World News, Sochi 2014, Typhoon Haiyan, Corruption, Vote Machinations; China; Israel; NSA Spying and Surveillance

World News

• €600K fines for Spain's illegal protests: draft bill—"Unauthorized protesters outside the Spanish Parliament could soon be hit with fines of up to €600,000 ($810,000) while those selling drugs or offering sexual services in front of minors could face a penalty of up to €30,000."
• Qatar 2022 World Cup workers 'treated like cattle', Amnesty report finds
• Over 2K trucks block French highways in protest—"Between 2,000 and 4,000 freight trucks closed off major French highways and slowed traffic to a crawl on nine roadways to protest a proposed environmental tax on heavy loads."

Sochi 2014

• Will Sochi's Extreme Security Protocol Impinge On Rights?
• Journalists banned from tweeting at 2014 Sochi Olympics: report
• Russian lab's unreliability puts Olympic testing at risk—"The anti-doping lab that was to conduct drug testing at the Sochi Olympics could lose its accreditation, leaving the upcoming Games without a competent facility in the same country."

Typhoon Haiyan

• Why It Took a Superstorm to Expose the Seedy Underbelly of Philippine Politics—"[W]hat dry goods have been dispersed by the national government are being frequently diverted by local politicians who waste valuable hours or even days repackaging relief items to bear their names, campaign slogans, or party colors."
• Government corruption concerns acute as Philippines recovers from typhoon
• US Army told to keep aid away from Philippines govt because of corruption

Corruption

• Romania's anti-corruption agency keeps taking down politicians – but the people keep bringing them back
• Canada: Where the heck's that $3.1-billion? Where's the fury?—"If the Harper government's fiscal oversight is so inept it can't account for figures with nine zeroes in them, that's scandalous. And so is the lack of public outcry."
• Philippines: PDAF, Malampaya fund use unconstitutional—Pork barrell

Vote Machinations

• You will suffer electric shock if you press non-Congress buttons on EVMs, Ajit Jogi warns voters
• 60-30-10 manipulation proven; Pinoys' votes not counted, pre-programmed fraud voted
• Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe election victory was a 'masterclass in electoral fraud'

China

• China to ease one-child policy, abolish labor camps, report says
• Bloomberg boots 'China leak' scribe—"Bloomberg L.P. has put a reporter suspected of leaking news [NYT] about a controversial China story on unpaid leave, The Post has learned."
• White House To Address 'Jimmy Kimmel Live' Segment After Protest Petition Logs 100,000 Signatures

Israel

• Netanyahu: Bad Iran Deal Could Leave Military Action As Only Option—Warmonger.
• Frenemies: the US-Israel relationship gets rocky over Iran and peace talks—"Israeli PM Netanyahu is actively calling on American Jews to challenge the US government. It's a bold – and bad – move."
• The Israeli settler movement is not welcome in New York City

NSA Spying and Surveillance

• Declassified Documents: NSA Wanted To Collect Geolocation Data—"The White House had to declassify NSA documents once again this week. The papers show that the NSA also wanted to collect and save mobile phone location information domestically and may already be doing so."
• US senators say there's "no evidence" bulk metadata surveillance is useful—"Sen. Mark Udall (D-CO) and others join as amici to lawsuit filed against NSA."
• Fisa court documents reveal extent of NSA disregard for privacy restrictions—"Incensed Fisa court judges questioned NSA's truthfulness after repeated breaches of rules meant to protect Americans' privacy."
• The NSA overreach poses a serious threat to our economy—"Genuine NSA reform is a Constitutional and economic necessity. Transparency and privacy are critical for citizens and tech firms."
• PVP Online: Fly on the Wall

TPP, Copyfight, DMCA Abuse, FixUbuntu; Facebook, GooTube+, Tech Tracking; It's a Spy, Spy, Spy, Spy World; Surveillance and Privacy; Typhoon Haiyan

TPP

• How Can the New York Times Endorse an Agreement the Public Can't Read?
• The "Largest Corporate Power Grab You've Never Heard Of"
• US patent moves are 'profoundly bad' in leaked TPP treaty—"In new agreement, Obama sides with locked phones and Big Pharma."
• Critics say U.S. is going too far to protect drug companies in trade talks
• Secret treaty leaks, Mexico wants copyright extended even more than US does—"Trans-Pacific Partnership could also threaten Aereo's entire business model."
• US wants to criminalise breaking region codes
• Secret Trade Pact Will Spread U.S. Copyright Rules Abroad
• TPP Leak Confirms the Worst: US Negotiators Still Trying to Trade Away Internet Freedoms
• The Most Nefarious Part Of The TPP Proposal: Making Copyright Reform Impossible
• In Letters to Obama, 151 House Democrats, Bloc of GOP Announce Opposition to 'Fast Track' Trade Authority

Copyfight

• YouTube's defeat of copyright owners is final in Premier League case
• Google wins book-scanning case: judge finds "fair use," cites many benefits
• We Must Start Punishing Copyright Monopoly Abuse To At Least Symmetry
• Copyright Extension Goes Into Effect In The UK: More Works Stolen From The Public Domain
• You can't beat politics with technology, says Pirate Bay cofounder Peter Sunde
• MPAA backs anti-piracy curriculum for elementary school students
• Super Soaker creator awarded $72.9M from Hasbro
• Lil' Kim -- Is A Creepy Skull Thief ...Says Makeup Artist
• Publishers want sites to pay for song lyrics, and they have a point
• Why creating memes is illegal in Australia

DMCA Abuse

• Office Depot Sends World's Worst DMCA Notice To Reddit
• Warner Bros: Our False DMCA Takedowns Are Not a Crime
• Copyright Claim by Hammerpoint Interactive - Infestation: Survivor Stories—Bullying criticism into submission.

FixUbuntu

• Canonical "abused trademark law" to target a site critical of Ubuntu privacy—"'Fix Ubuntu' site accused of trademark violation, asked to change domain name."
• Mark Shuttleworth's response—"Last week, the less-than-a-month-at-Canonical new guy sent out the toughest template letter to the folks behind a 'sucks site.'"
• EFF: Trademark Law Does Not Require Companies To Tirelessly Censor the Internet

Facebook

• Facebook defends using profile pictures for facial recognition—"Facebook has defended its plans to use profile pictures to identify members using its controversial facial recognition technology."
• Facebook Reasserts Posts Can Be Used to Advertise—"The company says it made more clear that postings and other personal data can be used in advertising on the site and reiterated that includes information from teenage users." Hide yo kids. NYT
• How Facebook gets rich leveraging personas
• Privacy Group Can Finally Start Work as Facebook Beacon Suit Ends
• Privacy Group Claims Victory in Facebook NSA Prism Spying Case

GooTube+

• YouTube co-founder wonders 'why the fuck' comments require a Google+ account
• YouTubers bring out the big guns in response to Google+ madness
• Backlash against Google Plus is now too big to ignore

Tech Tracking

• Shoppers' faces to be scanned in advertising push at Tesco petrol stations across the UK—Inspired by Minority Report?
• How to Opt Out of Data Tracking on Your Most-Used Sites
• Ghost in the Cloud: Dealing with data after death—Include in your wills: Delete your browser histories.

It's a Spy, Spy, Spy, Spy World

• How the global spy game is changing—"Revelations of US spying on European allies have hurt America's image abroad but won't irreparably damage transatlantic cooperation on intelligence gathering. Here's why."
• Belgium, Netherlands investigate alleged NSA spying on bank payments data
• Germany cooperated with NSA's partner firm for several years
• 'Royal Concierge': GCHQ Monitors Hotel Reservations to Track Diplomats—"Britain's GCHQ intelligence service monitors diplomats' travels using a sophisticated automated system that tracks hotel bookings. Once a room has been identified, it opens the door to a variety of spying options."
• Australia tried to monitor Indonesian president's phone—"Secret documents show Australian spies targeted the mobile calls of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his wife." Naturally, they're angry.
• UK: Grilling of spy chiefs 'a total pantomime'—"An unprecedented public appearance by UK spy chiefs has been labelled a 'total pantomime' after it emerged that they were told of questions in advance." The Sunday Times
• Threat from NSA leaks may have been overstated by UK, says Lord Falconer—"Ex-lord chancellor defends Guardian reporting of Snowden files and says he's sceptical of warnings from spy agency chiefs."

Surveillance and Privacy

• In Germany, legacy of Stasi puts different perspective on NSA spying—"Decades after the fearsome secret police were disbanded, victims say Stasi did far more damage to lives." WaPo
• Gov't will notify some defendants caught by warrantless wiretaps
• Writers Especially Concerned About NSA Actions—"An organization of writers says that a large majority of its members have 'never been as worried about privacy rights and freedom of the press as they are today.'"
• Silicon Valley Nerds Seek Revenge on NSA Spies With Coding
• Linus was joking about NSA backdoor—"But such government pressure on technologists is all too possible and real." Salon
• NSA grapples with 988% increase in records requests—"The NSA will neither confirm nor deny that it has gathered information on anyone."
• Snowden effect: young people now care about privacy—"Snowden's whistleblowing prompts consumers to heed privacy settings."

Typhoon Haiyan

• This is what Pinoy politicians do during a tragedy—Campaigning by publicizing their pictures on relief goods. Disgusting.
• Philippines: Will aid corruption wreak worse havoc than Typhoon Haiyan?
• Philippine corruption magnifies typhoon's effects

Pope Francis; Intolerance; Evolution Denialists; Religion; Marriage Equality; Politics and Media; Russia, International; Transgender; Typhoon Haiyan, Climate Change, Ecology

Pope Francis

• Pope Francis: his life is in danger from 'ndrangheta, warns anti-mafia judge
• How Strong Is Pope Francis?—"On Wednesday, Pope Francis kissed a pilgrim whose skin was covered with hundreds, maybe thousands, of tumors. The image was electrifying. But it took on more significance as a stage in what many people are hoping is Francis's own pilgrimage."
• Conservative U.S. Catholics Feel Left Out of the Pope's Embrace—"Conservative Catholics say Pope Francis' recent comments about abortion and gay marriage are muddying doctrine to appeal to the broadest possible audience." NYT
• Sarah Palin 'Surprised' By Pope Francis' 'Liberal' Sounding Statements—Surprised anyone's still listening to her drivel.
• Why even atheists should be praying for Pope Francis

Intolerance

• UK: Islamic converts threaten to kill non-believers in vigilant patrol—Extremists have no place in civilized society. Moderate voices' silence is ineffectual.
• Young Nebraska Muslim accused of using a crowbar to attack his sister – because she's a lesbian
• Anti-abortion extremists urge kidnapping of women on way to clinic
• 'Muslim Brotherhood' protesters storm London university lecture on Egypt
• Flipside: Iran to ban morality police from targeting women—"President Hassan Rouhani has ordered the country's morality police to stop arresting women considered to be in defiance of a strict dress code."

Evolution Denialists

• Charles Darwin to receive apology from the Church of England for rejecting evolution—"The Church of England is to apologise to Charles Darwin for its initial rejection of his theories, nearly 150 years after he published his most famous work."
• Creation Museum Denied Membership By San Diego Museum Council
• Creationists' Last Stand at the State Board of Education—"Will anti-evolutionists be able to adapt and survive in a new textbook market?"

Religion

• Joel Osteen Tweets Inspirational Message: Don't Rub it In, Rub it Out!
• High school brings in Christian misogynist to lecture students about dating, students shut him down—"Texas students didn't take too kindly to a 'dating expert' who believes "dateable girls know how to shut up.'" Salon
• Louie Gohmert Cites Bible As Foreign Policy Guide On Israel: 'The Bible Is Accurate'—Crazy and dangerous.

Marriage Equality

• Methodist pastor faces trial for son's gay wedding
• Illinois bishop plans gay-marriage exorcism
• Oklahoma rejects same-sex couples' tax forms
• Hawaii cop said he would rather die than enforce same-sex marriage—"The head of the Hawaii police union is one of thousands who oppose the state passing a same-sex marriage bill."
• ACLU criticizes Va. for blocking same-sex tax filing
• Same-sex weddings officially permitted in Vietnam
• Australia: Same-sex marriage bill defeated in NSW upper house
• House Republicans Want To Impeach Eric Holder For Refusing To Defend Unconstitutional Law

Politics and Media

• Largest U.S. Muslim Organization Supports LGBT Anti-Discrimination Bill
• Judge Rules Against 'Gay Conversion' Therapists, Upholds NJ Ban On Practice
• Online donations pour in for waitress who was refused a tip because she's gay
• The Time Boehner Wanted a Gay Man Fired for Supporting Gay Rights
• Washington DC: The Gayest Place in America?—"Gone is the closeted, often intolerant Washington; the capital is now perhaps the gayest place in the nation." NYT

Russia

• Boehner hosts meeting praising Russia's crackdown on gays
• Russian paper accused of 'gay propaganda' for reporting news
• Russia gay activists: IOC chief refused to meet

International

• EU rules that gay Africans are entitled to asylum—"A gay refugee from an African country where people are jailed for being a homosexual does qualify for asylum, the EU rules."
• Homosexuality illegal in 41 out of 53 Commonwealth countries – report Bernard Randall faces Uganda trial over stolen gay sex images
• German Babies Don't Need to Be Boys or Girls Anymore—"As of November 1, it's no longer legally necessary for babies born in Germany to be registered as male or female. Have the country's social policies caught up to this change?"

Transgender

• Man defending his transgender girlfriend slashed by 350-pound man at Greenwich Village McDonald's
• Transgendered teen fights to be pictured in yearbook
• Calif. transgender law's opponents petition for repeal

Typhoon Haiyan

• Why wasn't the Philippines better prepared for the typhoon? Corruption, shoddy buildings to blame
• Typhoon Hayian: Filipinos Fear Corruption Will Hurt Multimillion Dollar International Aid Effort
• Foreign donors for Yolanda victims told: Funds not safe from corrupt PH government

Climate Change

• Australia makes a bad start at Warsaw climate change meeting
• Climate change pledges: rich nations face fury over moves to renege—"Typhoon Haiyan raises fear over global warming threat as Philippines leads attack on eve of key talks."
• Cameron links typhoon Haiyan to climate change—"Prime minister seemingly endorses stance that global warming is creating more extreme weather patterns."
• Fox host: What the Philippines needs is 'more fossil fuels'—"Blaming natural disasters on climate change is just 'an excuse to not help people in poverty,' said Dana Perino. Salon
• A Climate-Change Victory—"If global warming is slowing, thank the Montreal Protocol."

Ecology

• Indian train kills elephants crossing tracks—"Seven elephants, including two calves, die after train hits herd in West Bengal forest, the worst such crash in recent memory. ... [R]ailway authorities have ignored requests... to have trains reduce their speeds inside the elephant corridor."
• Forest change mapped by Google Earth—"It charts the story of the world's tree canopies from 2000 to 2012, based on 650,000 satellite images by Landsat 7. In that time, the Earth lost a combined 'forest' the size of Mongolia, enough trees to cover the UK six times."
• Live big cats and hippo teeth among UK border seizures
• British Paratroopers Will Help Train Kenyan Rangers To Fight Off Illegal Elephant Poachers
• TV presenter causes outrage after posing with lion she killed—"An American television presenter has prompted outrage by boasting online that she had killed a lion in South Africa."

Corruption, Elections, Russia, China, Fascist UK; Racism; Online Speech; The Terminal; NSA Spying, Surveillance and Privacy

Corruption

• Uncovering corruption: Charmian Gooch at TEDGlobal 2013—"The reality is that the engine of corruption is driven by our international banking system, the problem of anonymous shell companies, and the secrecy we afford to big oil, gas and mining operations."
• Corruption getting worse, says poll
• Revealed: the Rupert Murdoch tape
• 'Dead' man Lenin Carballido wins Mexico mayoral vote
• Pakistan: What corruption have you experienced in your life?—"I request you, whether you are in the developing world or the developed, to treat corruption at par with war, and terror. The price is never ever money alone, it is more than that, much more: the social fabric , human dignity, and lives are at stake."
• Australia: Immigration Department audits reveal large-scale fraud of visa system by Indian students and workers
• DOTC reviews terms of MRT-3 deal—"The extortion allegations... implicated President Aquino's sister Maria Elena 'Ballsy' Aquino-Cruz...." This smacks of nepotism.

Russia

• Sergei Magnitsky conviction: Moscow thumbs its nose to the West—Whistle-blowing lawyer who died in prison gets post-mortem tax evasion conviction.
• How Putin Uses Money Laundering Charges to Control His Opponents—"The Magnitsky case highlights Russia's multi-faceted corruption problem."
• Putin Critic Gets 5-Year Jail Term, Setting Off Protests—"Aleksei A. Navalny, Russia's most resonant opposition voice and a Moscow mayoral candidate, was sentenced to five years in prison on embezzlement charges." NYT
• Jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny released
• Corruption Up 450% in a Year in Russian Military – Prosecutors

China

• Chinese whistleblower blinded in acid attack—"An amateur Chinese whistleblower, who spent his free time embarrassing Communist party officials by posting pictures of their luxury cars on the internet, was rammed by a car, blinded with acid, and deprived of two of his fingers."
• Court Ruling Deals a Blow to China’s Labor-Camp System—A mother of a rape victim was sent off to the labor camps for complaining over the lack of justice. NYT
• 'Anything But Humane': Tibetan Exposes China from the Inside—"A high-ranking Communist Party official has written a book exposing the crimes of the Chinese against Tibetans. His fellow party members still don't suspect that he has defected to the opposition."

Fascist UK

• Cameron cracks down on 'corroding influence' of online pornography—Because Daily Mail readers who are perhaps too lazy and incompetent to parent their own kids, but it's the convenient excuse to monitor citizens all in the name of "protecting the children." Cameron's supposedly backed down, for now.
• Five bods wrongly cuffed thanks to bungled comms snooping in UK
• Britain to use secret evidence in court—"The Justice and Security Act 2013 (JSA) came into force this month. The key provision contained within the legislation creates a new judicial procedure which will permit the use of secret evidence in any civil trial in the UK."

Elections

• Confirmed: Canada 2011 polls fraudulent—As one politician from Montreal claims, it's "the way elections are won."
• Fraud claims taint Mali election, amid concerns over undue haste—"Thousands reported to have been left off electoral register."
• Estonia publishes its e-voting source code on GitHub—"System architect says he welcomes 'development and security of the e-elections.'"

Racism

• Cemetery vandal ordered out of NZ
• Husband and wife jailed for attacking Sikh taxi driver and ripping off his turban—"You are in Australia, mate, this is not your country. If you want to live in Australia, take this sh** off."
• Israeli judge hands jail sentences to Jewish teens who beat Arab youth
• Marketing 'no-blacks' apartment buildings in Tel Aviv—"Amid efforts to deport, imprison and segregate African asylum seekers in Israel, real estate agents are now marketing 'clean' apartment blocs, meaning no foreign workers or asylum seekers will live there."
• Native Filipino denied flight because she was "deemed" unprepared to fly by KLM

Online Speech

• Twitter releases data to French anti-Semitism probe
• Gore site owner charged over video in Magnotta case—"Edmonton website owner faces count of corrupting morals for hosting dismemberment video."
• Dubai arrests man for sharing assault video—"Detainee filmed and posted online scene allegedly showing Emirati man beating expatriate in road rage attack."

The Terminal

• Life in transit: What is it like to live in an airport?—"This weekend, the US whistleblower Edward Snowden, will have spent four weeks in Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport. Two thousand miles away, in neighbouring Kazakhstan, a young man has already spent four months in the transit area of an airport - and admits it is driving him round the bend."
• Stateless in the United States—"I have no place in the world to go."
• Saudi but stateless: born on the margins of society

NSA Spying

• Edward Snowden's fear of flying is justified—He's been "allowed to leave airport."
• Senator Wyden: the US could become an irreversible surveillance state
• White House: Amash trying to 'dismantle' counterterrorism tool
• Why the NSA Doesn't Want You to Have a BlackBerry
• NSA says it can't search its own e-mails—Utter crapola.

Surveillance and Privacy

• U.S. high-tech industry feeling the heat from Edward Snowden leaks
• Keep Your Firefox Settings Private By Setting Up Your Own Sync Server
• State Courts Join State Lawmakers in Demanding Warrants for Location Information
• Homeland Security Approves Seizure of Cell Phones and Laptops within 100 Miles of Border; Report Remains Secret
• High-End Stores Use Facial Recognition Tools To Spot VIPs

Gender Issues, Pycon, Sexism; Culture Clash; India; Abortion and Birth Control

Gender Issues

• 'Lean In': Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg Explains What's Holding Women Back—"That means that as a man gets more successful, he is better liked by men and women, and as a woman gets more successful, she is less liked by men and women."
• Do Masculine Names Help Female Lawyers Become Judges? Evidence from South Carolina
• The Decline of Marriage and the Rise of Unwed Mothers: An Economic Mystery—"The real question here isn't 'Why so many babies?' It's 'Why so few marriages?' And we have an answer."

Pycon

• "Donglegate" is classic overreaction—and everyone pays—"Or, how not to deal with difficult social issues."
• Adria Richards, PyCon, and How We All Lost
• The Biggest Problem in Technology—"[T]he technology industry, and the culture around it, has a serious, persistent problem with women."

Sexism

• Ford India Needs to Fire Its Advertising Execs
• Samsung: Sorry about that sexist show
• This strange neo-Victorian desire to save prostitutes and porn actresses—"Sex work isn’t stigmatised because it is dangerous. Sex work is dangerous because it is stigmatised."

Culture Clash

• 'Quarantine her!' Top Tunisian Islamist says topless girl needs stoning
• How Egypt's radical rulers crush the lives and hopes of women—"Women stood shoulder to shoulder with men in Tahrir Square in 2011. Now they are back on the streets, opposing a new constitution that sweeps away their rights and opens the way for girls of 13 to be married. And in Cairo's slums, life grows harder as the gulf between the sexes widens."
• Online protest over Maldives' rape sentence—"Campaigners target islands' tourist economy after teenage victim is ordered to be flogged."
• Hamas law promotes gender segregation in Gaza schools
• Flipside: Pakistani women 'break political barriers'—"Badam Zari and Nusrat Begum make history by becoming first women to contest parliamentary seats from tribunal region."

India

• 'If girls look sexy, boys will rape.' Is this what Indian men really believe?
• India tourist visits down 25% following fatal Delhi gang rape
• Lingerie to 'help' women fight sexual offences in India—"Three automobile engineers from Chennai have come out with what they claim can check sexual offences in India -- a lingerie laced with modules of GPS and capable of sending alerts to the girl's parents and police."

Abortion and Birth Control

• Teen Pregnancy Ads: Shame Campaign?
• New York Cops Will Arrest You for Carrying Condoms
• France expands access to abortion—"As of April 1 the French state will reimburse 100 percent of the cost of abortions while teenage girls will be offered free and anonymous contraception."
• USD$100,000 Grants Available for Developing the Next Generation Condom
• Philippines Supreme Court: Order vs RH law stays

Creationism; Islamists; Culture Wars; Curving Extremism; Abortion and Birth Control, States, Philippines

Creationism

• Creationism Commotion: Five states have anti-evolution bills in play
• Creationism spreading in schools, thanks to vouchers
• Texas Public Schools: Still Teaching Creationism—"In Texas public schools, children learn that the Bible provides scientific proof that Earth is 6,000 years old, that the origins of racial diversity trace back to a curse placed on Noah's son, and that astronauts have discovered 'a day missing in space' that corroborates biblical stories of the sun standing still."
• Texas Ed Board Chair Wants Science Textbooks to Teach 'Another Side' on Evolution
• Louisiana senator asks if E. coli evolve into persons
• Missouri lawmaker wants to redefine science to include "faith-based philosophy," force creationism into science class
• Colorado Creationism Bill Dies in Committee
• Physicist Lawrence Krauss on teaching creationism: It's a form of child abuse
• Teaching creationism as science insults people of faith

Islamists

• France to deport radical Muslim clerics
• Danish critic of Islam says gunman shot at him, then fled
• Will Syria Become An Islamist State?
• UK: Muslim preacher urges followers to claim 'Jihad Seeker's Allowance'—Parasites.
• Preachers of hate who spread their violent word on British TV channels—"Muslim fundamentalists have used British television channels to preach in favour of violent crime and killing 'apostates'."
• Nigeria polio vaccinators shot dead in Kano
• Islamists denounce Valentine's Day as an excuse for forbidden sex, ban gift-buying in Indonesia

Culture Wars

• "Burkas for babies": Saudi cleric's new fatwa causes controversy
• Singing is un-Islamic, says Grand Mufti to girls rock band
• To curb rape, Muslim group calls for end to co-ed schools in India
• Furious debate as teachers at Islamic College of SA's West Croydon campus ordered to wear hijab or face sack
• Indian caste councils praise families that carry out 'honour killings'
• Fifth of women in India and Egypt think internet use is 'inappropriate'—Probably around the same number who believe husbands can beat up their wives.
• Sex-selective practices may be common in families of Indian doctors—"Doctors' families in India are having more sons than daughters, reports a new study in the American journal Demography, implying that they too may be engaging in illegal son-preference practices including sex-selective abortions, a practice that is thought to be widespread in India."

Curbing Extremism

• Saudi Arabia finally limits its religious police
• Detained: Egyptian sheikh who said it is 'halal' to rape female protesters
• Police arrest man who ordered woman to back of bus—"Ultra-Orthodox passenger harassed 22-year-old journeying from Safed to Ashdod."

Abortion and Birth Control

• John Boehner: Ending Abortion Is 'One Of Our Most Fundamental Goals This Year'
• Obama Administration Announces New Policy On Contraception Mandate—Catholic bishops say the compromise isn't enough (Salon).
• Catholic hospital group apologizes for fetus lawsuit defense
• After Tiller: America's four late-term abortion doctors
• Journalist rips 'pro-life' Republicans for seeking to cut infant nutrition program
• New York City's Teen Pregnancy Rate Plummeted After High Schools Expanded Access To Plan B
• One teen dad, many mothers, 13 kids—"Shocked welfare workers foresee lives of poverty for children."

States

• How State Governments Are Regulating Away Abortion
• New Mexico Lawmaker Clarifies Her Bill Will Prosecute Doctors Who Perform Abortions For Rape Victims
• GOP Lawmakers In Iowa Introduce Bill To Define Abortion As Murder—They claim a person is "an individual human being, without regard to age of development, from the moment of conception, when a zygote is formed, until natural death."
• Michigan GOP Backs Off Transvaginal Ultrasound Bill
• Arizona Planned Parenthood Law Overturned By Federal Judge
• Wisconsin Republicans: Forcing Women To Undergo Transvaginal Ultrasounds Is Our 'Priority'
• Alabama Lawmaker Thinks a Fetus is "Largest Organ in the Body"

Philippines

• Who will win the battle over birth control?—"A controversial new law pits the Philippines government against the country's predominant and powerful Catholic lobby."
• Carlos Celdran found guilty of 'offending religious feelings'
• The Catholic must choose—A Jesuit writes, "There is nothing in 'The Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act of 2012' which prevents a good Catholic from being a good Catholic."

#Savita, Contraception, Life and Death Situations, Big Pharma, Issues, Diseases

#Savita

• Woman 'denied a termination' dies in hospital--Even though Ireland's law allows abortion when it's to save the life of the mother, the doctors refused to act.
• Husband: 'I still can't believe she's gone. She was so full of life' --He says her last days were full of pain from the ensuing blood poisoning, and she died in agony.
• Ireland Abortion Scandal: Death of a Pregnant Woman Prompts Soul-Searching--The Youth Defence group still had the temerity to say that "Ireland's ban on abortion does not pose a threat to women’s lives."

Contraception

• UN says access to contraception a human right
• Catholic Leaders Vow to Stand Against Contraception Mandate, Same-sex Marriage--What they're really against is sex outside marriage, but it seems like they've been avoiding mentioning that.
• Philippines: RH bill can't be held hostage by one senator--Some would rather see it killed outright.

Life and Death Situations

• Right-to-die law appalling, says Health Minister Anna Soubry--"Anna Soubry told the Times it was "ridiculous and appalling" that Britons had to 'go abroad to end their life.'"
• Life-support ruling upheld in case of starved girl--"The Alberta Court of Appeal upheld a ruling Wednesday to remove a child from life-support over the objections of her parents who are accused of beating and starving her."
• Study: Assisted suicide legality does not increase patient death wish

Big Pharma

• Cipla slashes prices of 3 cancer drug by up to 63%--"India's No. 2 drugmaker Cipla has slashed the prices of three of its anti-cancer drugs by up to 63%, a move that comes six months after it announced similar price cuts on three other anti-cancer products."
• Pfizer caught "gaming the system," loses Viagra patent in Canada
• Friends in Congress Have Helped Drug Compounders Avoid Tighter Rules NYT

Issues

• Bad to the bone: A medical horror story--"When medical device company Synthes decided to illegally test a bone cement on people, the results were disastrous. A disturbing tale of corporate crime and punishment."
• Italy: Mobile phones can cause brain tumours, court rules--"A landmark court case has ruled there is a link between using a mobile phone and brain tumours, paving the way for a flood of legal actions."
• 'Hypersensitive' Wi-Fi hater loses case against fiendish devices
• Most of what you read was wrong: how press releases rewrote scientific history
• Five photos that sparked body image debates

Diseases

• Steven Boone tried to spread HIV, Crown alleges--If this is what really happened, this is despicable.
• HIV 'made' new deadly Salmonella - study
• Outbreak of virus in SARS family has WHO on alert
• Scores isolated as new outbreak of Ebola fever kills 2 in district near the Ugandan capital
• London at risk of 'catastrophic' legionnaires' outbreak: Report
• The Rise of Drug-Resistant Gonorrhea--"Public-health experts are alarmed by the emergence of a strain of gonorrhea that is resistant to the last drug available against it, and they fear it's the harbinger of a sexually transmitted global epidemic."
• Three quarters of rats in parts of West 'resistant to poison'--Eek.

Abortion and Birth Control, International, Rape, Gender, Comics, Disney Princesses

Abortion and Birth Control

• GOP Delegate Says that Children with Disabilities are God's Punishment for Past Abortions--He's apologized for this sort of thing before.
• Parents, doctors allege sex-ed courses violate state law--"...by only teaching about abstinence and failing to include instruction about condoms and contraception."
• Pregnant at 49 NYT
• Red States = Teen Moms--I'm shocked--SHOCKED--that lack of proper sex education and access to real contraception leads to higher incidence of teen pregnancies.
• Blast from the Past: Do they really believe that abortion is murder?

International

• Clinton, others announce contraception deal--"Prices for long-acting contraception will be halved for 27 million women in the developing world through a new partnership...." But the Catholic Church is pushing back.
• UK: Sarah Catt jailed for full-term abortion of baby--One of the judges is linked to a conservative Christian charity.
• Uruguay lawmakers vote to legalize abortion
• Canada: Motion to study when life begins defeated in Parliament
• In Philippines, a 14-year fight for birth control--Catholic Church has been pushing back big-time.

Rape

• Father sells off rape victim following village meeting
• Outrage as Tunisia woman raped by police is accused--"Tunisian civil society groups expressed outrage on Wednesday after a young woman was accused of indecency by two policemen jailed for raping her, amid criticism of the Islamist-led government for rolling back women's rights."
• Aussia aid worker's family angry with DFAT--Alexandra Pippi cannot leave the country, and "Pippi's family believe the incident is connected to rumours that she had been sexually assaulted by a senior Libyan health official."

Gender

• 1,000 Nigerian Women Are Stranded in Saudi Arabia Because They Aren't Traveling with Men
• Harassment of women may be getting more violent, but activists are fighting back
• Ikea deleted women from Saudi version of catalogue
• Sexist remarks and wolf-whistles could become criminal offences--"PM to announce today that UK will sign up to Council of Europe's convention on violence against women, which could mean criminalising unwanted verbal conduct."
• Deutsche Bank Accused of Retaliation After Firing VP Who Sued for Being 'Mommy-Tracked'

Comics

• Wonder Woman leaps onto Ms. magazine's 40th anniversary cover
• DC Listens To Internet Criticism, Fixes 'Catwoman' Zero Cover
• Women Avengers... Assemble?

Disney Princesses

• Portrait of a Princess
• Oh No They Didn't! - Advice for young girls from a Disney princess
• The Hipster Disney Princesses Are Too Cool To Follow The Bouncing Ball In Their Own Sing-Along Video
• Disney princesses with a Hot Topic filter
• Disney Females Brought to Life
• Evil Disney Princesses
• Real-Life Disney Princesses

Your Rights Online, Megaupload, Killbots, Copyfight, Copywrong, Music, Piracy, Trademark

Your Rights Online

• Cleansing the Internet of Terrorism: EU-Funded Project Seeks To Erode Civil Liberties
• Mikulski joins chorus calling for cybersecurity executive order--"Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) is urging President Obama to issue an executive order on cybersecurity, saying the country can't wait for Congress to act."
• Pirate Bay Founder Remains Locked Up Without Charges--"Gottfrid Svartholm will be kept in detention for at least two more weeks on suspicion of hacking into a Swedish IT company connected to the country’s tax authorities. According to Prosecutor Henry Olin the extended detention is needed 'to prevent him from having contact with other people.' The Pirate Bay co-founder is not allowed to have visitors and is even being denied access to newspapers and television."
• Big Brother still watching: Internet censorship on the up, report says
• Estonia gets highest marks in internet freedom
• Australian Securities and Investment Commission chimes in on data retention, seeks more intercept powers
• Philippines: Who inserted that libel clause in the Cybercrime Law at the last minute?--A thin-skinned and inarticulate senator's crusade to stamp out online criticism against him is troubling for Filipino's free expression.

Megaupload

• Dotcom: Illegal spying revealed
• Kim Dotcom hints at suing Govt--And if he does, it will be the NZ taxpayers who'll be paying for it.
• NZ PM Key to Dotcom: I'm sorry

Killbots

• Google's Copyright Crackdown Punishes Author For Torrenting His Own Book
• The Algorithmic Copyright Cops: Streaming Video's Robotic Overlords
• Automated DRM keeps spoiling the show, from the DNC to Mars
• Copyright Killbots Strike Again: Official DNC Livestream Taken Down By Just About Every Copyright Holder
• Warner Bros, Hotfile and EFF Fight Over Bogus Automated Takedown Requests

Copyfight

• American court orders BBC to hand over Yasser Arafat documentary footage--"Ruling raises questions about the ability of the American justice system to seize material held by media outside the United States."
• Entertainment Industry Flips Out At The Good Parts Of Canada's New Copyright Law, Demands Changes Via TPP
• EU Court Asked To Rule On Legality Of Downloading From Illegal Sources
• Switzerland Questions Crazy Hollywood Claims About File Sharing... Ends Up On Congressional Watchlist
• File-Sharing for Personal Use Declared Legal in Portugal
• Dutch court rules linking to photos is copyright infringement
• Panama Considering Legislation That Allows The Copyright Office To Pursue Filesharers Directly -- And Keep All The Fines

Copywrong

• Opinion: A Fair, Free Market Or The Copyright Monopoly?--"Increasingly, the copyright industry has tried to assert that 'the free market will sort it out' in the field of culture sharing. The problem is that the copyright industry's monopolized view is anything but a fair and free market."
• The Copyright Act Explicitly Says Disruptive Innovation Should Be Blocked--Will someone think of the buggy-whip business models?
• Former Copyright Boss: New Technology Should Be Presumed Illegal Until Congress Says Otherwise
• Do Bad Things Happen When Works Enter The Public Domain? The Data Says... No
• University Requires Students To Pay $180 For 'Art History' Text That Has No Photos Due To Copyright Problems--Imagination is still copyright-free, for now.
• Should Bogus Copyright Takedown Senders Be Punished?
• YouTomb: Videos Removed for Copyright Complaint

Music

• BMG Demands $20 For Pirated Bruno Mars / Eminem Downloads
• BitTorrent Downloads Booming - And Benefitting Musicians
• Ed Sheeran finds 'balance' in pirated music
• 52 Ways to Screw an Artist, by Warner Bros. Records...
• Megaupload Readies for Comeback, Code 90% Done

Piracy

• Japan introduces piracy penalties for illegal downloads
• BitTorrent study finds most file-sharers are monitored
• Use The Pirate Bay? You’re being watched, study shows
• Google Adds Pirate Bay Domains to Censorship List
• Difference Engine: The PC all over again?--"Because of a 3D printer's ability to make perfect replicas, they will probably try to brand it a piracy machine."

Trademark

• 10 Colors That Might Get You Sued
• Trademark Abuse and the "Gaymer" Community
• IP High Court invalidates LAMBORMINI trademark
• Is Trademark Abuse Hurting Your Brand? Try Selling Soap In Pakistan.
• Blast from the Past: What's In Google's Name?

Your Rights Online, Censorship, Surveillance, UK, Tech Tracking, Facebook and Your Privacy, Net Neutrality

Your Rights Online

• Tech Giants Form Internet-Freedom Lobby to Counter MPAA, RIAA Clout
• The Future Of The Internet Is Meshnet: Decentralized Internet Being Built to Thwart Censorship
• The Internet Is Not Free: We're In The Filter Bubble--"This is about technology-more specifically about the Internet. And how it's now it's turning into an undemocratic place, without you even realising."
• Why Twitter Caved and Handed an "Occupy" Protester’s Data to the Government--"I can’t put Twitter or the little blue bird in jail, so the only way to punish is monetarily."
• Why is the UN Trying to Take over the Internet?

Censorship

• UK Online Safety Bill Prompts Iceland ISPs to Consider Options for Questionable Sites
• New Internet censorship rules take effect in Gaza
• Indian Government now mulls over Cyber Surveillance Agency to monitor web
• Malaysia's New Internet Law
• New Philippine law outlaws cybersex

Surveillance

• Freedom Not Fear: Creating a Surveillance-Free Internet
• EU funding 'Orwellian' artificial intelligence plan to monitor public for "abnormal behaviour"
• EU Officials Propose Internet Cops On Patrol, No Anonymity & No Obscure Languages (Because Terrorism!)--They want to Clean IT.
• Watch Your Tongue: Law Enforcement Speech Recognition System Stores Millions of Voices
• House Approves Sweeping, Warrantless Electronic Spy Powers--And the news was swept under the rug.
• Cops might finally need a warrant to read your Gmail
• xkcd: License Plate

UK

• Sir Tim Berners-Lee accuses government of 'draconian' internet snooping--"The inventor of the world wide web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, has accused the government of invading the privacy by monitoring internet use."
• Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales attacks government's 'snooper's charter'--"Jimmy Wales says his website would encrypt all connections with Britain, and called the plans 'technologically incompetent.'"
• Google engineer finds British spyware on PCs and smartphones--"FinSpy turning up in dictatorships across the world."

Tech Tracking

• How the top 100 most-visited websites in the United States track your every move online (and how you can opt out, if it's possible)
• Google Finally Adds Do-Not-Track Support in Latest Test Version of Chrome
• Wajam's Clever Workaround Inserts Its Content in iOS Apps
• Don't Be LAZY! when it comes to your online privacy
• WhatsApp is using IMEI numbers as passwords
• "Log in to unsubscribe from this e-mail": annoying, possibly illegal
• Privacy over profanity: Survey reveals annoying online habits

Facebook and Your Privacy

• This Is How Facebook Is Tracking Your Internet Activity
• Demanding A Student's Facebook Password A Violation Of First Amendment Rights, Judge Says
• Facebook Confirms Surveying Users About Friends' Fake Usernames
• Facebook suspends photo tag tool in Europe
• Facebook to start keeping track of track of your searches

Net Neutrality

• Libertarians make the case: net neutrality is unconstitutional
• FCC Defends Net Neutrality, Says Verizon Is No Internet Editor
• Why Monopolistic Telecoms Threaten Internet Equality

'Legitimate Rape', The Onion, Abortion and Birth Control, Planned Parenthood, "Honour" Killings

'Legitimate Rape'

• Republican Senate Nominee: Victims Of 'Legitimate Rape' Don't Get Pregnant--"Rep. Todd Akin, the Republican nominee for Senate in Missouri who is running against Sen. Claire McCaskill, justified his opposition to abortion rights even in case of rape with a claim that victims of 'legitimate rape' have unnamed biological defenses that prevent pregnancy." What do you think? (The Onion)
• Missouri Rep. Todd Akin says he 'misspoke' on rape and pregnancy--He claims he meant to say "forcible rape."
• Obama On Todd Akin: 'Rape Is Rape'--"And the idea that we should be parsing and qualifying and slicing what types of rape we are talking about doesn't make sense to the American people and certainly doesn't make sense to me. So what I think these comments do underscore is why we shouldn't have a bunch of politicians, a majority of whom are men, making health care decisions on behalf of women."
• CNN Host Makes Most of Akin’s No-Show--"When Representative Todd Akin abruptly cancelled an interview with Piers Morgan on Monday night, Mr. Morgan trotted out an empty chair instead." Piers also called Akin a "gutless little twerp" for not keeping his promise to appear on the show. NYT
• Thank you, Todd Akin--"The candidate exposed his party's misogyny, and the swift backlash is reason for defenders of women to celebrate." Salon

The Onion

• Republicans Condemn Akin's Comments As Blemish On Party's Otherwise Spotless Women's Rights Record
• Pregnant Woman Relieved To Learn Her Rape Was Illegitimate
• Akin: I Misspoke—What I Meant To Say Is 'I Am Dumb As Dog Shit And I Am A Terrible Human Being'

Abortion and Birth Control

• Pregnant teen dies after abortion ban delays her chemo treatment for leukemia--Pro-life kills. The Dominican Republic's constitutional amendment declares 'life begins at conception', but this just ended up killing the mother.
• Louisiana Department Of Education Orders School To Drop Ban On Pregnant Students--A public school planned to force pregnancy tests on its students.
• Health Care Reform Leaves Out Young Pregnant Women
• Komen president resigning, founder shifting roles
• Millions Lost: Rush Limbaugh Continues To Be Bad For Business
• Philippines: Catholic bishop goes after Ateneo professors for heresy--They warned other schools they'd be stripped of their status if they supported the Reproductive Health bill. 
• I Wish My Mother Had Aborted Me--"Lynn Beisner explains the difference between the two phrases 'The best choice for both my mother and me would have been abortion' and 'I wish I had never been born.'"

Planned Parenthood

• Actress Elizabeth Banks: Romney won't help women with 'a heavy flow'
• Texas Loses Entire Women's Health Program Over Planned Parenthood Law
• Kansas: All charges dropped against Planned Parenthood

"Honour" Killings

• Pakistani wife in disputed marriage gunned down in court by her brother
• UK court jails parents for life over honor killing of teen daughter
• Punjab girl hires contract killers to eliminate parents for opposing her marriage--"The girl, Manpreet Kaur, wanted to kill her parents and brother as they objected to her decesion of marrying her beau, who was already married." That's a new twist.

Megaupload, YouTube and Content Ownership, Copyfight, Piracy, Music Business, Trademark

Megaupload

• Apple Founder "Woz" Defends Megaupload
• Dotcom judge quits the case
• Kim Dotcom Goes on Mega-Offense Against U.S. Copyright Case
• Feds: We Can Freeze Megaupload Assets Even if Case Dismissed
• Elite force in dark in Dotcom house raid--What really happened at the raid? Guess they found the video they lost.

YouTube and Content Ownership

• How YouTube lets content companies "claim" NASA Mars videos--Guys like Lon Seidman hit by copyright abuse.
• YouTube restores Obama videos, refuses to explain takedown policies--Maybe Republicans will finally see the light.
• Radiohead To Prince: Unblock 'Creep' YouTube Vids

Copyfight

• Trans-Pacific Partnership: The Most Important Trade Agreement That We Know Nothing About
• Leaked MPAA Memo Reveals TV-Shack Press Strategy
• Leaked: US proposal on copyright's limits
• Court Shelves Washington State Law That Would Turn Service Providers Into Criminals Based On Their Users' Behavior
• Canada: Supreme Court Entrenches Technological Neutrality as a New Copyright Principle
• Embedding copyright-infringing video is not a crime, court rules
• Good News: Craigslist drops exclusive license to your posts

Piracy

• Piracy witch hunt downs legit e-book lending Web site--"Several authors on Twitter mistook an e-book lending Web site for a piracy hub, a mistake that eventually took the site offline. As the dust settles, a disturbing picture of file-sharing hysteria emerges."
• Pirate Bay blocks did little to curb file-sharing
• Demonoid Busted As A Gift To The United States Government--Anonymous is vowing revenge.
• Top German court says RapidShare must monitor link sites for piracy
• Google must delete 'torrent' from autocomplete, court says
• Google alters algorithm as Hollywood lobbyists win latest copyright battle
• Politician pushes extreme anti-piracy bill in the Philippines--"Thought the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) was bad? A similar bill introduced into the Philippines' House of Representatives would penalize people who illegally download with a minimum two-year jail sentence and fines of 50,000 to 150,000 Phillippine pesos. ($1,200-$3,600)."

Music Business

• The Spotify Effect Shows Up: Streaming Music Boosts Warner's Bottom Line
• Another Music Service Shuts Down, Blames Ridiculous Licensing Fees
• Leaked Report Reveals Music Industry's Global Anti-Piracy Strategy
• Alex Day Sells Half A Million Songs By Breaking All The 'Rules'
• Anti-piracy group fined for stealing music

Trademark

• Courts Losing Patience With Clearly Bogus Trademark Claims; Dismissing Them Early
• Attaché Company Attacks Marvel, Alleging Avengers Infringement
• Jack Daniel's has a very nice trademark lawyer
• Anonymous Hits Back At French Firm That Tried To Trademark Their Logo
• Open-source movements butt heads over logo--Nerdfight.
• Judge Sides With Red Cross Over Trademark--Red Cross probes emblem 'misuse'
• Blast from the Past: Nissan vs. Nissan: Nissan Motor Sued Nissan Computer For Trademark Infringement, Trademark Dilution And Cyber-Squatting Seeking 10 Million Dollars In Damages