Visitors to declare illegal porn to customs officers

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21 October 2010
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Visitors have been ordered to reveal illegal pornography to customs officers in a move which has been criticised as totally confusing and an invasion of privacy.

Justice Minister Brendan O’Connor said that illegal material must be declared on arrival, watering down recent rules that asked for all pornography to be revealed.

But he said anyone who is not sure whether they have illegal pornography should reveal it just in case. The revamped rule is outlined on arrival cards which are filled in by travellers coming to Australia — via redwolf.newsvine.com

US leads the way to communities of the future

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21 October 2010
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In the midst of a job meltdown and faltering economy, one might think the lives of low-income African-Americans and Latinos would be bad everywhere in the US. But during a recent trip to the US, we saw hope springing from an unlikely source — a transit hub.

This idea is gaining traction in Australia (despite protests from established residents), conjuring, as it does, images of a beautiful enclosed tram/train stop surrounded by coffee shops, boutique stores and sidewalk cafes with up-market, low-rise apartments in the background. But we found that new and startling things regarding transit, development and density are going on in the US — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Hemp Is the Far Bigger Economic Issue Hiding Behind Legal Marijuana

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20 October 2010
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Hemp is the far bigger economic issue hiding behind legal marijuana.

If the upcoming pot legalization ballot in California were decided by hemp farmers like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, it would be no contest. For purely economic reasons, if you told the Constitutional Convention in 1787 that the nation they were founding would someday make hemp illegal, they would have laughed you out of the room — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Will Brisbane broadband get flushed?

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19 October 2010
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In Politics, Technology, World
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The company charged with installing Brisbane’s broadband network has recently been forced to abandon its sewer delivery method in a smaller United Kingdom project.

Lord Mayor Campbell Newman last week announced i3 Asia Pacific would install a $600 million fibre optic broadband network through Brisbane’s wastewater network within the next four years.

However, this website can reveal a similar scheme in the southern English city of Bournemouth had to be abandoned after the relationship between i3 and the local water authority soured — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Push to kill mobile ‘bill shock’

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18 October 2010
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In Rights, Technology, World
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Mobile carriers would be forced to notify customers before slugging them with excess usage fees and other extra charges under tough new rules being considered by the Australian government and regulators.

The US communications regulator, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), has proposed new laws aimed at dramatically reducing “bill shock”. These have been supported by Australian regulators but the mobile industry is already fighting back against any extra regulations — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Could WikiLeaks Have Prevented 9-11? A former FBI agent says ‘yes’

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18 October 2010
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In History, Politics, World
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As WikiLeaks prepares to release 400,000 Iraq war documents, two former government security officials argue that WikiLeaks could have prevented 9-11, if the website had been around in 2001.

The two ought to know: Coleen Rowley, the Minneapolis FBI agent who tried to sound the alarm a month before 9-11, and Bogdan Dzakovic, a special agent for the FAA’s security division, who was a leader of the agency’s Red Team that was warning officials about vulnerabilities in airport security just before 9-11 — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Swedish professor rejoices over laptop thief’s memory stick miracle

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18 October 2010
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In Technology, Weird, World
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Having recently had surgery, the professor could not be bothered to drop off his backpack in his apartment before first going to the laundry room.

He instead left the bag behind a door in the stairwell, thinking it would be safe for a few minutes.

But when he returned a short time later, the bag was missing, along with the computer, keys, calendar and other documents inside.

The professor was most upset by the loss of his calendar.

It is my life. I have documented everything in it that has happened in the last 10 years and beyond, he told the newspaper.

He then called the police to report the incident and blocked the credit cards which were also in the bag.

But when he went down to the stairwell a short time later, he couldn’t believe his eyes.

The backpack was there again. With all the papers, calendar and credit cards. It was just the computer that was missing, he explained.

Unfortunately, I have been bad at backing up my computer — via carloz.newsvine.com

How propaganda is disseminated: WikiLeaks Edition

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18 October 2010
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This is how the US government and American media jointly disseminate propaganda: in the immediate wake of some newsworthy War on Terror event, US Government officials (usually anonymous) make wild and reckless — though unverifiable — claims. The US media mindlessly trumpets them around the world without question or challenge. Those claims become consecrated as widely accepted fact. And then weeks, months or years later, those claims get quietly exposed as being utter falsehoods, by which point it does not matter, because the goal is already well-achieved: the falsehoods are ingrained as accepted truth — via spudpundit.newsvine.com

Government urges councils to stop giving tax breaks to Scientology

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16 October 2010
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The government is urging councils across the country to stop giving hundreds of thousands of pounds in tax breaks to the Church of Scientology.

The communities secretary, Eric Pickles, said a majority of the public did not want the “controversial organisation” to be given the kind of favourable treatment usually reserved for charities and questioned this use of public money — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Man claims rabbits at DIA damaged his car

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16 October 2010
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In Weird, Wildlife, World
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One air traveler says rabbits took a chunk out of his car while it was parked at Denver International Airport.

After a nine day stay at DIA’s Pike’s Peak lot, Dexter Meyer returned from vacation and found that his car would barely start.

The (repair man) called me and told me that rodents had eaten through the wires, said Meyer. That’s what the VW dealer said was wrong with his brand new Jetta.

You didn’t just pick the car up from the airport did you? the dealer asked Meyer. And I said, ‘well as a matter of fact I did.’ And he said ‘well we’ve had several problems with people having rabbits eating through the wiring’ — via redwolf.newsvine.com

WikiLeaks says funding has been blocked after government blacklisting

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15 October 2010
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The whistleblowing group WikiLeaks claims that it has had its funding blocked and that it is the victim of financial warfare by the US government.

Moneybookers, a British-registered internet payment company that collects WikiLeaks donations, emailed the organisation to say it had closed down its account because it had been put on an official US watchlist and on an Australian government blacklist — via redwolf.newsvine.com

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