http://www.wired.com/news/wireservice/0,71350-0.html?tw=rss.index
Online Video Boom Sparks Concerns
Associated Press 12:33 PM Jul, 09, 2006
As if porn sites and pedophiles in chat rooms weren't frustrating enough for parents whose children use the internet, now online postings of amateur video featuring skin and violence are raising concerns. The explosion in online video-sharing sites, where clips of any nature can be easily uploaded for the world to see, has become the latest challenge for parents trying to protect their children and for websites coping with obscene submittals.
... Popular websites such as MySpace, YouTube, Yahoo, Google and soon also Microsoft's MSN are featuring user-generated videos that quickly have become a phenomenal form of entertainment. YouTube, the leading video site that helped catapult the genre with its public launch in December, attracted more than 20 million visitors in May. The company says it averages 50,000 new video uploads per day. [How fast could you review an hour of video and still catch objectionable words or images? Could be interesting... Bob]
The infectiousness of the video-sharing sites -- users can quickly e-mail friends and family to alert them to favorite videos -- has created feverish sensations: The uncanny star of "The Evolution of Dance," a comedic performance of different dance styles, has amassed more than 25 million page views in two months to become the all-time most viewed video on YouTube, and the explosive backyard science experiment of mixing Mentos candies with Diet Coke has snowballed into hundreds of copycats, remixes and spin-offs.
Within minutes, an auteur's work could be viewed by thousands. At some websites, videos garnering the most page views are automatically pushed to a highlighted list or "most popular" section.
But alongside the cute animal tricks, comic sports bloopers and corny lip-synching sessions are extremely weird antics and crude clips of bondage or masturbation. There's a plethora of videos of people vying for some attention and young women flaunting their bodies.
... One dilemma is that while some videos could be considered offensive or inappropriate for underage viewers, they don't necessarily amount to pornographic or obscene material, [Can a child create child porn on their own? Bob] which is denounced on YouTube, MySpace, Yahoo and Google.
The websites require that those uploading a video sign off on an agreement acknowledging the prohibition of obscene submittals, such as pornography or nudity. But users who click to agree to those terms can ignore it and post anyway, slipping the clips online for a while before they get pulled.
Those top websites all rely on viewers to alert them to objectionable clips -- a form of community policing that has been used for years by other internet stalwarts such as auctioneer eBay and classifieds ads provider Craigslist.
YouTube spokeswoman Julie Supan said "the really objectionable material gets flagged very quickly" -- and is pulled from the site usually within 15 minutes. Supan did not disclose specific figures but said "a small percentage" of daily uploads are removed, including those marked for copyright violations.
It was inevitable. If not for the last election, in some future election the “irregularities” would become obvious. (Can they sue the company that made the HANGING CHAD ballots?)
http://www.truthbox.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=29&Itemid=2
RFK Jr., Florida Law Firm to File Suits Against Two Voting Machine Companies
Written by zx8 Saturday, 08 July 2006
EXCLUSIVE DETAILS: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Florida Law Firm to File Federal Whistleblower Suits Against Two Voting Machine Companies!
First Case to be Filed Next Week, According to Attorneys Scheduled to Meet with U.S. Dept. of Justice Officials This Week
Insider Plaintiffs in Federal Fraud Suits Will be Familiar to BRAD BLOG Readers…
Since Bobby Kennedy, Jr. and attorney Mike Papantonio have now discussed this out loud on the air on their Ring of Fire radio program (where yours truly will be a guest next Saturday, by the way) and since this week's Rolling Stone references it, we may as well share a few more prevoiusly undisclosed exclusive details about the upcoming federal qui tam (false claims or fraud) lawsuits to be filed against two of the major American electronic voting machine companies.
As previously reported, Those two federal whistleblower suits will soon be filed by RFK Jr. and Papantonio. They will be filed via Papantonio's Florida-based firm Levin, Papantonio, Thomas, Mitchell, Echsner & Proctor, P.A.
The first of the two suits, is scheduled to be filed late next week — around the 13th — according to the attorneys preparing the case. Representatives of the firm are scheduled to meet this week with officials at the U.S. Department of Justice to discuss some of the legal requirements of the first suit.
Because qui tam suits have very specific rules pertaining to public disclosure issues prior to filing, for the moment we can't say too much more about them, but readers will likely be familiar with some of the players involved in these suits.
Beyond that, we'll refer to Rolling Stone's coverage this week of Kennedy and Papantonio's plans — with more to come, no doubt, on these very pages in the days and weeks ahead…
Kennedy, meanwhile, is preparing to up the ante on those he believes abetted the GOP's electoral theft. In July, the outspoken attorney plans to file "whistle-blower" lawsuits against two leading manufacturers of electronic voting machines. According to Kennedy, company insiders are prepared to testify that the firms knowingly made false claims when they sold their voting systems to the government — misrepresenting the accuracy, reliability and security of machines that will be used by 72 million voters this November.
"This is a unique way to try and stop these vendors," Kennedy tells Rolling Stone. "In both cases, our whistle-blowers are familiar with security problems that were well known by the vendors but concealed from election officials during the bidding process. Because we're relying on 'inside' knowledge, it is a far more frightening prospect to the company than a traditional lawsuit might be. And if we prove our case, we will hit the corporations the only place they feel it: in their pocketbooks."
[Hint: try starting with Jeb Bush's illegal purging of 90,000 legitimate voters from the Florida voting rolls prior to Election Day 2000, with tens of thousands of them being, quite conveniently, Democratic-leaning minority-group members].
http://digg.com/software/GIMP_Tutorials
GIMP Tutorials
Kenshi submitted by Kenshi 13 hours 53 minutes ago (via http://gug.sunsite.dk/?page=tutorials )
Learn how to do aqua/crystal/glassy orbs, layered masks, Script-fu, water, fire, lightning, blending, rust, metal, fog and a whole bunch of other stuff. If you're a very new GIMP user, there's even a tutorial on how to draw a box using paths or how about one on doing Rounded corners?
Another way around the RIAA?
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/V/VIDEO_SOUNDTRACKS?SITE=VALYD&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
New Soundtrack Service for Videographers
By MAY WONG AP Technology Writer Jul 10, 1:20 AM EDT
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- Want a jazz riff to accompany your video of cat tricks? How about an interesting kazoo piece to go with your compilation of biking bloopers?
Pump Audio, a company that licenses the music of independent artists for use in television shows and commercials, will launch Monday a soundtrack-creation service aimed at the growing crop of amateur filmmakers pervading the Internet.
This might be more credible if it came from lawyers with no obvious bias.
http://www.selfseo.com/story-18412.php
Your Internet Business and the Law
Posted by Stephen Wright on: 2006-07-10 00:14:23
... To protect yourself and your investment, it is strongly recommended that you follow a few basic practices and include legal notices in the content of your website.
Yep, it's the same law that forbids politicians from misquoting each other (or the facts)
http://techdirt.com/articles/20060710/0121226.shtml
Judge Says You Can't Edit Movies You've Bought
from the copyright-conundrum dept
There have been arguments over this issue going back almost five years, but we now have a ruling in a case concerning companies that take DVDs and edit them to take out scenes or dialog they find "objectionable." These businesses tended to do quite a lot of business in highly religious areas, "sanitizing" movies for those who wanted to see them. However, a judge has now found the practice to be a violation of copyright. This is slightly different than the companies that built automated DVD players to do the same thing, which were separately protected by Congress. Instead, this is a case where the company took a DVD, circumvented the copy protection, and then made a "cleaned" copy, which they sold alongside the original. It definitely can be seen as a case where the judge may be right on the legal issues, but it doesn't make much sense once you look at the larger picture. Copyright law is designed to prevent someone from undercutting the market for the content -- which clearly isn't the case here. The people buying these movies are unlikely to have bought the movies otherwise. In other words, this expands the market, as each purchase involves purchasing the actual movie as well. Either way, it seems likely that this case will be appealed, so there will be more to come on this.
Find someone new to hate every day!
http://digg.com/general_sciences/Chart_Of_Every_Religion_With_Info_On_Each
Chart Of Every Religion With Info On Each
ybrugman submitted by ybrugman 10 hours 42 minutes ago (via http://www.religionfacts.com/big_religion_chart.htm )
This is a chart i found of every religion with info on each, i thought iw was really interseting. Laughed at the fact that there is from 3-100 million falun gong, pretty big range. Enjoy
False negative?
http://digg.com/security/Scanning_Usenet_for_Steganography
Scanning Usenet for Steganography
gwjc submitted by gwjc 22 hours 28 minutes ago (via http://niels.xtdnet.nl/stego/usenet.php )
This is a cool project automatically scanning Usenet binaries for secret messages hidden in images.
Tools & Techniques...
http://digg.com/mods/Hack_almost_any_Nokia_cell_phone
Hack almost any Nokia cell phone
bonlebon submitted by bonlebon 1 day 4 hours ago (via http://www.lur.nu/unlock/nokia_eng.php )
This site will give you the codes to unlock your Nokia cell phone, plain, fast and simple.
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