Category: Information

High court forces BT to block file-sharing website

Posted by Nexus – 28/07/2011

[via guardian.co.uk. See similar stories at telegraph.co.uk and bbc.co.uk]

Warner Bros studios in Hollywood. Film studios have won a landmark UK high court ruling that forces BT to block access to file-sharing website Newzbin2. Photograph: Kevork Djansezian/AP

Hollywood film studios won a landmark UK high court ruling on Thursday forcing BT to block access to an illegal file-sharing website accused of operating “on a grand scale”.

The Motion Picture Association, the trade body whose members include Warner Bros, Fox, Disney and Paramount Pictures, has been granted an order requiring BT — the UK’s biggest internet service provider — to block its customers’ access to the website Newzbin2.

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UK School Wants To Fingerprint Kids Who Take Out Library Books

Posted by Nexus – 31/05/2010

[via consumerist.com]

What’s your children’s privacy worth? Should they be subjected to fingerprinting just to take out a library book? That’s the question parents at a school in the UK are grappling with.

From the Telegraph:

Under the scheme, pupils swipe a bar code inside the book they want borrow then press their thumb on to a scanner to authorise the loan. Books are returned in the same way.The scheme is being trialled on junior classes at Higher Lane Primary in Whitefield, Bury, Greater Manchester.

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Save the BBC: stop the cuts!

Posted by Nexus – 02/03/2010

[via avaaz.org]

After attacks by the Murdoch media empire, the BBC is considering sweeping cuts

The BBC is considering sweeping cuts, cutting its website in half and dropping TV and radio stations. The reason: to enrich corporate media. According to a story in the Times, the proposal is a bid to “shrink” in order to “appease the BBC’s rivals.” If this goes forward, it’s a giveaway to Rupert Murdoch, who sees the BBC as a threat to his profits.

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100+ Google Tricks That Will Save You Time in School

Posted by Nexus – 01/03/2010

[via onlinecolleges.net]

With classes, homework, and projects–not to mention your social life–time is truly at a premium for you, so why not latch onto the wide world that Google has to offer? From super-effective search tricks to Google hacks specifically for education to tricks and tips for using Gmail, Google Docs, and Google Calendar, these tricks will surely save you some precious time.

Search Tricks

These search tricks can save you time when researching online for your next project or just to find out what time it is across the world, so start using these right away.

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Digital Economy Bill signals end of free WiFi

Posted by Nexus – 01/03/2010

[via bit-tech.net]

The administrative overhead in offering customers free Internet access could become to much to bear if the Digital Economy Bill goes forward.

The Digital Economy Bill – which aims to curtail file sharing by introduction stronger sanctions against those found trading in copyright material, up to and including disconnection from the Internet – could have an unfortunate side effect: the death of the free, open wireless access point.

Lillian Edwards, professor of Internet law at Sheffield University, is quoted by ZDNet as stating that the scenarios detailed in an explanatory document produced by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills would “outlaw open WiFi for small businesses.”

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Live tsunami viewing? It’ll be on Ustream

Posted by Nexus – 27/02/2010

[via cnet.com]

A Twitter user in Hawaii snaps a picture of the empty beaches leading up to the projected tsunami landing. (Credit: Twitter user @rickawho)

Typically, natural disasters come with little advance notice. But after a massive 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck Chile early Saturday, much of the Pacific coast, including Hawaii, came under tsunami watch over the course of the day. That makes this was one time when the news media is poised to catch it all on film.

It may, in fact, be the first time that the developments leading to a potential natural disaster has been broadcast live in this way.

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There Are 6.5 Billion People and Almost 5 Billion Cellphone Subscriptions In This World

Posted by Nexus – 17/02/2010

[via gizmodo.com]

On a planet with around 6.8 billion people, we’re likely to see 5 billion cell phone subscriptions this year.

Reaching 4.6 billion at the end of 2009, the number of cell phone subscriptions across the globe will hit 5 billion sometime in 2010, according to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). The explosion in cell phone use has been driven not only by developed countries, but by developing nations hungry for services like mobile banking and health care.

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Whistleblower Nurse Acquitted

Posted by Nexus – 12/02/2010

[via consumerist.com]

The West Texas nurse who went on trial this past Monday for reporting a doctor to the state board was found not guilty after just an hour of deliberation, reports the New York Times.

The jurors who spoke to the Times after the case said it seemed pretty cut and dried to them.

Now the nurse’s lawyers are focusing on their civil lawsuit against the county, the sheriff, the county attorney–who is described in the article as the surgeon’s personal attorney as well–and the hospital administrator who fired the nurse for going over his head.

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What is “chromebar”?

Posted by Nexus – 05/02/2010

If you run a website or blog, and have been getting searches/referrers by the name of “chromebar”, I think I’ve finally figured out what it is.

It’s the web-based “application” that Stumbleupon use to deliver webpages to users who don’t have the Stumbleupon toolbar installed in their browser.

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Secret copyright treaty leaks. It’s bad. Very bad.

Posted by Nexus – 04/02/2010

[via boingboing.net]

The internet chapter of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, a secret copyright treaty whose text Obama’s administration refused to disclose due to “national security” concerns, has leaked. It’s bad. It says:

  • That ISPs have to proactively police copyright on user-contributed material. This means that it will be impossible to run a service like Flickr or YouTube or Blogger, since hiring enough lawyers to ensure that the mountain of material uploaded every second isn’t infringing will exceed any hope of profitability.
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