AlterNet -- TECHSPLOITATION: I'm a Terrorist Now
Hacking & Cracking, Internet-Weblog Culture, Polical Speech
'Now that the anti-terrorist USA Patriot Act has passed, I am officially a terrorist. Yes, it's true. Going by the various and sundry definitions of terrorist in this bill, you might be a terrorist too. If you have broken into and "damaged" any Internet-connected computer within the last eight years, you are now deemed a terrorist. That means if you have ever been the sort of hacktivist who protests political Web sites by defacing them or replacing their home page with one full of dissenting information, your crime will be deemed terrorism and punished accordingly.'

FBI Terror Detentions Questioned
Misc.
'Civil liberties groups are demanding that the U.S. government disclose information about hundreds of people who have been detained after the Sep. 11 attacks. At a press conference on Capitol Hill on Monday, the groups said it's time for the Justice Department to provide at least some details on the continuing investigation, such as how many people are detained, who has been charged with terrorism, and whether they've had access to attorneys.'

I love my country, but that doesn't mean I love everything it does, all the time. If there is a reason to hold a man, fine, hold him, but give the reason. If there's no reason, then let him go. Are we a freedom loving country, or a tyranny? That question is not answered by great acts, but by a series of little acts... and I don't think the little acts of holding a foriegner for no good given reason provides evidence for the "freedom loving" classification.

Ananova - Michael Jackson looking forward to trick or treating

'Michael Jackson says he will be dressing up as a monster and going trick or treating on Halloween. In a rare webchat with fans, the singer says he is mentally "always in Never Never land."'

Another reason not to live in [the state Michael Jackson is living in]. ("Country" if you're feeling unkind.)

You just know BlackHoleBrain will have something to say about this sometime...

New/Old Feature
Administrative
One of the biggest things I lost when I moved to the Radio Userland 'blog is a meaningful archive feature. The data's here, but if there's an easy way to make it accessible, it has eluded me. So, I've finally finished coding up a solution for myself.

It's a hack job (translation: Don't expect me to bundle this as a Tool). Hopefully, something like this is on the agenda for 7.1. In the meantime, I've got this. The plan is for Google to pick this up sometime, crawl it, and make it available to me (and others) via the search thingy you see on the right.

News: AOL volunteers lose battle
Misc.
'The Labor Department has decided not to further investigate charges that AOL Time Warner unfairly used volunteers at its Internet unit. "We decided not to pursue the case from an enforcement angle due to the limited resources here at the Labor Department," said Stuart Roy, a spokesman for the government agency.'

 

Wayback Goes Way Back on Web
General IP Issues
'The Internet Archive and Alexa Internet recently unveiled the free service, which provides digital snapshots from its archives that reveal the origins of the Internet and how it has evolved over the past five years.'

'"This will help make use of the cultural artifacts of our day," said Brewster Kahle, founder of The Internet Archive. "It will help people make sense of the world and give accountability to what's been published before."'

Custom Weblog Post
Fun Stuff!
I have updated my Custom Weblog Post tool to version 1.01. This version has several enhancements and bug fixes:

• Javascriptlet now works with URLs with a ? or certain other wierd chars.
• Improved XML encoding in general; less wierdness in the enclosed text.
• Pushing the "Post" button now actually calls the weblog posting script. (Previously you had to manually publish the additions. I thought that would be preferable, but we all, including me, agreed that was wrong.)
• By popular request, there is now an option to select multiple categories at once, using either checkboxes (like RU's main weblog interface) or a multi-select combo box.
• Improved installation procedure for the Website Tool... if you have trouble, pull up the documentation in the RU menu.
• Slightly better documentation here and there, both on screen and in the documentation.
• Should be generally usable and stable.

Terror Act Has Lasting Effects
Surveillance and Privacy from Government
'But the Dec. 2005 expiration date embedded in the USA Act -- which the Senate approved 98 to 1 on Thursday -- applies only to a tiny part of the mammoth bill.'

'After the president signs the measure on Friday, police will have the permanent ability to conduct Internet surveillance without a court order in some circumstances, secretly search homes and offices without notifying the owner, and share confidential grand jury information with the CIA.'

A User's Review of Windows XP
Personal Commentary
My initial impressions of Windows XP. Summary: Quite positive.

 

Disnification
Political Speech, Free Speech
'In this situation Disney Corp. is a political actor, speaking under the special rights enjoyed by commercial actors. For commercial actors, having more money is a perfectly fine amplifier of viewpoints. For example, there's nothing wrong with Proctor and Gamble having more advertising than Joe's Bar. But with political actors, allowing concentrations of money to amplify viewpoints is not a good thing, because the political design of the U.S. is intended to flatten hierarchy in order to allow the many to rule. When political actors like Disney pretend to be commercial actors, republican government is being gamed.'