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A Google search will be much more efficient at doing this. Barret Brown is one that came to mind immediately, but others have been forced to testify. against sources. Interestingly Brown didn't even post classified material, he simply linked to this material already on the web.

Your statement regarding the location of each person does not make either willing to trust the US judicial system. Neither will your straw man, nor your personal opinion of a person. Claiming your straw man argument is "neither here nor there" does not change the placing of a straw man. You will need some better rhetoric than that.

Modded down? Seriously? OK let me rephrase that:

Nobody will give a shit unless they go on about stopping the boats.

And yet after that meeting to "reconsider" things (original source here after you wade through 3 links), the Polish government decided to go ahead anyways (source: here. Note the date: today, and after the meeting referenced in the first link). To be fair, he does say they are going to attach a clause about how to interpret the law (right after saying it doesn't change anything at all) and that they will consult the public "broadly". Somehow, I just can't bring myself to believe either of those will have any real impact.

So, nope, Anonymous didn't really do anything.

Currently ACTA is present here (Poland) in every news since a couple of days. People are furious, I think because: 1) Something such important was done behind their back 2) It certainly may limit freedom and may be cause of many abuses. Top government sites were hacked (as far as I know by different groups, some were quite funny). Despite large number of protests politicians seem to pretend that everything's alright and that they can continue with signing the act (yesterday polish ambassador in Japan was given permission to do that). What's funny is that Prime Minister says it won't change anything - so why to sign up? Many protests are being organised, similarly as with SOPA there are lists of politicians who support the act, some start to have doubts knowing that it may influence their appearance and perhaps future elections (in three years). I think that decisions are already made and nothing can be done. Some more info: http://globalvoicesonline.org/2012/01/22/poland-netizens-protest-governments-plan-to-sign-acta-next-week/ .

http://www.fhimt.com/leaks/contrat-entre-microsoft-et-le-gouvernement-tunisien/

Support de l'autorité de certification électronique reconnue au niveau de Microsoft IE

Microsoft inclura dans son cycle de mise à jour des autorités de certificats au niveau d'Internet Explorer, le support de l'autorité de certification nationale. De son coté, le Gouvernement Tunisien procédera à une demande écrite dans ce sense auprès de Microsoft pour la mise en place de cette procédure

google translation:

Support for electronic certification authority recognized at Microsoft IE

Microsoft will include in its cycle of updating the certificate authorities in Internet Explorer, support for the national certification authority. For its part, the Tunisian Government will make a written request in this sense to
Microsoft's implementation of this procedure.

English translation:

Tunisia's certificate authority allows it to release it's own SSL certificates. Microsoft agrees to include Tunisia's CA certificates in Internet Explorer updates.

Thats fine. But it also allows the dictator to spoof https sites and thus snoop on people even if they are using SSL. There is evidence that exactly this has happened in Tunisia with sites like gmail. See

http://advocacy.globalvoicesonline.org/2010/07/05/mass-gmail-phishing-in-tunisia/

I know there is a lot of bullshit assumptions in some of the articles on this issue, but there is definitely some fire at the heart of the smoke.

This is a clear example of a person who watches 6-7-8 and likes to believe everything the government says.

I do, I like variety too, I watch TVR, hear Victor Hugo and plenty of others a bit more objective than the 6-7-8 hellbent fans.

The problem with people like this is that they have polarized opinions. Either you agree 100% with the government or you agree 100% with Clarin. There's no middle point. This government puts itself in a "trendy" position. It's "cool" to think like the government does. So if you don't think like the government tells you, you aren't cool. You are a loser. These people just can't seem to find a middle ground, and like to adorn their speech with adjectives, like "dictatiorial".

On the 70's we were under a dictatorship, it's the proper word to use, with all the human rights violations that are associated with it, and you call that adorning. And what's a polarized opinion? And where's the "middle point" in the opposition to this government? Looks like you're projecting yourself there. Now tell me where in all of the Clarin controlled media has the government ever said how the people should think. Let's be factual and honest, this government (unlike others) has had fewer decrees (laws passed directly by the president without senate vote) than any previous ones, every single thing this government has done was done abiding by the democratic process of presenting projects to the senate and getting them voted. Even with a majority of opposition on the senate all these projects got reviewed, worked on, voted, and made law (except for the first time in history that the state's budget was not approved). So, when Clarin shows interviews with people like Elisa Carrio that shout out loud that this government is a dictatorship, and when the interviewer agrees with it, trying to make the audience buy that crap, you do buy it too? I wonder how many do this.

It's a fine example of how the government-controlled media apparatus works. They even see the media's "fourth power" status as something bad! Who watches the watchmen?

I'll be called Marxist but the power should not be on enterprises that care nothing but just about money. It should be on the people's hand, for that the media (look up journalism on a dictionary) has to be objective and impartial and be of varied, different opinions, not 100% opposing all the time, neither 100% pro-government. The world right now is showing how that fine neo-liberal model has worked so far.

They applaud the new "media law" which wants to split up nation-wide channels, under the premise of "democratization". The government's main selling point about the old media law was that it was, first, old, but second and most important: "WAS WRITTEN BY THE MILITARY DICTATORSHIP!!!!!oMGOMGOMGMGO THE MILITARY ARE CONTROLLING OUR MEDIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA".

Did you read the law in it's entirety? Here's what Fox News said about it. And here's another view. The law does nothing to nation-wide channels. It does so to the "content providers" so to speak. If you distribute content you should not own that content too (but the law grants a few channels for each provider anyway). Anyone with 1/8th of a brain would know that a provider that cannot own all the channels it distributes would be hellbent on having as many channels as possible, which would include a huge lot of local content, plus the already established nation-wide channels and others outside, just to be competitive of other media providers. Competition between providers also ends up being a plus, you get the freedom of choice for your provider based on their benefits, you are no longer locked into "the only provider in my area" anymore (which is the rule in the

If you're outside Argentina, go see for yourself: http://leakymails.com

If you're in Argentina, here are the official mirrors:
http://leakymails.tk
http://leakymails1.tk
http://leakymails2.tk
http://justiciainutil.tk

Here's an article about LeakyMails: Argentina: Judge orders all ISPs to block the sites LeakyMails.com and Leakymails.blogspot.com

Using the motto “Let’s stop lies and hypocrisy”, Leakymails.com was a project designed to obtain and publish relevant documents exposing corruption of the political class and the powerful in Argentina. The site was open to publish emails either from official or personal accounts, pictures, videos or any other document exposing misbehaviors or unethical actions of public figures in the Southern country, where corruption is rampant. [...]

The use of the past tense is strange. Leakymails seems very much alive.

I'm not quite sure what this tells us, except that spring-based layouts make everything look like a blowfish, and that whoever's at the tip of that spine at half past two on the clock face, the new government should either arrest her or make her minister of sport and youth.

I say the people should sue for failing to provide contractual obligations

Which contractual obligations? What contract are you talking about? The Telecomunications act of 1996 is not a contract...

and we file a lien on their entire infrastructure and provide everyone with free service until they deliver on their obligations?

Do you really want to nationalize a piece of infrastructure? Who will run it? Who will pay the workers to maintain the cables? You? The bank-accounts you are planning on seizing will get depleted very quickly, and even if you start charging for the service again, you will not have the business know-how to replenish them.

Sheesh, I know, you were joking, but I suspect, you were only half-joking. It is like Socialism — government-ownership of economy — has not fallen on its face everywhere it was tried. Your friend in Zimbabwe confiscated the farms to "restore justice" and his country — formerly an exporter of food — now needs vast international help to avoid famine. Your friend in Venezuela ran his country into the ground to the point of the bridges crumbling and electricity blackouts. It only took both heroes several years to ruin their respective economies...

However bad things may be, letting the government (or "community") run them will only make them worse.

For those looking for proper english source. see Global Voices Advocacy and Danwei. This sort of news propogates quite a lot slower than straight "Human Right" news.

- I saw no other posters at the convention. The poster could have been wildly inappropriate.

From Global Voices Online:

A medium size poster, in English, promoting the 2nd ONI volume “Access Controlled” book was removed by the Internet Governance Forum security forces, because of a phrase on it saying:

The first generation of Internet controls consisted largely of building firewalls at key Internet gateways; China's famous “Great Firewall of China” is one of the first national Internet filtering systems.

Just thought I'd clarify.

"remote searches" of course being just a lame analogy to something that just happens to be legal and reliable. Its hardly an accurate description of the process of sending someone a windows only trojan and praying you get accurate data. Maybe you get a faked "nothing suspicious here" report or a big list of falsified evidence.

This isn`t like showing up at someones door with a warrant. This is like showing up at someones door in a water company uniform and then searching every nook and cranny of the home. Its like searching the pockets of everyone who visited the home at one time. Think about the years of "deleted" e-mails. Most would have come from people who at the time didn`t think they were talking to someone who may be searched one day.

Its also interesting to note that this is not the first time one of these insane ideas is dreamed up at the national level, quickly identified as legally and politically unfeasable, and then is passed as mandatory across the EU. Its almost as if people think there is less meaningful oversight and public debate on international level policy or something.

Everyone remembers the idea of storing at least Telephone, HTTP and email traffic data on everyone in the UK. In 2000 British police figured this was in conflict with the reasonableness requirement of article eight of the European human right treaty and UK privacy law they gave up in the UK... and then pushed the same thing across the EU. The only thing that held this back was ISP lobbyist that managed to cut out the costliest bits.

This "trojans for cops" plan sold under the name "remote hd search" came from Germany where there wasn`t just debate, but huge protests in the streets. I love those "freedom not fear" banners.

There was also:

• the biometric passports (An American Idea pushed trough the ICAO)
• Airlines sharing passenger records with US intelligence without a legal system
• SWIFT and (unreported in the US) EU banks sending transaction and customer information to US intelligence
• software patents

In every case the EU system provided the ideal place to take a long time to do nothing useful with nobody really caring.

So thats why I voted against the EU constitutional treaty. Fat lot of good that warning did.

I would hate to see another displaced people group but hopefully the Maldivian gov't will leave behind their notorious, disturbing torture tactics with the drowning islands (ever wonder how they can keep their 100% Muslim country status claim). http://globalvoicesonline.org/2007/02/26/maldives-torture-techniques-in-paradise/

Culture vs. law.... If it isn't illegal than that culture should have passed laws to protect itself

Not all countries are like America. Some other countries don't make a habit of sueing each other, but would prefer more civilized approaches. Like, for instance writing a letter and asking them to respect local culture.

After I had read the original article I wondered what impulse would be the stronger among the slashdot crowd: the Google-is-god/f***-the-world or the respect-other-cultures impulse. There appears to be ample evidence of both here.
So I wonder if the Google-can-do-no-harm crowd can recall their Star Trek franchise, and if they are prepared to consider whether the Prime Directive of any decent group (society, country, company) should be: "don't interfere".
That includes, as far as I remember, to repect the whishes of a society to be left alone, in general and in Street View.

I'll go further and admit that in the aftermath of the 1985 eruption and mudslide at Nevado del Ruiz, I laughed all day at a mental image of the disaster which I couldn't get rid of. Yeah, it was crass.

Just to be clear, though, people die. Lots of them die, They die every year and every day. There is no rhyme or reason. Who gets taken isn't fair.

This disaster pales in comparison to the nearly 3/4 million premature deaths caused each year in China due to air and water pollution.

I want Taco Cowboy to talk about nothing else than pollution in China until that atrocity ends.

if we get some chinese comments, perhaps people here can translate them

Someone already did:

For those living in the West who didn't realize that there's little sympathy for Tibet independence among ethnic Chinese in the PRC, this blog post on Global Voices will be a shocker. John Kennedy has translated chatter from Chinese blogs and chatrooms that generally runs along the lines of: those ungrateful minorities, we give them modern conveniences and look how they thank us... where have we heard this before? Reuters has a roundup on the Washington Post that begins: "a look at Chinese blogs reveals a vitriolic outpouring of anger and nationalism directed against Tibetans and the West." (...)

"Davesgonechina" at the Tenement Palm blog has been translating the chatter coming from Chinese netizens on Fanfou and Jiwai - Chinese versions of Twitter. Click here, here, and here, specifically. Dave has done more than translate: he points out that this Tibet situation is a real challenge to all people who believe that the Internet can help foster free speech and bring about better global understanding. Here is his challenge to all of us...

The above info, plus a great deal of other material well worth spending the time to read, was aggregated by boingboing's Xeni Jardin, who since this situation has erupted in Tibet has kept a close eye on the whole thing and provided some very good info like the above mentioned post.

Ever thought of asking the Chinese what they think about America? They're robbing America blind right now, and they're chomping at the bit to take Uncle Sam down a couple of notches. However, being Chinese, they take the long view of things and are willing to wait until they are fully ready. For a sample of this thinking, check out how they don't care one whit about Darfur or Steven Speilberg.

Here's a translation of a blog post about MIAU, for those who want to get an idea of what it's about.

Here is a good piece about the use of corn for fuel in Mexico. Both the positive and the negative effects for the local people and the economy are treated.

Let's see if I got it right. Freedom of speech on a BLOG, safe in the anonymity of my alias, living in a foreign country far far away from the States trumps freedom of peaceful assembly, right to a speedy and public trial, right to not to be subjected to cruel and unusual punishment, and, of course, as I linked above, freedom of speech. Is it right?

Yeah, I don't think so either. Knowing that the right to tell the government wrongdoing exists is not comfort enough for me, and shouldn't be for you too.

Btw, bloggers in Egypt are being arrested, did you know? Isn't is at least as bad as in Cuba? Why is U.S. still ally with Egypt? No embargo, no sanction, no nothing? What about Pakistani and foreign jornalists being arrested on Pakistan too? Won't U.S. do something about that, apart from being a steady ally in the "global war on terror"? Why there is no indignation on U.S. media, on U.S. people about that? Castro or Chavez sneezes and people make such a fuzz, while U.S. treats "Soviet" China as one of the most valuable trade partners.

You people are being treated like cattle, taught to look at the wrong way, at the wrong "enemies", an invented Goldstein for you to vent your daily Two Minutes of Hate.

The big media attention to the case is in direct proportion to the scale of Brazilian participation in the virtual environment. It's really huge, and could provide an interesting laboratory on how to deal with digital identity on the web. But observers are quick to point out that Google's loose attention to Orkut development -- especially the lack of proper controls in the subscription process -- has had a decisive impact in the formation of the Brazilian user base. Everybody in the country knows that most of the users of social networks are kids, and most parents are not even aware that the site is not supposed to be allowed to people under 18. Who's to blame? Would Google pay such loose attention if the majority of users were in the US?

There must be some common ground for a positive settlement. It seems obvious that some Brazilian officials lack understanding of the web global dynamics AND Google has made equivalent errors in not paying close attention to inappropriate membership and behaviors of Orkut users until now. But the present 'tug of war' format of the debate will not help anybody. All sides should keep in mind that the case can be an opportunity bringing important insights about how to deal with identity in the web environment. Brazilians are ready (eager?) to explore these possibilities. It would be important also that Google Brazil's team should be prepared to think and move with respect for local cultural sensibilities while dealing with the implications created by such a huge experiment in social networking. It is obvious that 'adsense' sales people are not prepared to understand the deep issues that will keep emerging from the incredible digital laboratory spontaneously generated by social networking. Google's one-size-fits-all approach may just not fit everywhere, every time.

Alaa Abd El-Fatah, one of the Egyptian political activists, and one of the first bloggers in Egypt was arrested today together with around ten more activists during a peaceful demonstration in solidarity with sixty activists who were arrested over the past two weeks in a non-violent sit in, as well who were held in custody for two weeks under investigation for "crimes" that if anything would raise only mockery including, humiliating the president, possession of "publishing equipment"(graffiti spray) and blocking traffic. The first group of activists arrested two weeks ago was supposed to have their cases reviewed by prosecution today, so as to release or renew holding them under investigation. In solidarity with them 200 lawyers approached as a defense council, a number of judges, and a number of activists among whom were Alaa and his colleagues gathered around the court house. Authorities denied the activists entry to the court house, in addition to attempting to present the "detainees" files only, and not the detainees themselves to prosecution. For hours, Alaa and his fellow activists shouted slogans against the government, sang and showed solidarity with their detained fellow activists.... Read more at http://www.globalvoicesonline.org/2006/05/07/promi nent-egyptian-blogger-arrested-and-several-other-a ctivists/...