Well, it sure looks this way to me.
For instance,
the bill now includes a provision, supported by some opponents of spam, that directs the Federal Trade Commission to come up with a plan for a no-spam registry.
I think the off shore spammers will love this one: a list comprised of mostly good email addresses! Yea, I know that the spammers are supposed to send in their lists for scrubbing but I suspect joes p*rn shop won’t be sending in their list.
I expect to see a lot more headphones on folks while they are at their computers (or just a wireless signal away) and not just to listen to the latest music downloads.
Check out this article about Skype, the latest hot peer-to-peer application that will be making a lot of encumbent telephone companies (both land and cellular) nervous and will have government officials at all levels wondering why their utility tax revenue stream is shrinking.
This has the potential to be a classic case of creative destruction and I, for one, think it is a good thing!
Via Assymetrical Information.
Julia, Sisyphus Shrugged, has been reading some of Lisa Whelchel’s book Creative Corrections and has some thoughts on spanking:
(FWIW, my persistent thought about spanking is that it’s the last refuge of the incompetent, but mileage varies on that one. At the very least, a parent who can’t think of a compelling reason to restrict their communication with someone a fifth their size with imperfect impulse control to the non-violent might want to consider carefully their decision to homeschool that child in light of the questionable nature of their own impulse control.)
I would extend this to suggest that they should have considered carefully their decision to have children in the first place.
NB: The permalink for Julia’s post on this seem to be missing tonight so this is the one at 10:04 PM on October 21st, 2003.
Some of you may have thought I was being a bit paranoid in my earlier post Canadian Big Brother. Especially since congress cut off funding for Total Information Awareness.
But ashcroft’s Justice Department figures to hell with congress. If we can’t get TIA we’ll go for MATRIX or in normal speak: Multistate Anti-Terrorism Information Exchange. Justice and Homeland Security are providing funding for what started out as a state based system in Florida:
The U.S. Justice Department recently provided $4 million and the Department of Homeland Security has pledged another $8 million to expand the MATRIX program nationally. Homeland Security will also provide the computer network for information-sharing among the states.
Still not bothered? Try this:
Phil Ramer, special agent in charge of Florida�s statewide intelligence told a Washington Post reporter in early August that the system could be intrusive and pledged to use it with restraint. “It’s scary. It could be abused. I mean, I can call up everything about you, your pictures and pictures of your neighbors.”
Whew, I feel quite comforted by Phil’s promise to use the system with restraint. But what about Ralph or Mary tomorrow?
Why not link in the Canadian’s Bar Watch info, or, you take your pick of the information source. If Matrix, TIA or other similar systems stay in place their operators will figure out a way to include that information.
Yep, use cash. Start becoming as invisible as you can.
Last week Modulator commented on Caterpillar’s attempt to block Disney from releasing George of the Jungle 2. Today a federal judge ruled against Caterpillar:
The judge said there is no sign Disney sought to “somehow poach or free ride” on Caterpillar’s trademarks to drive up sales of the movie, one of the standards for trademark infringement.
McDade also disputed Caterpillar’s argument that use of its name and logo will make viewers think the company is somehow supporting the movie. He called use of well-known trademarks a “common phenomenon” in films and television.
…..
Along with infringement, Caterpillar alleged that its trademark is diluted by the movie, which describes the equipment as “deleterious dozers” and “maniacal machinery” during a climactic final battle.
McDade countered that “it is clear to even the most credulous viewer” that the bulldozers are operated by humans and are merely inanimate implements of the villains’ “environmentally unfriendly schemes.”
It would have been much less expensive for Caterpillar to have just asked Modulator.