Links

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March 4, 2012

5:26 pm

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Links

If you read nothing else from this week’s “links” post, please do read Why Anti-Authoritarians are Diagnosed as Mentally Ill and Ancient Computers in Use Today.

Censorship:

  1. Greece – News photographers are not police auxiliaries    20 February 2012, 3:08 am

  2. The mysterious case of Hamza Kashgari    21 February 2012, 3:39 am

  3. Censored Video of Santa Rosa Police Beating Thomas Flournoy    23 February 2012, 1:22 am

  4. Indian Government to intercept phone calls without operator knowledge    23 February 2012, 2:09 am

  5. Saudi Arabia – Journalist prosecuted for “blasphemous” tweets    23 February 2012, 2:35 am

  6. India – Government launches new broad offensive on electronic communications    23 February 2012, 7:59 am

  7. Journals Warned to Keep a Tight Lid on Diesel Exposure Data    23 February 2012, 10:38 am

  8. Tumblr’s banning “self-harm” blogs that promote eating disorders and suicide    26 February 2012, 2:51 am

  9. Twitter suspends accounts unfavorable to Sarkozy    26 February 2012, 2:56 am

  10. Pakistan Internet Filtering and URL Blocking System Request for Proposal    26 February 2012, 4:10 am

  11. Smashwords Succumbs to Censorship by Paypal    26 February 2012, 4:25 am

  12. Key Techdirt SOPA/PIPA Post Censored By Bogus DMCA Takedown Notice    28 February 2012, 7:25 am

  13. Legal Censorship: PayPal Makes a Habit of Deciding What Users Can Read    29 February 2012, 7:33 am

Links 8, 9, 11, and 13 are disturbing, as they are examples of non-governmental censorship – they are corporations making decisions about what they feel should be allowed in terms of expression using their platform (Tumblr and Twitter) or if paid for via their payment-servicing platform (PayPal). Link 13 provides a good analysis of PayPal’s manipulation of Smashwords and why it’s not only dubious but why it’s a truly dangerous precident.

Comics:

  1. First Post (on paid political speech)    19 February 2012, 9:00 pm

  2. I tried to watch Game of Thrones and this is what happened (on illegal downloading – a bit crude, but makes a good point)    20 February 2012, 12:24 pm

  3. internet vs libraries    22 February 2012, 1:00 am

  4. unemployment news    22 February 2012, 1:00 am

  5. computers in thirty years    23 February 2012, 1:00 am

  6. no laptops in class    23 February 2012, 1:00 am

  7. Dilbert Comic for February 28, 2012    27 February 2012, 10:00 pm

Copyright / Patent:

  1. Tech Entrepreneur class on hold due to copyright & intellectual property issues    19 February 2012, 11:56 am

  2. Internet Paranoia: Are Protesters’ ACTA Concerns Justified?    20 February 2012, 6:56 am

  3. How the European Internet Rose Up Against ACTA    21 February 2012, 1:53 pm

  4. Megaupload CEO Kim Dotcom Granted Bail in New Zealand, But Banned From Net    21 February 2012, 3:38 pm

  5. Acta: EU court to rule on anti-piracy agreement    22 February 2012, 11:44 am

  6. ACTA – No consultation means no European legitimacy    22 February 2012, 11:44 am

  7. Court Finds Social Network Add-On Violated Spam, Hacking Laws    22 February 2012, 11:52 am

  8. EFF Wins Protection for Time Zone Database    22 February 2012, 3:41 pm

  9. Publisher Drops Ownership Claims to Time-Zone Data    23 February 2012, 2:22 pm

  10. Those opposing ACTA are missing something fundamental…    26 February 2012, 2:33 am

  11. Microsoft to Google: Please Don’t Use Patents to Kill Video on the Web    26 February 2012, 2:48 am

  12. After UK High Court Ruling The Pirate Bay could be Blocked    26 February 2012, 3:17 am

  13. The US recording industry is stealing from me    26 February 2012, 3:19 am

  14. RIAA Insists That, Really, The Music Industry Is Collapsing    26 February 2012, 3:34 am

  15. European Court of Justice to Rule on Legality of ACTA    26 February 2012, 4:14 am

  16. YouTube Identifies Birdsong As Copyrighted Music    27 February 2012, 1:11 am

  17. Standards Leader Blasts HTML5 Video Copy Protection    27 February 2012, 9:32 am

  18. Two Lawyers Sue West, Lexis Over Selling Digital Briefs, Memoranda    28 February 2012, 4:50 am

  19. Company That Issued Bogus Takedown of TechDirt Post Says It Was All A Mistake    29 February 2012, 5:36 am

Link 16 is just silly: apparently there’s somebody on YouTube who’s claiming they own the copyright … of birdsong, and YouTube’s letting them get away from it. Link 17 is about digital-rights-management and the new HTML standard (which doesn’t have DRM). Link 19 is about a bogus DMCA takedown notice and how one was misused with the effect of suppressing protected speech.

Gender:

  1. How to scare off female developers    19 February 2012, 11:56 am

  2. Pinterest isn’t feminine: An essay on ladymags and aspirational clipping    23 February 2012, 2:10 am

  3. Why we need to rethink “Women in Tech”    26 February 2012, 2:08 am

  4. Female Bioware writer harassed on Twitter    26 February 2012, 3:14 am

  5. Gamers Launch Harassment Campaign Against BioWare Writer    29 February 2012, 5:35 am

Gender and how the technology sector relates to women confuses me. I really don’t see why there should be any issue, but I really do want to blame the movie War Games – if you haven’t seen it recently, not to worry, it’s really not worth watching unless you want to revisit the stereotypical computer-geek.

Law:

  1. Spy Tech Companies & Their Authoritarian Customers, Part II: Trovicor and Area SpA    21 February 2012, 12:11 am

  2. EFF Files Suit to Block Threats Aimed at Lawyer Ratings Site    24 February 2012, 12:01 am

  3. Spain wins battle for shipwreck treasure    25 February 2012, 3:39 pm

  4. Reddit Writes A Law: First Draft Of The Free Internet Act Emerges    26 February 2012, 2:13 am

  5. US Appeals Court: Forced Decryption Is Self-Incrimination    26 February 2012, 2:48 am

  6. EFF to European Parliament: Protect Coders’ Rights    26 February 2012, 7:22 pm

  7. Upcoming Supreme Court Case May Be Key To Holding Spy Tech Companies Responsible For Human Rights Violations    26 February 2012, 11:08 pm

Links 1 and 7 are related – read link 7 for the happier end of the story. Link 4 is pretty cool, particularly because the law actually does seem to be taking shape … whether it’ll go anywhere, of course, is entirely another question.

Medical Technology:

  1. Georgia Tech Develops Braille-Like Texting App    22 February 2012, 10:53 am

  2. The myth of the eight-hour sleep    22 February 2012, 11:43 am

  3. Brain Scans Detect Autism In Six Month Olds    23 February 2012, 7:40 am

  4. The Forgetting Pill Erases Painful Memories Forever    26 February 2012, 4:06 am

  5. Ekso Bionics Sells its First Set of Robot Legs Allowing Paraplegics to Walk    27 February 2012, 7:36 am

  6. Why Anti-Authoritarians are Diagnosed as Mentally Ill    28 February 2012, 5:05 am

Link 2 is interesting, and I’d like to know more about whether sleep is as flexible as is claimed in the article. Link 6 I mentioned above, but if you missed it, please read it. Link 4 is just plain creepy.

Miscellany:

  1. How Forbes Stole a New York Times Article and Got All The Traffic    19 February 2012, 12:20 pm

  2. A Century on Film: How Kodak Succumbed to the Digital Age    23 February 2012, 2:47 am

  3. Nuclear Effects Calculator    23 February 2012, 6:11 am

  4. Every $1 spent on food stamps resulted in $1.73 in GDP growth    23 February 2012, 10:46 am

  5. Easily Pronounced Names May Make People More Likable    24 February 2012, 3:30 am

  6. The fake chemical compound Isaac Asimov invented to punk science writers    24 February 2012, 5:38 am

  7. Right for the Job: Placement Service a Boon for People with Asperger’s    24 February 2012, 7:41 am

  8. Kickstarter Expects To Provide More Funding To The Arts Than NEA    26 February 2012, 2:25 am

  9. NSA Interception Infographic    26 February 2012, 2:47 am

  10. How Bots Seized Control of My Pricing Strategy    26 February 2012, 3:17 am

  11. Ancient Computers in Use Today    26 February 2012, 3:49 am

  12. The Shocking Truth About How Web Graphics Affect Conversions    26 February 2012, 5:21 am

  13. Greed Isn’t Good: Wealth Could Make People Unethical    27 February 2012, 1:12 pm

  14. Introducing Programming to Preschoolers    29 February 2012, 10:10 am

Link 6 makes me laugh, particularly, and is worth the few minutes to read: Asimov on the differences in writing with an “academic voice” as compared to a literary one.

Museum / Library / Archive:

  1. Priceless Science: Striking Finds From a Rare-Book Fair    22 February 2012, 3:30 am

  2. V.A. Shiva Ayyadurai: Inventor of E-Mail Honored by Smithsonian    22 February 2012, 10:55 am

  3. Wired Opinion: The Case of the Missing Moon Rocks    23 February 2012, 9:58 am

  4. Really old maps online    28 February 2012, 4:55 am

  5. The Pipe-Smoking Buccaneer: City Frees Its Maverick Savior from Nazi Taint    29 February 2012, 8:15 am

Open Source / Open Access:

  1. Why I Unlicense    19 February 2012, 11:56 am

  2. LibreOffice Foundation Symbolises Maturity    20 February 2012, 5:14 am

  3. A thorn in the side for science publishers    20 February 2012, 5:16 am

  4. DLA Piper Sponsors Open-Source Think Tank    23 February 2012, 1:21 am

  5. Citadel – An Open-Source Malware Project    23 February 2012, 10:52 am

  6. Elsevier Open Access solutions    26 February 2012, 3:04 am

  7. If you want reproducible science, the software needs to be open source    26 February 2012, 12:50 pm

  8. Tim Gowers replies to Elsevier’s open letter    26 February 2012, 2:00 pm

  9. Wikileaks Pairs with Anonymous to Publish Intelligence Firm’s Dirty Laundry    26 February 2012, 7:29 pm

  10. WikiLeaks begins publishing 5 million emails from Stratfor    27 February 2012, 1:11 am

  11. WIKILEAKS RELEASE: The Global Intelligence Files. Over 5 million emails    27 February 2012, 1:11 am

  12. Report: Open Source Tops Proprietary Code in Quality    27 February 2012, 9:31 am

  13. White House Uses Espionage Act to Pursue Leak Cases    27 February 2012, 12:42 pm

  14. What the FBI Wants to Hide From You In Their 2011 Gang Threat Assessment    28 February 2012, 4:53 am

Link 6 just makes me groan as it’s such a joke of an attempt by Elsevier to recover some of their image – read link 8 for a good rebuttal of their position. Link 14 is interesting as it’s an example of what kinds of things are redacted by the US government and how leaking of documents is important.

Politics:

  1. Israel to destroy Palestinians’ solar panels    26 February 2012, 1:54 am

  2. The U.N. Threat to Internet Freedom    26 February 2012, 3:39 am

  3. Fresh evidence of CIA civilian deaths in Pakistan revealed    27 February 2012, 4:35 am

Privacy:

  1. Password reuse visualizer from Mozilla    21 February 2012, 12:13 am

  2. Canada – Canada’s online surveillance bill threatens Web users’ rights    21 February 2012, 8:30 am

  3. How to Remove Your Google Search History Before Google’s New Privacy Policy Takes Effect    21 February 2012, 1:04 pm

  4. Government Pressures Twitter to Hand Over Keys to Occupy Wall Street Protester’s Location Data Without a Warrant    21 February 2012, 10:11 pm

  5. University of Minnesota Researchers Discover That Cell Phone Hackers Can Track Your Physical Location Without Your Knowledge    22 February 2012, 10:55 am

  6. DOJ Urges Supreme Court to Halt Challenge to Warrantless Eavesdropping    22 February 2012, 12:05 pm

  7. Map your Twitter friends    23 February 2012, 12:45 am

  8. Woman Must Turn Over Unencrypted Computer Hard Drive to U.S.    23 February 2012, 1:21 am

  9. Everyone’s Trying to Track What You Do on the Web: Here’s How to Stop Them    23 February 2012, 5:20 am

  10. Obama Administration Unveils Blueprint for a “Privacy Bill of Rights”    23 February 2012, 10:36 am

  11. Obama Administration Unveils Promising Consumer Privacy Plan, but the Devil Will Be in the Details    23 February 2012, 11:37 am

  12. Court OKs Taking DNA From Felony Arrestees    23 February 2012, 12:34 pm

  13. White House Privacy Bill of Rights Brought to You by Years of Online Debacles    23 February 2012, 1:56 pm

  14. White House, Google, and Other Advertising Companies Commit to Supporting Do Not Track    23 February 2012, 2:19 pm

  15. How Internet Companies Would Be Forced to Spy on You Under H.R. 1981    23 February 2012, 2:56 pm

  16. California AG Agreement Calls on Mobile Apps to Be Transparent About All the Ways They Invade User Privacy    23 February 2012, 5:35 pm

  17. How to Remove Your YouTube Viewing and Search History Before Google’s New Privacy Policy Takes Effect    23 February 2012, 8:20 pm

  18. Conflicts Arise When Complying With EU Data Privacy Laws    24 February 2012, 5:03 am

  19. Appeals Court Upholds Constitutional Right Against Forced Decryption    24 February 2012, 9:14 am

  20. Forcing Defendant to Decrypt Hard Drive Is Unconstitutional, Appeals Court Rules    24 February 2012, 12:40 pm

  21. Documents expose NYPD ‘mosque crawlers’    24 February 2012, 1:50 pm

  22. FBI Turns Off Thousands of GPS Devices After Supreme Court Ruling    26 February 2012, 1:29 am

  23. UK journalist killed in Syria may have been tracked by satellite phone    26 February 2012, 2:35 am

  24. This Stuff Matters: Google’s New Privacy Policy (with a few edits) | Nymbus    26 February 2012, 2:56 am

  25. Scroogle, Privacy-First Search Engine, Shuts Down for Good    26 February 2012, 3:15 am

  26. Facebook and many other sites also bypass Internet Explorer privacy controls    26 February 2012, 3:37 am

  27. Microsoft puts Google on a blacklist    26 February 2012, 3:39 am

  28. Tech Giants Agree to Deal on Privacy Policies for Apps    26 February 2012, 4:13 am

  29. Opt-Out Provision Would Halt Some, but Not All, Web Tracking    27 February 2012, 9:31 am

  30. Are you being spied on through your smartphone?    27 February 2012, 9:55 am

  31. New ‘HTTPS Everywhere’ Version Warns Users About Web Security Holes    27 February 2012, 9:01 pm

  32. Calif. Bill to Shield Employers Who Don’t Vet You Via Facebook    28 February 2012, 4:48 am

  33. Apple Loophole Gives Developers Access to Photos    29 February 2012, 10:07 am

There really are a lot of links here – plenty of reading for you. Link 32 is really quite an interesting twist on the privacy front: a bill to protect employers against being liable for not pawing through their employees’ social network accounts. Sounds rather backwards, but I think it’s a good effort to open a space in the legal environment so that companies can’t claim that they have to invade their employees’ privacy.

Robotics:

  1. The Industrial Robot Revolution    22 February 2012, 10:52 am

  2. Real Fish Welcome Robotic Overlord Into Their School    22 February 2012, 11:41 am

Oooh, link 2: fish will follow a robotic fish! Cool … if maybe a little creepy.

Security:

  1. Researchers Defeat Video CAPTCHA Antispam Tests    22 February 2012, 10:37 am

  2. Citadel – An Open-Source Malware Project    23 February 2012, 10:52 am

  3. Evidence of GPS spoofing in the wild    23 February 2012, 11:01 am

  4. DHS Media Monitoring Desktop Reference Manual    24 February 2012, 5:03 am

  5. Should All Web Traffic Be Encrypted?    26 February 2012, 2:48 am

  6. Scamming the scammers – catching the virus call centre scammers red-handed    26 February 2012, 4:00 am

  7. Bank Customers Favor Birthdate PINs    29 February 2012, 10:11 am

Social Networking:

  1. Student Facebook Profiles Predict Job Performance    22 February 2012, 8:15 am

  2. 16 PInterest-Clones in China (and More’s Coming)    26 February 2012, 1:27 am

  3. Flickr disables Pinterest pins on all copyrighted images    26 February 2012, 2:12 am

  4. Friends of WikiLeaks (Facebook for Revolutionaries)    27 February 2012, 4:59 am

Link 1 is quite interesting, and has privacy implications that are a bit hard to fathom, particularly as this type of study will only continue to reveal more about how exposing social information can expose far more than you’d ever think.

Technology:

  1. Barfipelago: Using Twitter to Fight Virus Outbreak    21 February 2012, 12:20 pm

  2. Google to Sell Heads-Up Display Glasses by Year’s End    22 February 2012, 10:51 am

  3. UK Sentinel study reveals GPS jammer use    23 February 2012, 5:12 am

  4. Stochastic Pattern Recognition Dramatically Outperforms Conventional Techniques    23 February 2012, 10:49 am

  5. Google ‘Seaview’ gives you underwater reef tour    23 February 2012, 10:51 am

  6. Judge awards iPhone user $850 in throttling case    26 February 2012, 2:18 am

-D

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