Thursday, July 10, 2008

My Way News - FCC chief says Comcast violated Internet rules
AP reports: "The head of the Federal Communications Commission said Thursday he will recommend that the nation's largest cable company be punished for violating agency principles that guarantee customers open access to the Internet. [...] Comcast has 'arbitrarily' blocked Internet access, regardless of the level of traffic, and failed to disclose to consumers that it was doing so."
U.N. scheme to make Christians criminals:
WND reports "'The 'defamation of religion' resolutions establish as the primary focus and concern the protection of ideas and religions generally, rather than protecting the rights of individuals to practice their religion, which is the chief purpose of international religious freedom law.' 'Furthermore, 'defamation of religion' replaces the existing objective criterion of limitations on speech where there is an intent to incite hatred or violence against religious believers with a subjective criterion that considers whether the religion or its believers feel offended by the speech,' the group continued."

Comment: Basically this is an approach to prevent missionary activity, to stop people from sharing their religion with the intent of winning converts. It "protects" one religion from another religion, it doesn't protect religious freedom, at least not in the way we understand that in the West.
My Way News - Ways consumers can safeguard personal data on Web
AP reports: "Your privacy protections may disappear with a court order or subpoena, but there are steps that privacy activists suggest you take to reduce your exposure."

Comment: This AP report gives four tips on protecting your privacy on-line. I'd like to re-post the whole thing (because it's so short), but that would probably be a violation of copyright, so read it before AP removes it and it becomes a dead link. Their best recommendation: use anonymizing software like Tor to avoid leaving tracks on the net. We gave very little privacy left anymore, we need to jealously guard the little we have left. And, of course, for our brothers and sisters in Christ who are living in repressive countries this issue goes far beyond consumer privacy, it can literally be a matter of life and death.

Monday, July 07, 2008

My Way News - Rights like free speech don't always extend online
AP reports: "Meanwhile, in response to complaints it would not specify, Network Solutions LLC decided to suspend a Web hosting account that Dutch filmmaker Geert Wilders was using to promote a movie that criticizes the Quran - before the movie was even posted and without the company finding any actual violation of its rules."

Comment: Think about this for a minute, before "offending" content could even be posted on a website, the provider suspended the account. There were no TOS violations, it was an act of preemptive censorship. I wonder if this would have happened if the religion that might have been offended had been any other religion than that "religion of peace," whose followers take it upon themselves to riot whenever there is a perceived slight.