http://politics.slashdot.org/ News for nerds, stuff that matters en-us Copyright 1997-2009, Geeknet, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 2010-02-10T04:20:25+00:00 Geeknet, Inc. help@slashdot.org Technology hourly 1 1970-01-01T00:00+00:00 http://a.fsdn.com/sd/topics/topicslashdot.gif http://politics.slashdot.org/ http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotPolitics/~3/zs-s-27qmGI/Canadian-Prime-Minister-Loses-To-Onion-Ring An anonymous reader writes "On February 2nd, a group was started entitled 'Can this Onion Ring get more fans than Stephen Harper?', and just a few days later, the group has almost triple as many fans as the Canadian Prime Minister. The group has over 86,000 fans at the time of this writing, and Stephen Harper has only 30,000."<p><a href="http://politics.slashdot.org/story/10/02/08/1751232/Canadian-Prime-Minister-Loses-To-Onion-Ring?from=rss"><img src="http://politics.slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rss&amp;op=image&amp;style=h0&amp;sid=10/02/08/1751232"></a></p><p><a href="http://politics.slashdot.org/story/10/02/08/1751232/Canadian-Prime-Minister-Loses-To-Onion-Ring?from=rss">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/q5Kp6XozRz_nIEP_SZynubZdDhc/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/q5Kp6XozRz_nIEP_SZynubZdDhc/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/q5Kp6XozRz_nIEP_SZynubZdDhc/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/q5Kp6XozRz_nIEP_SZynubZdDhc/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotPolitics/~4/zs-s-27qmGI" height="1" width="1"/> samzenpus 2010-02-08T18:37:00+00:00 idle with-a-side-of-ranch politics 3 3,3,3,2,0,0,0 http://politics.slashdot.org/story/10/02/08/1751232/Canadian-Prime-Minister-Loses-To-Onion-Ring?from=rss http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotPolitics/~3/5z_EOKkNs5k/Following-Techs-Money-Trail-In-Washington snydeq writes "Having outlayed $111 million to gain political influence in 2009, the tech industry is clearly learning how to play the lobbying game, writes InfoWorld's Bill Snyder. And while longtime lobbying stalwart General Motors nearly outspent the tech industry on its own, the rise of lobbying among tech giants, especially those under antitrust scrutiny, is staggering. Google, which has been drawing interest from the feds over its online advertising business, has increased its efforts twelve-fold in the past four years. And while Google frames its sudden increased interest in Washington as a matter of growth inspiring greater civic responsibility, the company may find itself sucked further into Washington, now that it is party to an international spat involving both the US and Chinese governments. Among those that top the list of tech lobbyists, Oracle, Intel, and Microsoft all have come under scrutiny in the past year, with Intel accused of monopolistic practices and Oracle requiring sign off on its merger with Sun."<p><a href="http://politics.slashdot.org/story/10/02/04/201203/Following-Techs-Money-Trail-In-Washington?from=rss"><img src="http://politics.slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rss&amp;op=image&amp;style=h0&amp;sid=10/02/04/201203"></a></p><p><a href="http://politics.slashdot.org/story/10/02/04/201203/Following-Techs-Money-Trail-In-Washington?from=rss">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/Nv2M5elkkXXCnkY7xIkUFLW6nAg/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/Nv2M5elkkXXCnkY7xIkUFLW6nAg/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/Nv2M5elkkXXCnkY7xIkUFLW6nAg/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/Nv2M5elkkXXCnkY7xIkUFLW6nAg/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotPolitics/~4/5z_EOKkNs5k" height="1" width="1"/> timothy 2010-02-04T20:28:00+00:00 business can't-beat-em-seek-rent-through-'em politics 61 61,59,45,43,17,11,7 http://politics.slashdot.org/story/10/02/04/201203/Following-Techs-Money-Trail-In-Washington?from=rss http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotPolitics/~3/xkmv7a2JVd4/Corporation-Says-It-Will-Run-for-Congress After the Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission to allow unlimited corporate funding of federal campaigns, Murray Hill Inc. announced it was filing to run for US Congress and released a campaign video.<p><a href="http://politics.slashdot.org/story/10/02/04/1342239/Corporation-Says-It-Will-Run-for-Congress?from=rss"><img src="http://politics.slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rss&amp;op=image&amp;style=h0&amp;sid=10/02/04/1342239"></a></p><p><a href="http://politics.slashdot.org/story/10/02/04/1342239/Corporation-Says-It-Will-Run-for-Congress?from=rss">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/b8V1JVoQhkNSIWfzVOYXNBRPpx8/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/b8V1JVoQhkNSIWfzVOYXNBRPpx8/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/b8V1JVoQhkNSIWfzVOYXNBRPpx8/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/b8V1JVoQhkNSIWfzVOYXNBRPpx8/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotPolitics/~4/xkmv7a2JVd4" height="1" width="1"/> samzenpus 2010-02-04T14:57:00+00:00 usa this-law-brought-to-you-by-pepsi politics 9 9,9,5,3,1,0,0 http://politics.slashdot.org/story/10/02/04/1342239/Corporation-Says-It-Will-Run-for-Congress?from=rss http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotPolitics/~3/n4fbz_QC3JA/South-Australia-Outlaws-Anonymous-Political-Speech Sabriel writes "If you're online in South Australia and want to comment about the upcoming state election, be prepared to hand over your real name and postcode first &mdash; because this month it becomes illegal to do so anonymously (even under a pseudonym). Media organizations must keep your details on file for six months and face 'fines of $5000 if they do not hand over this information to the Electoral Commissioner.' This abomination was passed with the support of both major parties (Labour and Liberal), and to quote its sponsor, Attorney-General Michael Atkinson, 'There is no impinging on freedom of speech, people are free to say what they wish as themselves, not as somebody else.' Apparently incapable of targeting a few impostors without resorting to 'nuke it from orbit' legislative tactics, Atkinson has forgotten that protecting anonymity is important to the democratic process; hopefully both major parties will get a reminder come the polls on March 20."<p><a href="http://yro.slashdot.org/story/10/02/02/1318221/South-Australia-Outlaws-Anonymous-Political-Speech?from=rss"><img src="http://politics.slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rss&amp;op=image&amp;style=h0&amp;sid=10/02/02/1318221"></a></p><p><a href="http://yro.slashdot.org/story/10/02/02/1318221/South-Australia-Outlaws-Anonymous-Political-Speech?from=rss">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/rdMlFi2b5N59AWhJdF8otw1kLKk/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/rdMlFi2b5N59AWhJdF8otw1kLKk/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/rdMlFi2b5N59AWhJdF8otw1kLKk/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/rdMlFi2b5N59AWhJdF8otw1kLKk/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotPolitics/~4/n4fbz_QC3JA" height="1" width="1"/> Soulskill 2010-02-02T13:53:00+00:00 censorship best-of-luck-enforcing-that yro 352 352,350,271,216,74,39,27 http://yro.slashdot.org/story/10/02/02/1318221/South-Australia-Outlaws-Anonymous-Political-Speech?from=rss http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotPolitics/~3/UPU-h-FmIlM/Mums-the-Word-On-Google-Attack-At-Davos theodp writes "BusinessWeek reports that the cyber attack on Google was the elephant-in-the-room at the annual meeting of world leaders in Davos. 'China didn't want to discuss Google,' Josef Ackermann, CEO of Deutsche Bank AG and a co-chair of this year's World Economic Forum, said in an interview. China's Vice Premier Li Keqiang made that clear, he added. Even Google CEO Eric Schmidt didn't bring up China, and Bill Gates was mum on the topic in an interview. The reluctance of companies to talk about China illustrates the pressure on them to protect their business in the country, while the US government doesn't want to upset Chinese investors, said Andy Mok of Red Pagoda Concepts LLC. 'People have their commercial interests,' explained Deutsche Bank's Ackermann."<p><a href="http://politics.slashdot.org/story/10/01/31/2227235/Mums-the-Word-On-Google-Attack-At-Davos?from=rss"><img src="http://politics.slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rss&amp;op=image&amp;style=h0&amp;sid=10/01/31/2227235"></a></p><p><a href="http://politics.slashdot.org/story/10/01/31/2227235/Mums-the-Word-On-Google-Attack-At-Davos?from=rss">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/oc0xi3pxBxYVJO7M0Kfzd-6YmpM/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/oc0xi3pxBxYVJO7M0Kfzd-6YmpM/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/oc0xi3pxBxYVJO7M0Kfzd-6YmpM/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/oc0xi3pxBxYVJO7M0Kfzd-6YmpM/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotPolitics/~4/UPU-h-FmIlM" height="1" width="1"/> timothy 2010-01-31T22:30:00+00:00 business still-deciding-on-culprit-perhaps politics 217 217,213,161,129,53,36,24 http://politics.slashdot.org/story/10/01/31/2227235/Mums-the-Word-On-Google-Attack-At-Davos?from=rss http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotPolitics/~3/bxQdhmm7WW4/Obama-Budget-To-Triple-Nuclear-Power-Loan-Guarantees Hugh Pickens writes "When President Obama said in his State of the Union address on Wednesday that the country should build 'a new generation of safe, clean nuclear power plants,' it was one of the few times he got bipartisan applause. Now the NY Times reports that administration officials have confirmed their 2011 federal budget request next week will raise potential loan guarantees for nuclear projects to more than $54 billion, from $18.5 billion, and a new Energy Department panel will examine a vastly expanded list of options for nuclear waste, including a new kind of nuclear reactor that would use some of it. The Energy Department appears to be getting close to offering its first nuclear loan guarantee. Earlier this week, Southern Co. Chief Executive David Ratcliffe said the company expects to finalize an application for a loan guarantee 'within the next couple months,' while Scana Corp., which has also applied, is 'a couple months behind Southern' and is hopeful of receiving a conditional award 'sometime in the next months.'"<p><a href="http://news.slashdot.org/story/10/01/31/1327238/Obama-Budget-To-Triple-Nuclear-Power-Loan-Guarantees?from=rss"><img src="http://politics.slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rss&amp;op=image&amp;style=h0&amp;sid=10/01/31/1327238"></a></p><p><a href="http://news.slashdot.org/story/10/01/31/1327238/Obama-Budget-To-Triple-Nuclear-Power-Loan-Guarantees?from=rss">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/RXnWsH5y8VLzNZDVsfT7TaDq7h8/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/RXnWsH5y8VLzNZDVsfT7TaDq7h8/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/RXnWsH5y8VLzNZDVsfT7TaDq7h8/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/RXnWsH5y8VLzNZDVsfT7TaDq7h8/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotPolitics/~4/bxQdhmm7WW4" height="1" width="1"/> Soulskill 2010-01-31T14:29:00+00:00 power sky's-the-limit news 373 373,370,310,248,88,38,21 http://news.slashdot.org/story/10/01/31/1327238/Obama-Budget-To-Triple-Nuclear-Power-Loan-Guarantees?from=rss http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotPolitics/~3/3rBaf5OI5O4/Reported-Obama-Plan-Would-Privatize-Manned-Launches couchslug writes with this excerpt from the not-yet-paywalled New York Times: "President Obama will end NASA's return mission to the moon and turn to private companies to launch astronauts into space when he unveils his budget request to Congress next week, an administration official said Thursday. The shift would 'put NASA on a more sustainable and ambitious path to the future' said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. But the changes have angered some members of Congress, particularly from Texas, the location of the Johnson Space Center, and Florida, the location of the Kennedy Space Center. 'My biggest fear is that this amounts to a slow death of our nation's human space flight program,' Representative Bill Posey, Republican of Florida, said in a statement." If true, this won't please the federal panel that recommended against just such privatization.<p><a href="http://politics.slashdot.org/story/10/01/29/0430234/Reported-Obama-Plan-Would-Privatize-Manned-Launches?from=rss"><img src="http://politics.slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rss&amp;op=image&amp;style=h0&amp;sid=10/01/29/0430234"></a></p><p><a href="http://politics.slashdot.org/story/10/01/29/0430234/Reported-Obama-Plan-Would-Privatize-Manned-Launches?from=rss">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/y0afBW7Fc3y9SdS3Oi98ADq1X8o/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/y0afBW7Fc3y9SdS3Oi98ADq1X8o/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/y0afBW7Fc3y9SdS3Oi98ADq1X8o/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/y0afBW7Fc3y9SdS3Oi98ADq1X8o/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotPolitics/~4/3rBaf5OI5O4" height="1" width="1"/> timothy 2010-01-29T10:57:00+00:00 moon worth-it-at-any-price politics 450 450,441,364,303,84,46,22 http://politics.slashdot.org/story/10/01/29/0430234/Reported-Obama-Plan-Would-Privatize-Manned-Launches?from=rss http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotPolitics/~3/uARr2IUVlvM/Seinfelds-Good-Samaritan-Law-Now-Reality e3m4n writes "The fictitious 'good samaritan' law from the final episode of Seinfeld (the one that landed them in jail for a year) appears to be headed toward reality for California residents after the house passed this bill. There are some differences, such as direct action is not required, but the concept of guilt by association for not doing the right thing is still on the face of the bill."<p><a href="http://politics.slashdot.org/story/10/01/29/022255/Seinfelds-Good-Samaritan-Law-Now-Reality?from=rss"><img src="http://politics.slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rss&amp;op=image&amp;style=h0&amp;sid=10/01/29/022255"></a></p><p><a href="http://politics.slashdot.org/story/10/01/29/022255/Seinfelds-Good-Samaritan-Law-Now-Reality?from=rss">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/OTGvRUxEIpwCo6HSfA2kojHcWTA/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/OTGvRUxEIpwCo6HSfA2kojHcWTA/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/OTGvRUxEIpwCo6HSfA2kojHcWTA/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/OTGvRUxEIpwCo6HSfA2kojHcWTA/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotPolitics/~4/uARr2IUVlvM" height="1" width="1"/> samzenpus 2010-01-29T04:48:00+00:00 court not-that-there-is-anything-wrong-with-that politics 735 735,728,592,436,80,38,21 http://politics.slashdot.org/story/10/01/29/022255/Seinfelds-Good-Samaritan-Law-Now-Reality?from=rss http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotPolitics/~3/zcG3xeuRo5c/US-Grants-Home-Schooling-German-Family-Political-Asylum A US judge has granted political asylum to a family who said they fled Germany to avoid persecution for home schooling their children. Uwe Romeike and his wife, Hannelore, moved to Tennessee after German authorities fined them for keeping their children out of school and sent police to escort them to classes. Mike Connelly, attorney for the Home School Legal Defence Association, argued the case. He says, "Home schoolers in Germany are a particular social group, which is one of the protected grounds under the asylum law. This judge looked at the evidence, he heard their testimony, and he felt that the way Germany is treating home schoolers is wrong. The rights being violated here are basic human rights."<p><a href="http://politics.slashdot.org/story/10/01/28/1542225/US-Grants-Home-Schooling-German-Family-Political-Asylum?from=rss"><img src="http://politics.slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rss&amp;op=image&amp;style=h0&amp;sid=10/01/28/1542225"></a></p><p><a href="http://politics.slashdot.org/story/10/01/28/1542225/US-Grants-Home-Schooling-German-Family-Political-Asylum?from=rss">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/rpJxdGsAndJdgv9fmCk31-2wKTw/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/rpJxdGsAndJdgv9fmCk31-2wKTw/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/rpJxdGsAndJdgv9fmCk31-2wKTw/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/rpJxdGsAndJdgv9fmCk31-2wKTw/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotPolitics/~4/zcG3xeuRo5c" height="1" width="1"/> samzenpus 2010-01-28T17:33:00+00:00 education come-get-you-some-learnin politics 1324 1324,1310,1100,877,143,65,37 http://politics.slashdot.org/story/10/01/28/1542225/US-Grants-Home-Schooling-German-Family-Political-Asylum?from=rss http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotPolitics/~3/x86DFwjDcx4/Political-Affiliation-Can-Be-Differentiated-By-Appearance quaith writes "It's not the way they dress, but the appearance of their face. A study published in PLoS One by Nicholas O. Rule and Nalini Ambady of Tufts University used closely cropped greyscale photos of people's faces, standardized for size. Undergrads were asked to categorize each person as either a Democrat or Republican. In the first study, students were able to differentiate Republican from Democrat senate candidates. In the second, students were able to differentiate the political affiliation of other college students. Accuracy in both studies was about 60% &mdash; not perfect, but way better than chance."<p><a href="http://politics.slashdot.org/story/10/01/27/1419208/Political-Affiliation-Can-Be-Differentiated-By-Appearance?from=rss"><img src="http://politics.slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rss&amp;op=image&amp;style=h0&amp;sid=10/01/27/1419208"></a></p><p><a href="http://politics.slashdot.org/story/10/01/27/1419208/Political-Affiliation-Can-Be-Differentiated-By-Appearance?from=rss">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/NZWDksq_Q-GNquh1sGNC40pr8Hw/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/NZWDksq_Q-GNquh1sGNC40pr8Hw/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/NZWDksq_Q-GNquh1sGNC40pr8Hw/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/NZWDksq_Q-GNquh1sGNC40pr8Hw/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotPolitics/~4/x86DFwjDcx4" height="1" width="1"/> samzenpus 2010-01-27T18:06:00+00:00 idle if-it-looks-like-a-liberal-and-quacks-like-a-liberal politics 262 262,258,213,161,45,26,15 http://politics.slashdot.org/story/10/01/27/1419208/Political-Affiliation-Can-Be-Differentiated-By-Appearance?from=rss http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotPolitics/~3/pHCRK0aOofE/Supreme-Court-Rolls-Back-Corporate-Campaign-Spending-Limits lorenlal writes "The Supreme Court of the United States must have figured that restrictions on corporate support of candidates was a violation of free speech, or something like that." From the AP story linked above: "By a 5-4 vote, the court on Thursday overturned a 20-year-old ruling that said corporations can be prohibited from using money from their general treasuries to pay for campaign ads. The decision, which almost certainly will also allow labor unions to participate more freely in campaigns, threatens similar limits imposed by 24 states."<p><a href="http://politics.slashdot.org/story/10/01/21/2014204/Supreme-Court-Rolls-Back-Corporate-Campaign-Spending-Limits?from=rss"><img src="http://politics.slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rss&amp;op=image&amp;style=h0&amp;sid=10/01/21/2014204"></a></p><p><a href="http://politics.slashdot.org/story/10/01/21/2014204/Supreme-Court-Rolls-Back-Corporate-Campaign-Spending-Limits?from=rss">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/758-2VuCzPI10P2bT7M1zOBVJVM/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/758-2VuCzPI10P2bT7M1zOBVJVM/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/758-2VuCzPI10P2bT7M1zOBVJVM/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/758-2VuCzPI10P2bT7M1zOBVJVM/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotPolitics/~4/pHCRK0aOofE" height="1" width="1"/> timothy 2010-01-21T20:34:00+00:00 usa hearken-to-the-nelson-laugh politics 1070 1070,1063,883,691,132,75,52 http://politics.slashdot.org/story/10/01/21/2014204/Supreme-Court-Rolls-Back-Corporate-Campaign-Spending-Limits?from=rss http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotPolitics/~3/X-whpEcjTZw/Obama-DOJ-Sides-With-RIAA-Again-In-Tenenbaum NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "Despite having had some time to get their act together, Obama's Department of Justice has filed yet another brief defending the RIAA's outlandish statutory damages theory &mdash; that someone who downloaded an mp3 with a 99-cent retail value, causing a maximum possible damages of 35 cents, is liable for from $750 to $150,000 for each such file downloaded, in SONY BMG Music Entertainment v. Tenenbaum. The 25- page brief (PDF) continues the DOJ's practice of (a) ignoring the case law which holds that the Supreme Court's due process jurisprudence is applicable to statutory damages, (b) ignoring the law review articles to like effect, (c) ignoring the actual holding of the 1919 case they rely upon, (d) ignoring the fact that the RIAA failed to prove 'distribution' as defined by the Copyright Act, and (e) ignoring the actual wording and reasoning of the Supreme Court in its leading Gore and Campbell decisions. Jon Newton of p2pnet.net attributes the Justice Department's 'oversights' to the 'eye-popping number of people [in its employ] who worked for, and/or are directly connected with, Vivendi Universal, EMI, Warner Music and Sony Music's RIAA.'"<p><a href="http://politics.slashdot.org/story/10/01/20/211243/Obama-DOJ-Sides-With-RIAA-Again-In-Tenenbaum?from=rss"><img src="http://politics.slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rss&amp;op=image&amp;style=h0&amp;sid=10/01/20/211243"></a></p><p><a href="http://politics.slashdot.org/story/10/01/20/211243/Obama-DOJ-Sides-With-RIAA-Again-In-Tenenbaum?from=rss">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/3gLTsmeBsEywl81qPLiKwcUJsts/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/3gLTsmeBsEywl81qPLiKwcUJsts/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/3gLTsmeBsEywl81qPLiKwcUJsts/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/3gLTsmeBsEywl81qPLiKwcUJsts/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotPolitics/~4/X-whpEcjTZw" height="1" width="1"/> timothy 2010-01-20T21:04:00+00:00 music could-make-a-jaded-man-more-jaded politics 528 528,523,428,355,84,51,31 http://politics.slashdot.org/story/10/01/20/211243/Obama-DOJ-Sides-With-RIAA-Again-In-Tenenbaum?from=rss http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotPolitics/~3/9x2b5-IqCME/Obama-Appointee-Sunstein-Favors-Infiltrating-Online-Groups megamerican writes "President Barack Obama's appointee to head the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs advocated in a recent paper the 'cognitive infiltration' of groups that advocate 'conspiracy theories' like the ones surrounding 9/11 via 'chat rooms, online social networks, or even real-space groups and attempt to undermine' those groups. Sunstein admits that 'some conspiracy theories, under our definition, have turned out to be true' Sunstein has also recently advocated banning websites which post 'right-wing rumors' and bringing back the Fairness Doctrine. You can find a PDF of his paper here. For decades (1956-1971), the FBI under COINTELPRO focused on disrupting, marginalizing and neutralizing political dissidents, most notably the Black Panthers. More recently CENTCOM announced it would be engaging bloggers 'who are posting inaccurate or untrue information, as well as bloggers who are posting incomplete information.' In January 2009 the USAF released a flow-chart for 'counter-bloggers' to 'counter the people out there in the blogosphere who have negative opinions about the US government and the Air Force.'"<p><a href="http://politics.slashdot.org/story/10/01/14/2226219/Obama-Appointee-Sunstein-Favors-Infiltrating-Online-Groups?from=rss"><img src="http://politics.slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rss&amp;op=image&amp;style=h0&amp;sid=10/01/14/2226219"></a></p><p><a href="http://politics.slashdot.org/story/10/01/14/2226219/Obama-Appointee-Sunstein-Favors-Infiltrating-Online-Groups?from=rss">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/o3PNhQR52jYvZoTjyKQbuZ-WEGQ/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/o3PNhQR52jYvZoTjyKQbuZ-WEGQ/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/o3PNhQR52jYvZoTjyKQbuZ-WEGQ/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/o3PNhQR52jYvZoTjyKQbuZ-WEGQ/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotPolitics/~4/9x2b5-IqCME" height="1" width="1"/> timothy 2010-01-14T22:28:00+00:00 government freedom-of-somethingeruther politics 689 689,679,540,438,106,65,44 http://politics.slashdot.org/story/10/01/14/2226219/Obama-Appointee-Sunstein-Favors-Infiltrating-Online-Groups?from=rss http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotPolitics/~3/VPMA7w51Sos/Minnesota-Introduces-Worlds-First-Carbon-Tariff hollywoodb writes "The first carbon tax to reduce the greenhouse gases from imports comes not between two nations, but between two states. Minnesota has passed a measure to stop carbon at its border with North Dakota. To encourage the switch to clean, renewable energy, Minnesota plans to add a carbon fee of between $4 and $34 per ton of carbon dioxide emissions to the cost of coal-fired electricity, to begin in 2012 ... Minnesota has been generally pushing for cleaner power within its borders, but the utility companies that operate in MN have, over the past decades, sited a lot of coal power plants on the relatively cheap and open land of North Dakota, which is preparing a legal battle against Minnesota over the tariff."<p><a href="http://politics.slashdot.org/story/10/01/06/218246/Minnesota-Introduces-Worlds-First-Carbon-Tariff?from=rss"><img src="http://politics.slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rss&amp;op=image&amp;style=h0&amp;sid=10/01/06/218246"></a></p><p><a href="http://politics.slashdot.org/story/10/01/06/218246/Minnesota-Introduces-Worlds-First-Carbon-Tariff?from=rss">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/bfa0fRYQnXz5QoZUeR6I38zY5vY/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/bfa0fRYQnXz5QoZUeR6I38zY5vY/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/bfa0fRYQnXz5QoZUeR6I38zY5vY/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/bfa0fRYQnXz5QoZUeR6I38zY5vY/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotPolitics/~4/VPMA7w51Sos" height="1" width="1"/> timothy 2010-01-06T21:29:00+00:00 earth hey-cut-that-crap-out politics 303 303,297,256,195,41,20,15 http://politics.slashdot.org/story/10/01/06/218246/Minnesota-Introduces-Worlds-First-Carbon-Tariff?from=rss http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotPolitics/~3/30n3Z7nheYg/Google-Sets-Censorship-Precedent-In-India eldavojohn writes "Censorship varies from country to country but India, home to a sixth of the world's population, appears to be shaping up much like China. Not far behind everyone else, Google has increasingly censored websites with an incident where a very popular politician died and Google forcibly deleted and dissolved a group on Orkut where offensive comments about the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh were posted. An official from India's Ministry of Communications and Information Technology said, 'If you are doing business here, you should follow the local law, the sentiments of the people, the culture of the country. If somebody starts abusing Lord Rama on a Web site, that could start riots.' The lengthy opinion piece calls attention to the beginnings of a definitive lack of free speech online for Indian citizens. A spokeswoman for the 'Do No Evil' company explained, 'India does value free speech and political speech. But they are weighing the harm of free speech against violence in their streets.'"<p><a href="http://yro.slashdot.org/story/10/01/03/0123216/Google-Sets-Censorship-Precedent-In-India?from=rss"><img src="http://politics.slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rss&amp;op=image&amp;style=h0&amp;sid=10/01/03/0123216"></a></p><p><a href="http://yro.slashdot.org/story/10/01/03/0123216/Google-Sets-Censorship-Precedent-In-India?from=rss">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/f6A2OcOc5xT4Q35B_mL6MCMbjFY/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/f6A2OcOc5xT4Q35B_mL6MCMbjFY/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/f6A2OcOc5xT4Q35B_mL6MCMbjFY/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/f6A2OcOc5xT4Q35B_mL6MCMbjFY/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotPolitics/~4/30n3Z7nheYg" height="1" width="1"/> timothy 2010-01-03T06:27:00+00:00 censorship in-accordance-with-local-laws-and-privileges yro 245 245,242,185,138,37,22,12 http://yro.slashdot.org/story/10/01/03/0123216/Google-Sets-Censorship-Precedent-In-India?from=rss Search Slashdot stories query http://politics.slashdot.org/search.pl