"How can you be serious?" Not by wearing this T-shirt! The classic Mark Pawson T-shirt, updated for 2012.
By Cory Doctorow at 10:29 pm Sunday, Jan 22
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Jun 1, Sydney Vivid Jul 14, London EFF Speakeasy Jun 18, Dublin Internet Freedom | Context (essays) With a Little Help (short stories) For the Win (YA novel) Makers (adult novel) |
By Mark Frauenfelder at 4:52 pm Sunday, Jan 22
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Lamar Smith, are you reading this? (Via Mitch O'Connell)
By Cory Doctorow at 12:16 pm Sunday, Jan 22
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Jun 1, Sydney Vivid Jul 14, London EFF Speakeasy Jun 18, Dublin Internet Freedom | Context (essays) With a Little Help (short stories) For the Win (YA novel) Makers (adult novel) |
Christopher Johnson, a Canadian journalist residing (until recently) in Japan published a ghastly account of his return to Tokyo after a short pre-Christmas trip. He was flagged at the border (he implies that this is related to his coverage of Fukushima), held, threatened, and shaken down for bribes before being detained without counsel or a phone call. He says he was eventually deported, though not before being ordered to sign a falsified confession and being threatened by an official at gunpoint, who demanded that he purchase a hyper-inflated plane ticket, which, Johnson believes, included a kickback for the official.
This time, he came back with a young, stocky guy. He was wearing a blue uniform. “Do you see this gun?” he said in Japanese, turning around to show me a weapon in its holster. “I have the legal authority to use this if you refuse to get on that flight. Now are you going to buy that ticket?”
I was angry now. They are forcing me at gunpoint to buy an overpriced ticket.
The [guards] ushered me out of the room and through the airport. They still had my bag, my passport, my wallet, credit cards, everything. I had no choice. They whisked me through the airport like a criminal. I didn’t have to line-up for x-ray machines or immigration. [They] pushed me through VIP lines, ahead of pilots and flight attendants.
Japan's outsourced airport detentions operation is the subject of its own Amnesty International report.
Gulag for gaijin (Thanks, arbitraryaardvark!)
(Image: Immigration, a Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike (2.0) image from bryansblog's photostream)
By Cory Doctorow at 11:04 am Sunday, Jan 22
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Jun 1, Sydney Vivid Jul 14, London EFF Speakeasy Jun 18, Dublin Internet Freedom | Context (essays) With a Little Help (short stories) For the Win (YA novel) Makers (adult novel) |
Julian Sanchez is on fire in this Ars Technica article on the funny accountancy and outright lies that underlie the harms-from-piracy stats cited in policy debates about Internet censorship and surveillance proposals like SOPA and PIPA:
As a rough analogy, since antipiracy crusaders are fond of equating filesharing with shoplifting: suppose the CEO of Wal-Mart came to Congress demanding a $50 million program to deploy FBI agents to frisk suspicious-looking teens in towns near Wal-Marts. A lawmaker might, without for one instant doubting that shoplifting is a bad thing, question whether this is really the optimal use of federal law enforcement resources. The CEO indignantly points out that shoplifting kills one million adorable towheaded orphans each year. The proof is right here in this study by the Wal-Mart Institute for Anti-Shoplifting Studies. The study sources this dramatic claim to a newspaper article, which quotes the CEO of Wal-Mart asserting (on the basis of private data you can't see) that shoplifting kills hundreds of orphans annually. And as a footnote explains, it seemed prudent to round up to a million. I wish this were just a joke, but as readers of my previous post will recognize, that's literally about the level of evidence we're dealing with here.
In short, piracy is certainly one problem in a world filled with problems. But politicians and journalists seem to have been persuaded to take it largely on faith that it's a uniquely dire and pressing problem that demands dramatic remedies with little time for deliberation. On the data available so far, though, reports of the death of the industry seem much exaggerated.
By Cory Doctorow at 9:17 am Sunday, Jan 22
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Jun 1, Sydney Vivid Jul 14, London EFF Speakeasy Jun 18, Dublin Internet Freedom | Context (essays) With a Little Help (short stories) For the Win (YA novel) Makers (adult novel) |
Chrisperfer sez, "I randomly came upon this Isaac Asimov graffiti when attending a birthday party in Rome for my 4 year old daughter's friend."
By Cory Doctorow at 8:06 am Sunday, Jan 22
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Jun 1, Sydney Vivid Jul 14, London EFF Speakeasy Jun 18, Dublin Internet Freedom | Context (essays) With a Little Help (short stories) For the Win (YA novel) Makers (adult novel) |
Here's a Filipino traffic-cop performing his duties while breakdancing, to the great delight of a large and excited crowd.
Filipino Traffic Cop Doing His Job Like A Boss (via 3 Quarks Daily)
By Cory Doctorow at 7:03 am Sunday, Jan 22
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Jun 1, Sydney Vivid Jul 14, London EFF Speakeasy Jun 18, Dublin Internet Freedom | Context (essays) With a Little Help (short stories) For the Win (YA novel) Makers (adult novel) |
Inspired by a Warren Ellis tweet, Robert made this fitting Newt bumper-sticker.
Newt 2012
(via Super Punch)
By Cory Doctorow at 6:14 am Sunday, Jan 22
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Jun 1, Sydney Vivid Jul 14, London EFF Speakeasy Jun 18, Dublin Internet Freedom | Context (essays) With a Little Help (short stories) For the Win (YA novel) Makers (adult novel) |
Sumitsumit sez, "Tired of carpet, want wood floors, but living in a rental apartment? If you have the low-pile variety, here's an economical way to make yourself a great new floor without damaging the underlying carpet. From the guy who brought you 'rope bondage for laptops.'"
By Cory Doctorow at 2:12 am Sunday, Jan 22
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Jun 1, Sydney Vivid Jul 14, London EFF Speakeasy Jun 18, Dublin Internet Freedom | Context (essays) With a Little Help (short stories) For the Win (YA novel) Makers (adult novel) |
In this video from a European Central Bank press-conference in Ireland, journalist Vincent Browne demands that the ECB representative explain why the ECB required the Irish people to bail out a bank's uninsured creditors. The bureaucrat mouths bland reassurances, then asserts (despite all appearances to the contrary) that the question has been resolved. Browne doesn't let up. It's quite a stirring spectacle.
Vincent Browne v The ECB (Thanks, Lord Humongous!)
