLU-Northern California, respectively.

For the full order:
http://www.eff.org/files/filenode/baer_v_wikileaks/wikileaks102.pdf

For more on the Wikileaks case:
http://www.eff.org/cases/bank-julius-baer-co-v-wikileaks

Contact:

Matt Zimmerman
Senior Staff Attorney
Electronic Frontier Foundation
mattz@eff.org

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Comcast spits on Democracy and the Internet by tampering with FCC meeting on net neutrality

THIS JUST IN: Democracy for sale to the highest bidder! ....or something like that.... In a recent FCC hearing concerning network neutrality, Comcast paid bystanders to hold nearly all the seats in the hearing room (some of which were observed sleeping through the proceeding), forcing concerned members of the public that wished to participate to miss the meeting. The hearing was scheduled to address accusations that Comcast is blocking rival video-on-demand services on it's network. Read more at: http://www.savetheinternet.com/blog/2008/02/28/why-comcast-payola-is-wrong/ or: http://www.portfolio.com/news-markets/top-5/2008/02/26/Comcast-FCC-Hearing-Strategy
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Google Zeitgeist

Google offers a number of tools to help examine search trends over different time periods. In addition to Zeitgeist, which looks at an entire year, Google also offers Google Trends and Hot Trends.

Here's more about Zeitgeist from the site:

Pulling together interesting search trends and patterns requires both computing power and human power too. Search statistics are automatically generated based on the billions of searches conducted on Google. With some help from humans, and a pigeon or two when they have time, these statistics and trends make their way from the depths of Google's hard drives to become the Google Zeitgeist findings. We should note that in compiling these Zeitgeist lists, no individual searcher's information is available or accessible to us. What you see here is a cumulative snapshot of interesting queries people are asking – over time, within country domains, and some on Google.com – that perhaps reveal a bit of the human condition. We appreciate the contribution everyone who searches on Google makes to these fascinating bits of information. 

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ACLU and EFF intervene in the Wikileaks lawsuit


The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Northern California and the EFF have filed a motion to intervene in a lawsuit that led a federal district judge to order the shutdown of Wikileaks.org, according to this ACLU press release.

The motion is on behalf of organizations and individuals that have accessed and used documents on the Wikileaks.org website in their work and want to continue to be able to do so.

“The court’s order shuts down and locks up the domain name Wikileaks.org permanently, effectively interfering with the public’s ability to access the materials on the website as easily as possible,” said Aden Fine, senior staff attorney with the ACLU First Amendment Working Group. “The public has a right to receive information and ideas, especially ones concerning the public interest. This injunction ignores that vital First Amendment principle.”

The Wikileaks website was established to allow participants to anonymously disclose documents of public interest, including materials discussing such issues of national importance as U.S. Army operations at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, human rights abuses in China, and political corruption in Kenya. Earlier this month, Judge Jeffrey White of the Northern District of California ordered domain registrar Dynadot, LLC to shut down the domain name Wikileaks.org based on allegations that a former employee of Swiss Bank Julius Baer posted documents on the website that highlighted the bank’s dealings in the Cayman Islands.

(thanks, Ravi Garla)

Previously on BB:

  • California judge shuts down wikileaks

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