Category: International

Free Speech, International, Media, Politics, Society

Net Neutrality Vote In Europe Stirs Debate On Internet’s Future

Submitted by Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

European Pariament LogoThe European Parliament is considering the notion of Net Neutrality in Europe, similar to a debate present in the United States.

Net Neutrality is in general the practice of prohibiting Internet Service Providers, Telecommunications Providers, and Networking Services from giving favorable access or download speeds to entities they wish to give advantage via preferential treatment relating to agreements or other considerations. End users would under Net Neutrality be afforded with equal access to material unconstrained by their service providers.

The vote is scheduled for February 24th of this year.
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Free Speech, International, Media, Politics, Science, Society

Satellites As A Free Speech Tool

Submitted by Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

SputnikWith many reports becoming all to familiar with state sponsored censorship of internet traffic users in these nations are engaged in a cat and mouse game with a government that is showing increasing levels of sophistication and legislative muscle. The tactics often used include filtering objectionable material, firewalling targeted IP addresses, tracing data back to individuals and sanctioning those individuals, and creating a system of fear generally in which the public is dissuaded into engaging in free speech.

The common element in these electronic censorship measures is that the government controls access via the physical structure of the network. They are able to do this through land based infrastructure. But what if these physical vulnerabilities to free speech and press were removed and instead replaced with broadcast satellite systems that are immune from filtering and geo-locating individuals?
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Congress, Criminal law, International, Politics

Ex-Rep. Mel Reynolds Arrested in Zimbabwe

220px-Mel_ReynoldsRemember former Chicago Representative Mel Reynolds? If you recall, he resigned from his congressional seat in 1995 after he was convicted of 12 counts of statutory rape, obstruction of justice and solicitation of child pornography. Well, he is back in the news after an arrest in Zimbabwe. You guessed it. He is charged with allegedly possessing pornographic material and violating immigration laws.

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Bizarre, International, Politics

Putin Panties: Russia Bans Importation and Sale Of Lacy Lingerie

220px-Lingerie225px-Vladimir_Putin_official_portraitRussia appears to be looking at a new cause for protesters who are seething with anger. No, it is not over Putin’s rollback on free speech or the criminalization of open displays of homosexuality. Women in Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan are rising in anger over a trade ban on lacy lingerie. The ban prevents the importation, manufacture, or sale of any underwear containing less than 6 percent cotton. It is not clear if Putin’s infamous police units will begin panty raids in addition to their press raids, but the law has many knickers in a knot.

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Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Free Speech, International, Media, Politics

Still Crazy After All These Years: Iranian Cleric Renews Death Fatwa For Salman Rushdie After 25 Years

1988_Salman_Rushdie_The_Satanic_Verses220px-Salman_Rushdie_2012_Shankbone-2Believe or not, it has been 25 years since Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a death fatwa for Salman Rushdie — promising paradise and reward to anyone who killed the author simply because he wrote a book with what was viewed as blasphemous to Islam. For civil libertarians, it was a defining moment where Islam was pitted against the most basic and cherished values of free speech. The world was shocked by the decision even from the radical Iranian government. However, we have not heard much of the fatwa in years. Just to prove that the Islamic clerics remain as fanatical and anti-speech as they were in 1989, senior cleric Ahmad Khatami renewed the call to kill Rushdie and declared that the “historical fatwa” is “as fresh as ever.” What is clear is that, while the world views the fatwa as an example of religious extremism and insanity, the Islamic cleric remain proud of the death order as a pure expression of Islamic law and values.

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Congress, Constitutional Law, International, Lawyering, Media, Politics

Report: NSA Spied On Lawyers In Confidential Communications With Clients

President_Barack_ObamaNSA logo smallWe have previously discussed how many Democrats and liberals have stayed relatively silent as the Obama Administration has launched attacks on privacy, press freedoms, and civil liberties. In addition President Obama has engaged in military interventions, declared the right to kill citizens on his own authority, refused to investigate the U.S. torture program, and repeatedly violated the separation of powers. Now, we can add the violation of attorney-client privilege and confidentiality. Once again, the disclosure came as a result not of congressional oversight or Executive reforms, but the Snowden disclosures.

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International, Media

NBC Under Fire For Bode Miller Interview

220px-nbc_logosvg200px-Bode_Miller_Hinterstoder_2011There have been a host of complaints about the NBC coverage of the Olympics. I criticized NBC during the opening ceremony on Twitter for useless banter of its hosts rather than allowing viewers to actually listen to the opening ceremony. It was yet another example of the network’s view that viewers want to hear from their celebrities rather than watch the actual news. It is obviously not appealing to viewers. Ratings are down from the Vancouver games and just even with the Torino games seven years ago. However, few aspects of the coverage hit a more angry note than the interview

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Animals, Constitutional Law, International, Politics, Religion, Society

Denmark Outlaws Religious Slaughtering Of Animals Over The Objections Of Muslim And Jewish Leaders

220px-ModernEgypt,_Opening_of_Luxor-Aswan_rail_line,_Album-2-BAL-00000606-0039Denmark’s Agriculture and Food Minister Dan Jørgensen has signed a new regulation that bans religious slaughter of animals. The move has outraged Jewish and Muslim leaders but Mr Jørgensen publicly declared that “animal rights come before religion.” The new law bars slaughterhouses from allowing Muslim and Jewish leaders from killing animals without first stunning them. Muslims and Jewish religions believe that God only allows for the consumption of Halal or Kosher meat that involves the slitting of the throat of animals. Animal rights advocates insist that these religious rituals are cruel to animals.

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Animals, International

Russian Cat Sticks The Landing At Sochi

I am not sure what is more of a concern: that there are cats living in the ceilings of the Adler Arena in Sochi Russia or that the work of the new building is so flimsy that the weight of a cat can cause a collapse. No doubt the Russian government will insist that plenty of buildings have cat walks and this was a particularly heavy kitty.

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Criminal law, International, Media, Science, Society

One-Ring Phone Scam: When not to return a call

by Charlton “Chuck” Stanley, Weekend Contributor

Image by the Cherokee County Sheriff's Department Murphy, NC Keith Lovin, Sheriff
Image by the
Cherokee County Sheriff’s Department
Murphy, NC

This morning, I had been working on another topic when my cell phone rang one time. I looked at the number on the caller ID, which came from 216-206-xxxx. I looked up the number on a internet reverse lookup service. The call “originated” in Euclid, OH. Except it didn’t. If I had called that number back, my call would have been re-directed to an offshore number, most likely in a Caribbean country.

So far, in the past week, I have received at least a half-dozen such calls. I did not think to write all the numbers down before deleting them from my phone.

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Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Free Speech, International, Justice, Politics, Religion, Society

International Humanist And Ethical Union Publishes Comprehensive Global Report On Athiest and Non-Religious Rights

Submitted by Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

Humanist EmblemWhile many, primarily Islamic, countries have received much press regarding flagrant abuses of religious and non-religious persons or views, seven of which have death penalty offenses for crimes such as apostasy, the true impact for most of the worlds citizens are not as stark but can be often a suffer a form of punishment, repression and imprisonment of some kind for their beliefs.

The international Humanist and Ethical Union published a broad and comprehensive study of world governments listing laws, social constraints, and customs of government for nearly each nation. The study provides a deep insight into how even subtle restrictions on atheists and subscribers to differing religions or non-religions can have a chilling effect on the expressions of their citizens and it is often this subtlety that can become a form of suppression of dissent in surprising areas.
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Free Speech, International, Society

Haram Is Where the Heart Is: Muslim Clerics Denounce Valentine’s Day As UnIslamic

225px-Victorian-valentines-cards-two-cherubs-red-heartsIslamic leaders celebrated Valentine’s Day again this year by denouncing the holiday as anti-Islamic and calling for a “Modesty Day” instead that celebrates such items as burkas and veils. Students clashed today in Peshawar as dozens of liberal students sought to celebrate the holiday and defy orders from religious leaders to boycott the holiday. The result was an exchange of rocks and bricks between the pro-Valentine and anti-Valentine protesters. At least one student was shot and wounded. In Indonesia, warnings were issued that celebration of the holiday was an offense of Islam. In Malasysia religious monitors have been patrolling the streets looking for unIslamic practices. Valentine’s Day has been declared haram, or forbidden.

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Bizarre, International, Society

Is It Time To Get Rid Of Curling?

220px-Curlingstoneold220px-Curling_Canada_Torino_2006As many on this blog know, I have long been a critic of the International Olympic Committee which has long been accused of corruption, cronyism, and plain stupidity. One of the most outrageous decisions was the elimination of wrestling, one of the few original sports, in favor of events like golf with more wealthy supporters. (Wrestling was later reinstated after global outcry). My sense of confusion depended this week with the reappearance of curling — a sport viewed by 99 percent of people every four years and met with the same universal question: “why is this a sport?” I do not contest that curling is a sport, I just fail to understand why it is an Olympic sport (like shooting) when sports like wrestling were cut.

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Criminal law, International, Society

Spanish Campaign Asks For Donation Of Childhood Photos As “Abuse-Free Children Pornography” (Updated)

220px-Sleepingputto_LéonBazilePerraultThere is a creepy but provocative issue raised by an advertisement in Barcelona, Spain this month. The posters offered “abuse-free child pornography” that asked viewers to “Send us naked photos of when you were a child. For child pornography without abuse. +18 Yes to Pedophilia. No to Abuse.” The posters were later taken down, but they raise a challenging (if admittedly unsettling) legal question. If people are turning over pictures of themselves as children (without any prior abuse or sexual acts depicted), does it still constitute child pornography? Update: The articles on this story reported that the posters were displayed by JCDeaux, an advertising firm. However, I have communicated with a representative of the company who has stated that it had no role in the posters and “JCDecaux is investigating this unauthorized insertion of the poster in our bus shelter in Barcelona. We removed the poster as soon as we were made aware of it.”
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