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The Pirate Bay rival Mininova ordered by court to remove copyright material

noreply@blogger.com (taste) — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 02:29:00 +0000

A Dutch Web site Mininova was ordered by the Utrecht District Court to remove within three months all files on its servers that point to copyrighted works or face a fine of up to euro5 million ($7.16 million). As is known Mininova manages the largest index of BitTorrent files, software that can be used to trade movies, music and computer games, rivaling The Pirate Bay in the sector.

In a ruling made on Wednesday having showed its support of Stichting Brein, a Dutch-based organization funded by copyright-holder groups, the court said that Mininova was encouraging copyright infringement among its users while profiting from infringement by advertising on the site.

While unlike The Pirate Bay Mininova was removing some files when it received notifications from copyright holders the ruling said it was not enough. The court requires all commercial media works to be copyrighted.

"The court believes it's generally known that commercially made films, games, music and TV series are copyrighted and that these works are only copyright-free in exceptional cases," the ruling said.

Mininova said it was considering an appeal.

by Petrony

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American with cold misses ill-fated hike into Iran

noreply@blogger.com (taste) — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 11:21:00 +0000

SAN FRANCISCO – An American linguistics student traveling in northern Iraq didn't go on an ill-fated hiking trip because he had a cold — a twist of fate that prevented him from mistakenly wandering into Iran where his three friends were reportedly detained.

The Swiss Embassy in Tehran was working Sunday to learn more about the Americans' fate through its contacts with the Iranian Foreign Ministry, spokeswoman Nadine Olivieri said. Switzerland represents U.S. interests in Iran.

Shon Meckfessel sat out the hike because he had a cold, his grandmother, Irene Meckfessel, told The Associated Press from her home in Carmichael, Calif. He called her Saturday from the American Embassy in Baghdad, she said.

The four had traveled to Turkey, then entered Iraq on Tuesday and traveled to Sulaimaniyah, according to the Kurdish regional government. On Thursday, one stayed behind while the other three took a taxi to the resort town of Ahmed Awaa, it added.

The regional government's statement said the three got lost during an excursion and were detained by Iranian authorities at the border.

The area where the three disappeared is a popular hiking destination known for a picturesque waterfall and rocky scenery as well as a thick growth of fruit and nut trees.

Camping equipment and two backpacks apparently belonging to the Americans were found in the area and it seemed they were hiking above the waterfall when they accidentally crossed the border, a Kurdish security official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to release the information.

Shortly before their capture, the three contacted a fourth member — Meckfessel — to say they had entered Iran by mistake and were surrounded by troops, the official said.

Iran's state TV said the Americans were arrested after they did not heed warnings from Iranian border guards. It cited a "well-informed source" in the Interior Ministry.

One of the missing Americans has been identified by Kurdish authorities as Joshua Fattal. His mother, Laura Fattal of Elkins Park, Pa., issued a brief statement Sunday.

"My husband and I are only concerned about Josh" and the two others, she said.

Meckfessel and another of the missing hikers were both studying Arabic, said Irene Meckfessel, who raised her grandson. Shon Meckfessel had most recently studied at the University of Washington in Seattle.

"He's very much interested in people and languages and he's working on a Ph.D. in linguistics," she said.

In Iran, Swiss diplomats have asked for consular access to the Americans if their presence in Iran is confirmed, Olivieri told the AP. Switzerland has represented U.S. interests in Iran since American diplomats were taken hostage at the embassy in Tehran 30 years ago.

"Our embassy in Tehran is in contact with the Iranian Foreign Ministry and is trying to get a confirmation of the situation," she said.

The State Department, which requested the help, knows about Switzerland's efforts, said spokesman Robert Wood in Washington.

By MICHELLE LOCKE

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The Pirate Bay Verdict Won't Affect File Sharing - Columns by Dan Costa

noreply@blogger.com (examinee) — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 02:23:00 +0000

Today, a court in Stockholm, Sweden passed judgment on the four guys who run The Pirate Bay—one of the most popular BitTorrent sites on the Web, with an estimated 22 million users worldwide. The trial has been mind-numbingly boring and outrageously funny. Although the fate of four men stood in the balance—they were each sentenced to a year in jail—one thing this trial hasn't been is terribly important. Sure, the Web will be abuzz with discussion of legal precedents and protecting copyrighted information internationally; but even with the guilty verdict, rampant file trading will continue unabated. At least until the Web service providers succeed in their myopic, misguided Internet-metering mission.

Pirate Bay
The Swedish-based Pirate Bay has been around since 2003; its founders—now convicts—are Carl Lundstrom, Frederik Neij, Peter Sunde, and Gottfrid Svartholm Warg. For years, Sweden turned a blind eye toward The Pirate Bay's activities. Now, thanks to the prodding of U.S.-based copyright holders, they're taking action. In addition to jail time, the copyright owners want damages of about $14.2 million. If big media prodded, The Pirate Bay certainly provoked.

The site routinely posts its responses to Cease and Desist letters from various copyright holders; they make for pretty entertaining reading— that is, if you're not a copyright owner. When Electronics Arts wrote a letter concerning unauthorized copies of The Sims 2 on the site, The Pirate Bay responded like this:

Hello and thank you for contacting us. We have shut down the website in question.

Oh wait, just kidding. We haven't, since the site in question is fully legal. Unlike certain other countries, such as the one you're in, we have sane copyright laws here. But we also have polar bears roaming the streets and attacking people :-(.

After complaining about unreleased Billy Corgan tunes available for download on The Pirate Bay, Warner Bros. Records got this:

We are well aware of the fact that The Pirate Bay falls outside the scope of the DMCA—after all, the DMCA is a US-specific legislation, and TPB is hosted in the land of vikings, reindeers, Aurora Borealis and cute blonde girls.

There's much, much more, and it's fun to read as long as you are not offended by adolescent snarkiness, profanity, and suggestions for the creative use of police batons. Suffice it to say, The Pirate Bay's founders did not cease or desist.

Mininova
Because of the way BitTorrent works, The Pirate Bay's servers don't actually host any copyrighted material, but that's a technical, if not an academic, point. The Pirate Bay hosts the tracker used to find these files, and visitors to the site can easily search vast numbers of copy-protected files and download them with the help of a BitTorrent client. This technology isn't limited to The Pirate Bay. There are dozens of sites that do the same thing—go to Mininova.org and ISOHunt.com and you can find the same files, albeit without the parrots and eye patches. My favorite BitTorrent client, Vuze, offers searches directly from within the client. No amount of legal action can shut ALL of these sites down.

The Pirate Bay's crypto-anarchist founders were charged with "assisting copyright infringement." That has since been reduced to the lesser charge of "assisting making available copyright material." Whatever the legal wrangling, by any reasonable definition these crypto-anarchists are certainly doing those things. The problem is, shutting down The Pirate Bay won't change a thing.

When I call The Pirate Bay's founders crypto-anarchists, I don't do so casually. According to Wikipedia: Crypto-Anarchism is an ideology that expounds the use of strong public-key cryptography to enforce privacy and individual freedom. And that is exactly what The Pirate Bay does, although it does charge for the privilege.

A few weeks ago, the European Union's IPRED (Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive) became law in Sweden, forcing ISPs to reveal the names and IP addresses of copyright violators. The next day, Internet traffic in Sweden dropped 30 percent. As a response, the founders of The Pirate Bay are introducing an anonymizing VPN service, IPREDator, that conceals your ISP address. The irony is that by charging $5 per month for the IPREDator service, these guys will make more money than they ever did by simply posting BitTorrent trackers. So far they've amassed more than 100,000 pre-launch sign-ups.

More PB
Move, countermove. Repeat. The content industry's game of legal Whack-A-Mole continues. But there might be an endgame in sight: Internet metering could very well succeed where all these legal wars have failed.

My colleague Sascha Segan wrote about the perils—and potential profits—of Internet metering just last week. I believe that some form of variable pricing could make sense, but the plans put forth by Time Warner, Comcast, and others smack more of greedy profiteering than fair metering of broadband access. They would make P2P file trading too costly—it's estimated that downloading an HD movie would cost between $5 and $25, just for the bandwidth.

Hulu
Making P2P expensive seems like great news for copyright providers, but there are some big downsides. For one thing, it also makes legal delivery of music and video too expensive. Bye-bye Hulu, TV.com, Amazon Unbox, and Netflix On Demand; even the iTunes Store could become prohibitively expensive when customers are paying by the gigabyte. These services are just starting to take off and could generate real revenue for content creators, but they will perish right alongside P2P networks if the wrong metering plan gets pushed through.

Regardless of the Pirate Bay verdict, the lesson here is clear: Don't try to fight technological revolutions with clumsy, antiquated legal actions. Harassing customers, threatening Web sites, and standing in the way of progress are doomed to fail. These tactics discourage industries from innovating, developing creative business models, and offering customers better solutions. If the executives of the music industry would only spend as much time and money taking advantage of digital technologies as they do fighting them, maybe they could build the next iTunes. Or Boxee. Or BitTorrent.

Until then, I'm with the crypto-anarchists.

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Conficker Eye Chart: How it works

noreply@blogger.com (taste) — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 08:35:00 +0000

Many readers have been wondering what the easiest way is to determine whether their computer has been infected with the Conficker worm. Previously I've pointed them to this Conficker Eye Chart -- and that recommendation still holds -- but now I want to respond to further questions about how it works.

First, some have looked at the spartan Eye Chart and have worried that it might be, at best, a sham designed to lull you into a false sense of security and, at worst, yet another delivery mechanism for the Conficker worm. It is neither. The Conficker Eye Chart is in reality a very clever way to determine if your computer is compromised, and it doesn't require you to do anything but click one link.

Here's how it works, in brief: Visit the web page linked above and you'll see six images: The three on top are for security software websites, and the three on the bottom are the logos of various open source operating system distributions. The clever part of all this is that the logos aren't actually being served from the web page linked above, but are rather drawn directly from the six different websites to which each logo belongs.

Conficker (as many other pieces of malware) blocks your web browser from reaching many security websites, so if you don't see some of the security logos on the page, you probably have a problem. Why include the open source logos below it? Because if they don't show up, you are probably simply experiencing an internet connectivity problem instead of being the victim of a malware attack.

Whatever you see on the Eye Chart page, just scroll down a bit to determine how to interpret the images in question. Different strains of Conficker will cause a different set of logos to appear (since Conficker.B doesn't block the SecureWorks logo). Of course, you should also remember that many other viruses and worms block access to security software websites, so not seeing some or all of the images could also be a symptom of a different infestation. If you see all the logos, you're probably in the clear.

One point to remember is that Conficker's creators -- or someone -- have been attempting to attack the Eye Chart page directly, so the page may not load at all. If that's the case, don't assume you have Conficker; it's probably just a temporary site outage. (I am also getting sporadic reports that some of the images aren't showing up right now -- namely the SecureWorks logo in the upper center -- but again, this is a traffic overload issue. Try back later.)

Instead, try one of these other sites, which are also hosting the exact same Eye Chart and which will work exactly the same way.

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Is Breast Milk Safe for Babies?

noreply@blogger.com (taste) — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 11:24:00 +0000

Breast milk is the best food for babies.

Or is it?

Nursing your baby has numerous benefits, including decreased risks for allergies, diabetes, cancer, infections, and arthritis.

Colostrum, which comes in before the milk does, is the first food a newborn gets, and it passes on antibodies (immunoglobulin A) and leukocytes (which destroy disease-causing bacteria and viruses), and it also seals the infant’s highly permeable digestive tract with a barrier which prevents foreign substances from penetrating it. It is a safe and natural vaccine, the way that nature intended it.

However, pesticides, heavy metals, and other persistent organic pollutants accumulate in human milk, leading some researchers to question whether the risks of exposure to pollutants in breast milk outweigh the benefits.

Persistent organic pollutants, including organochlorine pesticides such as DDT, polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), tend to become concentrated in the food chain over time. Breastfeeding infants, being at the top of the food chain, receive relatively large doses of contaminants. These chemicals have been detected in human milk: bisphenol A, polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), hexachlorobenzene, and the cyclodiene pesticides, including dieldrin, heptachlor, and chlordane. The persistent residues of many banned substances are still found in mother’s milk.

In the October 2007 issue of Advances in Neonatal Care Journal, nurse–midwife Joanne Jorissen notes that on average, a nursing baby receives about 50 times the daily PCB intake of adults, and are predicted to have cumulative PCB exposures up to 18% higher than those of formula-fed infants.

Up to 90% of human exposure to persistent and fat-soluble dioxin-like chemicals, is attributed to dietary intake. Red meat, dairy products, and fish contain higher concentrations, and meat eaters tend to have higher levels than mothers eating a vegetarian diet.

To reduce a baby’s exposure, mothers can change their diets during pregnancy and breastfeeding, limiting the exposure to these chemicals during the critical times of growth and development. Nursing mothers that maintain their weight can also reduce the level of contaminants in their milk because the mobilization of fat stores is lessened.

Don’t give up on breastfeeding because of pollutants in breast milk:

“There is much evidence that breastfeeding plays a role in attenuating and reversing exposure to neurotoxic substrates, including lead and mercury. Breastfeeding may also indirectly affect the metabolism of mercury in exposed infants by increasing elimination of the toxic metal.” - University of Brasília nutrition professor José G. Dórea

The World Health Organization, the Academy of Pediatrics, and the US Surgeon General remain overwhelmingly in favor of breastfeeding, even with the evidence of contaminants in mother’s milk, believing the benefits to outweigh the risks to infants.

“To date, no environmental contaminant, except in situations of acute poisoning, has been found to cause more harm to infants than does lack of breastfeeding. I have seen no data that would argue against breastfeeding, even in the presence of today’s levels of environmental toxicants.” - physician–epidemiologist Miriam Labbok, Director of the Carolina Breastfeeding Institute

La Leche League gives these tips to reduce the levels of chemicals in the mother’s body -

Avoid smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol
Be aware when purchasing homes and buildings that have been treated with pesticides for termites or older homes that might have lead-based paints.
Eat a variety of foods low in animal fats, and remove skin and excess fat from meats and poultry. Avoiding high-fat dairy products may reduce the potential burden of fat-soluble contaminants.
Increase consumption of grains, fruits and vegetables. Wash and peel fruits and vegetables to help eliminate the hazard of pesticide residues on the skin. Eat food grown without fertilizer or pesticide application.
Avoid fish such as swordfish and shark or freshwater fish from waters reported as contaminated by local health agencies.
Limit exposure to chemicals such as solvents found in paints, non-water based glues, furniture strippers, nail polish, and gasoline fumes.
Remove the plastic cover of dry cleaned clothing, and air out the garments in a room with open windows for 12-24 hours.
Try to avoid contact with incinerator discharge, preserved wood, or produce grown near incinerators.
Attempt to avoid occupational exposure to chemical contaminant.
Encourage other family members to be sensitive to contaminant residue they may inadvertently bring into the home.

Yes, breast is still best!

For more information on chemical pollution in mother’s milk, see the Natural Resources Defense Council page here: NRDC Healthy Milk, Healthy Baby

Written by Derek Markham

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Cars: Lewis Hamilton Loses Brazilian Grand Prix, Becomes Youngest F1 Champ [Motorsports]

noreply@blogger.com (taste) — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 15:55:00 +0000

23-year-old Lewis Hamilton just became the youngest ever Formula One World Champion after a dramatic 5th place finish at the Brazilian Grand Prix. The rain-soaked race was largely decided by pit stops, with Hamilton being forced to pit for wets and dropping down to 6th place. With just yards to go before the finish line, the British driver was able to overtake Timo Glock’s Toyota in the final corner, giving him enough points to just beat out race winner Felipe Massa of Ferrari. “It’s pretty much impossible to put into words,” said Hamilton shortly after finishing, “It’s been such a long journey - all the sacrifices we’ve made, I’m so thrilled to do this for everyone.” [via Formula1.com]

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see me

The Former 'Pregnant Man' Debuts His Baby

noreply@blogger.com (taste) — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 08:32:00 +0000

It's been three weeks since his blue-eyed baby debuted in this world, but Thomas Beatie – better known around the world as the Pregnant Man – can already say this about his daughter's personality: "She's easygoing and mellow and intelligent."
[+/-] -------------------------------------------[ Show / Hide [x]

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Patrick Swayze's "Miracle"

noreply@blogger.com (taste) — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 13:13:00 +0000

Nobody puts Patrick Swayze in a corner, people -- not even cancer.

The actor, who has been fighting pancreatic cancer, was seen in LAX the other day, looking strong and healthy.

"I'm a miracle dude ... I don't know why," he told a crowd of photographers and fans there.

Pat also said that he was off to Chicago to continue filming his new A&E show, The Beast.

The fact that he is doing so well is music to my ears -- it's make me feel ever more tingly inside than when he and Baby did "the lift."

Come on, like you don't know what I'm talking about.

by Daily Blabber
Free Search Engine Submission thanks to: Popular Articles

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Right Wing Radio Host Michael Savage Says 99 Percent Of Autistic Children Are Misdiagnosed Brats

noreply@blogger.com (taste) — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 10:51:00 +0000

(AP Photo/John Storey)

NEW YORK — Radio talk show host Michael Savage, who described 99 percent of children with autism as brats, said Monday he was trying to "boldly awaken" parents to his view that many people are being wrongly diagnosed.

Some parents of autistic children have called for Savage's firing after he described autism as a racket last week. "In 99 percent of the cases, it's a brat who hasn't been told to cut the act out," Savage said on his radio program last Wednesday.

Savage offered no apology in a message posted Monday on his Web site. He said greedy doctors and drug companies were creating a "national panic" by overdiagnosing autism, a mental disorder that inhibits a person's ability to communicate.

On his radio show last week, he said: "What do you mean they scream and they're silent? They don't have a father around to tell them, `Don't act like a moron. You'll get nowhere in life. Stop acting like a putz. Straighten up. Act like a man. Don't sit there crying and screaming, you idiot.'"

The government estimates about 1 in 150 children have some form of autism. But many experts believe these unsociable behaviors were just about as common 30 or 40 years ago and that the increase is mostly caused by a surge in special education services and a corresponding shift in diagnoses.

Wendy Fournier of the National Autism Association, a parents' advocacy group, said she was invited to speak Monday on Savage's three-hour program by Savage's boss, Mark Masters of Talk Radio Network, which syndicates the show across the country. A spokeswoman from Talk Radio Network did not immediately return a call for comment.

Fournier called Savage's comments "way, way, way over the line and cruel."

"I'm hoping to make him see the reality of what these kids are facing," she said. "You can't fix it by telling a kid to shut up. It's like telling a kid with cancer to stop being sick."

Evelyn Ain, whose 8-year-old son has been diagnosed with autism, said she had never heard of Savage and couldn't believe what she had heard when she first listened to the remarks. She organized a demonstration Monday outside New York's WOR-AM, which broadcasts Savage.

"That isn't just freedom of speech, it is hateful speech when you say 99 percent of children with autism are brats," she said. "I'll tell you, I wish I had a brat."

Savage, with more than 8 million listeners a week, is talk radio's third most popular personality behind Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, according to Talkers magazine. He's made a living off bold, outrageous statements: His brief MSNBC show was canceled after he told a caller he should "get AIDS and die, you pig."

Peter Bell, executive vice president of national advocacy group Autism Speaks, said he isn't aware of any big controversy about overdiagnosis of autism. He said Savage's remarks, effectively blaming parents, reflect an outdated point of view.

"He's an entertainer, he does these things for attention," Bell said. "I think we should, to the best we can, ignore it."

by David Bauder

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