An influential congressional committee has dropped a political bombshell by suggesting that a tax originally created to pay for the Spanish American War could be extended to all Internet and data connections this year
Greenpeace accused Tony Blair of a betrayal
after leaked documents [PDF] revealed the Prime Minister was boasting about global warming commitments in keynote speeches while his government was simultaneously trying to ditch them at European meetings — via MemoryBlog
The identity of Australians could be subjected to unprecedented scrutiny under the biggest security protection plan since the failed Australia Card
Both John Howard and Phillip Ruddock’s noses have been put firmly out of joint over the US announcing that it will release former terror suspect Mr Mamdouh Habib with no charges after three years of illegal torture and detention in Guantanamo Bay. Is anyone really surprised that the whiny toad is refusing an apology or compensation. If he can’t say sorry to the nation’s Aborigines, he certainly won’t be able to apologise to a single man
California is introducing new laws to help eradicate spyware. The bill bans the installation of software that can be used to take over another computer and allows customers to seek $1000 in damages if they’ve fallen victim to this kind of malicious software. Can this really help cut down spyware or will it just be another fatally flawed piece of legislation?
Federal officials are developing government-wide identification card standards for federal employees and contractors to prevent terrorists, criminals and other unauthorized people from getting into government buildings and computer systems. The project is known as the Personal Identity Verification Project, and is being managed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology
Hundreds of thousands of secret Whitehall files are being shredded before the public gains the right to see them under the Freedom of Information Act on 1 January. Figures obtained by The Independent show a dramatic escalation in the destruction of confidential papers before the new rights of access come into force. Whitehall departments, including the Department of Trade and Industry, have almost doubled the number of files they have destroyed since the Freedom of Information Act became law
A European court on Wednesday dealt a blow to Microsoft, ordering the company to start offering a version of Windows without a bundled-in media player. Bo Vesterdorf, president of the European Court of First Instance, said that Microsoft must comply with penalties imposed by the European Commission in March even as the company’s appeal wends its way through the system
The NSW Labor Government has approved the use of offshore computer programmers by the public service, in conflict with ALP policy. But NSW unions yesterday condemned any move by the Carr Government that would mean the development of its online licensing system or other departmental work being shifted offshore
The tiny western African nation of São Tomé and Principe claims it has unwittingly become the continent’s electronic porn publishing capital after a Swedish company and its local partner sold the country’s internet identity without government approval. The government is demanding a share of the income earned from selling addresses using São Tomé’s .st suffix, after a US survey found they accounted for more than three-quarters of the porn pages generated from web sites that use African nations’ identities
A Chilean judge has formally charged former dictator Augusto Pinochet with homicide and kidnapping in one of many pending cases related to human rights abuses committed during his 17-year rule. Special Judge Juan Guzman says General Pinochet has been declared mentally fit to stand trial in Chile
Powell spoke before congress, detailing that complaints to the FCC are up from 14,000 in 2002, to nearly 240,000 in 2003. There were only 350 complaints during 2000 and 2001. Powell failed to mention however that 99.8% of those complaints came from PTC (Parents Television Council). It means that really a tiny minority with a very focused political agenda is trying to censor American television and radio
Australian Consumers’ Association health spokeswoman Nicola Ballenden says that E-Health initiatives intended to improve public health outcomes while cutting costs are being hijacked by greedy
software makers, drug marketers and pharmacists
The Federal Government had rejected mandatory filtering of the internet to stop child pornography and has opted instead to undertake an education and information campaign to teach parents about the perils of the internet
Brazil says it intends to break patents on commercial anti-AIDS drugs as part of its battle against the disease. The head of Brazil’s AIDS programme, Pedro Chequer, told the BBC it was the only way it could afford to keep up its anti-AIDS strategy. Mr Chequer said Brazil would make copies of up to five drugs next year. Brazil currently makes eight of the 15 drugs it offers in its anti-AIDS cocktail, which is free to those with the disease — via BoingBoing
According to State Department documents, the retarded monkey boy has opposed security measures for new microchip-equipped passports that privacy advocates contended were needed to prevent identity theft
Laws abolishing 800 years of feudal property rights have come into force in Scotland. The legislation — brought in by the Scottish Parliament — is intended to make land ownership simpler and fairer. However, there have been fears that thousands of Scottish households could face unexpected bills as a result. Experts believe some people are unprepared for the introduction of the new legislation and could end up paying up to £400 in compensation — via Paul Mellen
Anti-war protesters made a mockery of Tony Blair’s key election pledge of security by bursting into a government building just minutes after the Queen had announced new measures to tackle terrorism. As the whole of Whitehall bristled with armed police, three women and a man by-passed supposedly impenetrable security to gain access to the Cabinet Office, which has a direct underground link to No 10 Downing Street
A security expert who audited the Japanese National ID Card system and found it to be terribly designed and implemented was prevented from presenting his findings at a technology conference after the Japanese government intervened and threatened the conference organisers — via boingboing
Proving yet again that little Johnny Coward‘s cult of loony fundies are firmly pushing the agenda, the Government has quietly backed a conservative push inside the UN to adopt a treaty banning all human cloning, including the replication of embryos for research into cures for Alzheimer’s and spinal cord damage. The global ban was proposed by Costa Rica and, aside from Australia, has been supported by the US and 59 predominantly Catholic and developing countries
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