Amnesty International has launched a scathing criticism of Australia’s policy of indefinitely locking up asylum seekers who arrive in the country illegally calling it a violation of human rights
For the second time within the past year, an Indymedia server has been seized in the United Kingdom. This time it is the Bristol Indymedia server (currently redirected to the United Kollectives IMC site); this follows on from the Ahimsa seizure last October. The current seizure was carried out using a search warrant by the UK police at approximately 16:30GMT on 27 June 2005. This was despite being warned by lawyers that this server was considered an item of journalistic equipment and so subject to special provision under the law
(press release). Bristol Indymedia is currently being supported by the National Union of Journalists, Liberty and Privacy International. Other media organisations have declared their support — via Slashdot
Jon Lech Johansen (known for his work on decrypting DVD security codes) has created a patch for the Google Video Viewer — less than 24 hours after the search giant shipped the video playback plug-in, a tool based on the open-source VideoLAN media player. The patch, released on Johansen’s ‘So Sue Me’ blog, effectively disables a modification Google made to the VideoLAN code to prevent users from playing videos that are not hosted on Google’s servers — via BoingBoing
Australia will not introduce a national identification card because of the fear of identity theft by criminals
The Liberals’ controversial same-sex marriage legislation has passed final reading in the House of Commons, sailing through with a vote of 158 for and 133 against. Supported by most members of the Liberals, the Bloc Quebecois and the NDP, the legislation passed easily, making Canada only the third country in the world, after the Netherlands and Belgium, to officially recognise same-sex unions — via Moonbeam
Internet song-swapping web sites like Grokster can be held liable for copyright infringement, the US Supreme Court has ruled, siding with the entertainment industry in its effort to curb online piracy
Last year the Kurtztown Area High School approved a program which gave every student an iBook. Now thirteen students face felony charges for violating the district’s usage policy. The secret password, 50Trexler
, was widely-known among the student body and distributed early in the school year. It allowed between 80 and 100 students to reconfigure their laptops. The more computer-savvy students began to disable the administrations’ ability to spy on the students’ computer use. For others, it became a game, trying to outsmart the administration and compete with fellow students who held the secret
An ethnic Ogoni group from Nigeria’s oil-producing Niger Delta accused Shell on Thursday of undermining a new government initiative to reconcile Ogoni communities with the oil multinational
French actress turned animal rights activist Brigitte Bardot has urged the European Union to take legal action against France for authorising the killing of six wolves
Little Johnny Coward had been forced to review his barbaric immigration detention policy that has seen families locked up for years without hope of release. These minor changes have only come about since the government got outed for illegally incarcerating and deporting Australia citizens. The changes don’t go far enough, the entire system needs to be dismantled and the facilities turned over to a more suitable use; like locking up useless, rascist, xenophobic, hate-mongering politicians
A Georgia lawyer is taking a case to appeals court to prove that the mere act of viewing a web site does not constitute possession of the materials that were automatically cached on your hard drive
Two men were married in the chapel at Nova Scotia’s Greenwood airbase in May, in what’s being called the Canadian military’s first gay wedding. How can you not love Canada? — via HogBlog
The G8 plan to save Africa comes with conditions that make it little more than an extortion racket. Twenty-five countries have so far ratified the UN convention against corruption, but none is a member of the G8. Why? Because our own corporations do very nicely out of it
On 5 May 2005, the Colorado Wildlife Commission agreed to accept the Colorado Wolf Management Working Group’s (CWMWG) policy allowing migrating wolves from Yellowstone National Park and the Arizona-New Mexico borders to roam freely in Colorado. This decision came after a public comment period earlier this year and with a unanimous vote by all 14 members of the CWMWG
Same-sex couples are to be allowed to adopt children under a radical overhaul of adoption laws in Scotland. In the first major change to the laws governing adoption for 25 years, unmarried couples, including gay couples, will be able to adopt jointly. At present, only married or single people can adopt and although homosexual or unmarried couples can currently raise children, only one can be recognised as the legal parent
The UK is considering doubling the copyright term for popular music to 100 years. That means the Beatles’ Love Me Do
and Please Please Me
, scheduled to to go into the public domain in 2013, would earn royalties for record companies until 2063
The US Supreme Court has refused to sanction the use of marijuana for medical purposes, dashing the hopes of thousands of patients using the drug for pain relief. By a vote of six to three, the court refused to allow residents in 10 states to use the drug with a doctor’s permission and under highly regulated conditions. The ruling means federal authorities in 10 states may arrest terminally ill patients who use the drug as well as those who provide it to them. But some states remain defiant, saying medical certificates authorising marijuana will still be dispensed
Bob Geldof is aiming to galvanise the world to aid Africa with his Live 8 concerts next month and thousands of people will demonstrate in Scotland as leaders of the world’s richest nations gather for a summit there
New Jersey is using an anti-terrorism law for the first time to try six animal rights activists charged with harassing and vandalising Huntingdon Life Sciences, a company that made use of animals to test its drugs
The effort to ban municipal networks in Texas has failed. Texas House Bill 789 originally had provisions to ban muni wireless networks. The Senate passed a significantly rewritten version, without a ban. A conference committee failed to reach agreement, so the bill died when the Texas legislature adjourned this weekend
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