Episode40

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Police State UK - The abuse of antisocial behaviour orders

  • A physics graduate is fined £80 for describing a metal detector as "piece of shit that wouldn't stop anyone" in public.
  • Kurt Walker fined £80 for using the word "fuck" in a public park in Kent. He's refusing to pay.
  • ASBO Law states that it's illegal to use threatening words or behaviour likely to cause alarm, harassment or distress.


  • Main problem with an ASBO is that due process does not occur.
  • Civil court orders which can be based on hearsay evidence. The burden of proof is much lower than in a criminal case.
  • Police only have to persuade a judge that your behaviour "may cause harassment or alarm or distress" to someone else to get one imposed.
    • Makes it very hard to defend oneself.
    • Less than 1% of applications for ASBOs have been refused.
    • Up to 35% of young people with asbos in the UK had a diagnosed mental disorder or accepted learning difficulty.
  • But breaching an ASBO is a criminal offence. With penalty in the UK of 5 years in jail.


  • Asbos can be used to criminalise behaviour that would otherwise not be illegal. Including:
    • playing football,
    • feeding pigeons,
    • swearing,
    • being sarcastic and
    • riding a bicycle
  • Restricts individuals rights of free speech and association.
  • Little or no evidence they actually solve anything.
  • Justice Minister Michael McDowell plans to introduce them in Ireland.
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Links

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China harvesting Falun Gong organs, report alleges.

  • 60,000 organ transplants recorded between 2000 and 2005 (by China Medical Organ Transplant Association)
    • 18,500 of the organs came from identifiable sources.
    • 41,500 transplants from no other explained sources.
  • There is a booming transplant industry in China.
  • Number of liver transplant centres has jumped from 22 in 1999 to 500 in 2006.
  • Number of liver transplant operations has jumped from 135 to 4,000 in the same period.


  • Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of the Falun Gong in China (CIPFG)
    • Made recordings of phone calls to hospitals, prisons and transplant centres.
    • organs from alleged Falun Gong prisoners were promised to prospective buyers within as little as a week
  • Ex-wife of Chinese surgeon alleges that he removed the corneas from 2,000 euthanized Falun Gong prisoners over a 2 year period.
    • All died and their bodies were burned.
  • China admitted in 2005 that it harvests and sells the organs of executed prisoners.
    • British Transplantation Society alleged China without the consent of prisoners or next of kin.


  • Report by former MP David Kilgour and Winnipeg lawyer David Matas.
  • Report based on recordings of phone calls, interviews, and info taken from chinese hospital and transplant centre websites.
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Links

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BPI: We should be able to cut off your Internet

  • British Phonographic Industry (BPI) has requested 2 ISP's to terminate the DSL connections of customers allegedly engaged in infringing file-sharing.
  • BPI asked for immediate action without due process based on the evidence of a single screenshot.
  • Tiscali has refused to comply stating "It is not for Tiscali, as an ISP, nor the BPI, as a trade association, to effectively act as a regulator or law enforcement agency and deny individuals the right to defend themselves against the allegations made against them."


  • "Notice-and-takedown" regime allows censorship of web-pages if they allegedly infringe copyrright.
    • Embedded in law in Europe through the EUCD and in the US via the infamous DMCA.
    • Used by the Church of Scientology to silence critics.
    • WTO used it to silence a parody site.
    • Diebold used it to suppress the publication of a whistle-blower memo that detailed the critical failings of their voting machines.
  • Significantly it only works on material hosted on the ISP's server.


  • Notice-and-termination, is the new proposed regime.
  • The ability to communicate over the Internet can be removed by anyone claiming you're infringing copyright.
  • Alternatively internet connections may be crippled only supporting bandwidths and protocols approved by the entertainment industry.
  • It is being proposed as a United Nations treaty obligation, hence every ISP would be forced to adopt this regime.
  • An obvious target is P2P networks which Notice-and-takedown is ineffective against.


  • Requests for takedowns usually generated by software bots, which often mistakenly identify copyright infringements.
  • No presumption of innocence for the alleged copyright infringer.
  • No method for someone to defend themselves.
  • Entertainment industry becomes judge, jury with the ISP as executioner.
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Links


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Games That Never Age: The Unrecognized Potential of Procedural Synthesis.

  • Everyone has heard of Procedural Synthesis and what it can achieve.
    • Astounding graphics but with very small file sizes.


  • What is procedural synthesis?
    • Method of using mathematics to produce real-time graphics instead of pre-rendered imagery.
    • Base components are created such as the texture of bark or tree leaves.
    • Algorithms then make them look different as they are re-used throughtout the game.
    • When you consider the number of re-used textures in games you see the benefits: walls, sidewalks, sky etc.


  • Drawback of procedurally generated graphics is that it's computationally intensive.
    • Lack of computing power restricts the complexity of algorithms that modify textures.
    • However as processors get faster then higher resolution textures can simply created by modifying the algorithms that work with the base textures.
    • Graphics of games can improve as better algorithms are released and downloaded via automatic updates.


  • Problems include:
    • It won't be widely adopted.
    • Every visual element a game is not procedurally generated, hence not everything can be upgraded.
    • You're still playing the same game, procedural synthesis doesn't address gameplay only graphics.
    • Why not AI procedurally generated so you can get updates of smarter opponents?


  • Will Wright's latest project: Spore uses procedural synthesis liberally.
  • This includes the way creatures move and behave being generated on the fly.
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Links

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Short Stories

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FBI plans new net-wiretapping push

  • FBI has drafted legislation that requires ISPs to create wiretap hubs for surveillance
  • It also will force networking gear manufacturers to build "backdoors" in equipment to enable eavesdropping
  • Measures included are:
    • Expanding wiretapping requirements to "commercial" Internet services including instant messaging if the FCC deems it to be in the "public interest."
    • Forcing ISP's to monitor and identify for instance VoIP calls.
    • Remove the requirement that the Justice Department publish a "notice of the actual number of communications interceptions" every year


  • FBI claims changes in law needed to thwart terrorists and criminals who have turned to such things as VOIP.
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Microsoft hit with 280m euro fine

  • Microsoft fined for failing to comply with anti-competition ruling.
  • Landmark ruling in 2004 ordered Microsoft to provide rivals with info on Windows.
  • Microsoft was ordered to supply "complete and accurate" technical information to rival developers.
  • Aim was to allow rival firms to write programs that could run more smoothly on Windows.
  • Daily fines of 3 million a day will come into effect from the 31st of July if Microsoft fails to comply.
  • Microsoft claims to have complied and will appeal the fine.
  • It also plans to argue that the commission's original demand was too vague.
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Links

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Friendster wins a patent on social networking

  • Friendster has received a patent that covers online social networks.
  • patent,is extremely general would seem to cover the activities of many other sites
  • Patent refers to a “system, method, and apparatus for connecting users in an online computer system based on their relationships within social networks.”
  • Patent covers the basic steps involved in joining a social network:
    • entering a personal description and relationships to other users,
    • mapping relationships and degrees of separation,
    • and connecting to others through these friends.
  • Company could in future pursue licenses and litigation from its competitors.
    • Expecially LinkedIn (covered last week) that allows people to connect within a certain number of degrees of separation.
  • Patent could be challenged in the patent system or the courts.
    • “Once the patent is issued there is a presumption of validity that follows with it,” said attorney Bill Heinze of Thomas, Kayden, Horstemeyer & Risley.
  • Friendster has fallen on hard times, eclipsed by rivals such as MySpace.
  • Patent was applied for about 3 years ago
    • Another 11 patents are in the pipeline for Friendster.
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Links

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Media Pimp

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Mark

The Skeptics Guide To The Universe

Adult Swim on Bravo UK

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Ciaran

Ask A Ninja

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Francis

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