A Little More Privacy, Eh? Country Watch: Canada5/3/2000; 12:07:46 AM Mar 15, 2000: "A Canadian senator who says her country's pending information privacy act does not go far enough is proposing legislation that would enshrine privacy as a fundamental right. . . The senator's proposal, which is now open for public comment before it goes on to Parliament in April, provides far-reaching protections for privacy in all aspects of life.

Date Rape Site Taken Down Misc.5/3/2000; 12:04:37 AM Mar 14, 2000: "Web hosting company MyInternet.com deactivated Daterape.org, which described itself as 'a one-stop shop for all your date rape needs.'"I do not disagree with the removal; it amounts to conspiracy to commit horrible crimes. Interesting point, though:"'It's potentially dangerous,' Schnall [president of feminist.com] said. 'Although the site only got about 500 hits, if even one person got the idea to go out and rape someone, it's terrible.

In A Virtual World, Who Owns Ideas? General IP Issues5/3/2000; 12:03:11 AM Mar 14, 2000: Some days I think Jon Katz is OK, some days I think he's a complete idiot. In his recent two part essay, In A Virtual World, Who Owns Ideas? (Part 2), he has successfully wasted a lot of his time.Go ahead and browse through the essay. See if you caught what I caught. (Nobody did on slashdot on the day the first part came out.

Anti-spam e-mail suit tossed out Spam & E-Mail5/2/2000; 11:58:10 PM Mar 14, 2000: 'The victory came when King County Superior Court Judge Palmer Robinson dismissed a case in which the state charged Jason Heckel with violating Washington's anti-spam law. Robinson said the law, generally regarded as the nation's toughest, violates the interstate-commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution.' To tell the truth, I can't find an "interstate-commerce clause" of the US Constitution.

No Voting Opportunity for All Political Speech5/2/2000; 11:55:48 PM Mar 13, 2000: "i" and "Rights" collided in a new way recently, with the online-voting for the Arizona Democratic primary. As you might expect, such an event was not without controversy, as described in the Wired article No Voting Opportunity for All.I think those who are claiming that voting on the Internet should be blocked as it discriminates against minorities who tend not to have access to computers should be considering their actions carefully.

Site No Longer Bugs Terminix Free Speech5/2/2000; 11:53:40 PM Mar 13, 2000: Carla Virga ran a web site criticizing Terminix for bad service. Terminix fixes their service... no wait, that's how it's SUPPOSED to work. Instead, Terminix sues Carla Virga. Good news: Terminix has dropped the suit (I think they basically realized they were going to loose. ""This tells other consumers with Web sites that they shouldn't roll over and play dead if a corporation comes after them,"

Communities: Ties that Bind Internet/Weblog Culture 5/2/2000; 11:51:55 PM Mar 10, 2000: A number of things we can do to enhance community. Good piece.

Yeah, the Internet does move fast... Personal Commentary5/2/2000; 11:50:11 PM Mar 3, 2000: On Misnomer, Dru Jay discussed yesterday the relationship of my essay on Weblog Communities and the Tragedy of the Commons. I have to apologize to him; I simply forgot about referencing that stuff as a source of some of the root ideas. While my thinking on the topic doesn't stem solely from that reading, they did contribute a lot to the ideas.

Free speech or cyber-slander? Free Speech5/2/2000; 11:48:11 PM Mar 1, 2000: "The chatters claim a First Amendment right to post messages on electronic bulletin boards using pseudonyms. They have scored some success in challenging attempts to pry loose their identities from Internet service providers."I've been rolling around issues like this. I'd like to post my complete reasoning someday, but for now, consider this. I think that yes, we do have the right to not have to identify ourselves on a message board.

DoubleClick held at arm's length by partners Privacy from Companies 5/2/2000; 11:43:45 PM "AltaVista and Kozmo.com have distanced themselves from Internet advertising network DoubleClick partly out of concerns about its handling of privacy issues, according to reports." Wow, that's unusually gutsy for companies like that...