If you did any of those things before, the DMCA made you a criminal. Now you’re not.

These rules are based on the fact that access control measures (DRM) diminish “the ability of individuals to use copyrighted works in ways that are not infringing.” Fair use. But why don’t they just come out with a rule that says all fair use is exempt from the anti-circumvention law? Why limit it to these specific cases?

U.S. Copyright Office – Anticircumvention Rulemaking

Second, on Wednesday (August 1 2007), a bridge collapsed in Minneapolis. The latest report I’ve read says that at least five people are confirmed dead. The Minneapolis bridge collapse is tragic and I have great sympathy for the victims and their families.

Do you see where this is going?

Since Wednesday, I’ve received emails from people saying that the poster on the BigHugeLabs home page is “inappropriate” and “crass” and that it should be changed. My gut reaction to the initial emails was to ignore them. The poster obviously had nothing at all to do with the bridge collapse. I suppose some people might have seen it and drawn the incorrect conclusion that I’m making some kind of joke about Minneapolis (one of the emailers explicitly stated that he knew it was a coincidence). I don’t think that bothers me.

What does bother me—and troubles me deeply—is the apparent expectation that no one should do anything that might potentially offend someone; and if some circumstance arises that gives new, unintended meaning to something previously innocuous then that previously harmless thing is now somehow “bad.”

Now, I don’t think that people, in general, should go around trying to offend others. I’m not intentionally rude to anyone. I don’t cut in line. I hold the door. But I also don’t worry about how every single thing I say and do may offend someone. If I did I wouldn’t be able to function. I own three vehicles, I buy things made in China, I’m half Korean, and my eyes are brown—all things that I’m 100% positive offend lots of people.

The safe thing to do—the fashionable thing—would be to fall all over myself changing the poster to something appropriate and to issue a public apology about not intending to offend anyone. Political correctness is completely out of control in this country. For better or worse, my position is that the poster did not nor does it currently have anything to do with Minneapolis and any offense taken is completely in the mind of the offended. Furthermore, I still think the original poster is funny and the bridge disaster is tragic at the same time.

That said, I’m a pragmatist. I have better things to do than delete emails accusing me of being insensitive over a stupid motivational poster. So I changed the caption to make the emails stop. It now reads “Kids on board.” As safe and bland a caption as I could think of while still being mildly amusing.

Am I wrong/insensitive? Is the lack of intent (to offend) less important than the perception? Did the bridge disaster actually transform the image, making it inappropriate, or is any inappropriateness completely in the eye of the beholder? Does that even matter? How does changing the image protect anyone? How can I be sure that what I changed it to doesn’t offend anyone? If it offends someone in the future, have I actually done any good at all? And can anyone explain rationally why the image is inappropriate now but wasn’t 72 hours ago without simply appealing to an emotional response?

These are not rhetorical questions. I really want to know what you think.

The report issued on Tuesday by an independent four-member panel headed by former Defense Secretary James Schlesinger showed there was a “failure of the civilian chain of command,” the Democratic presidential challenger said.

- Kerry Renews Call for Rumsfeld’s Resignation

I agree there was a failure of the chain of command (and it wasn’t just the civilian part). But the failure wasn’t just poor guidelines or unclear procedures. The greater failure was in acting without honor just when it was needed the most.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — U.S. officials have discussed the idea of postponing Election Day in the event of a terrorist attack on or about that day, a Homeland Security Department spokesman said Sunday.

CNN.com – Officials discuss how to delay Election Day – Jul 11, 2004

Yeah? For how long? And what happens if the vote is delayed? I presume Bush stays in power. So, who gains the most?

You can’t protect democracy by delaying the election.

http://www.ciwmb.ca.gov/Electronics/Act2003/Retailer/Fee/

In typical bureaucratic (holy hell, how does anyone learn English?) fashion, they didn’t specify some minor points in the new law. Just minor things really, like, oh, how do we collect it:

There are many details yet to be resolved regarding this fee, including:

• How should the retailer track its collection?
• What State agency receives the collected fees?
• What is the process to remit the collected fees?

And we pay these guys for this.

Human Rights Watch:

The government of Sudan is responsible for “ethnic cleansing” and crimes against humanity in Darfur, one of the world’s poorest and most inaccessible regions, on Sudan’s western border with Chad. The Sudanese government and the Arab “Janjaweed” militias it arms and supports have committed numerous attacks on the civilian populations of the African Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa ethnic groups. Government forces oversaw and directly participated in massacres, summary executions of civilians-including women and children — burnings of towns and villages, and the forcible depopulation of wide swathes of land long inhabited by the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa. The Janjaweed militias, Muslim like the African groups they attack, have destroyed mosques, killed Muslim religious leaders, and desecrated Qorans belonging to their enemies.

‘We Want to Make a Light Baby’ (washingtonpost.com):

During a recent visit, government minders warned people at the school to stop talking about the rapes or face beatings or death. Minders also were seen handing out bribes to keep women from speaking to foreign visitors. But those at the school spoke anyway.

‘Powell and Annan See Hints of Disaster in Sudan’ (nytimes.com, reg required):

Both Mr. Powell and Mr. Annan said they delivered stern warnings to the government, which sought to crush two rebel movements in Darfur in early 2003 by unleashing Arab militias on the local population of black Africans. More than a million people have been expelled from their homes since, and deaths are said to have run into the tens of thousands.

On September 24, 2003, landmark legislation established a funding system for the collection and recycling of certain electronic wastes. The California Integrated Waste Management Board adopted emergency regulations on April 13, 2004, to implement portions of this statute. The Office of Administrative Law approved the emergency regulations on May 10, 2004.

This only affects shipments to California. The fees are $6 for each 4-15 inch display, $8 for each 15-35 inch display, and $10 for each display 35 inches or greater. That includes laptops. They claim the tax will be used to fund recycling programs.

It’s scheduled to go into effect on July 1 but there is an amendment to postpone collection until November 1, 2004.It was postponed to November 1, 2004.

Electronic Waste Recycling Act of 2003 (Sher, SB 20)

“The numbers were off,” Secretary of State Colin Powell said, and “we have identified how we have to do this in the future.” He also said the initial report was not designed “to make our efforts look better or worse.”

The findings had been used by senior administration officials to bolster Bush’s claim of success in countering terror.

Rep. Rahm Emanuel put it sarcastically, “Funny things happened on the way to the printer.” Funny things indeed. For myself, Colin Powell and the rest of the Bush administration have lost all credibility. Is it any wonder why people don’t vote? It’s impossible to make an informed choice when the candidates are all liars.

Yahoo! News – U.S. Amends Report to Show Rise in Terror

Update: The report itself, Patterns of Global Terrorism 2003 (the revised version)