No political activism permitted at Beijing Games: IOC
scopical.com.au
7 May 2008

The International Olympic Committee is seeking to tighten it’s grip on potential political activism at the Beijing Summer Games in August.

Authorities are bracing themselves for widespread protests following the largely unsuccessful worldwide passage of the Olympic flame.

The IOC said overnight that it was now seeking to clarify rules relating to political activism by athletes, including high-level scrutiny of athletes comments and coverage.

It comes as Australian cyclist Cadel Evans wore a ‘Free Tibet’ t-shirt while competing during the Liege-Bastogne-Liege race in Belgium last month.

The IOC says that “no kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas”. (more…)

Submitted by Felipe Ribeiro:

Augmented Speakers Corner — TODAY!
Union Square, New York City
April 22, 2008, 5pm - 8pm

What: A physical installation in Union Square, New York City on Tuesday April 22, as well as an accompanying website at www.AskUnionSquare.com

This is an interface for public discussion in Union Square, NYC, consisting of an open mic, speakers, and a website. The audience gets to vote in real time on who stays on the mic, as well as respond live over the speaker system using their cellphones. It’s a live, face to face call-in radio show with a rotating host, determined by audience vote.

image: Cache Kotaku

Submitted by Allyn Harstein:

U.S. Funded Health Search Engine Blocks ‘Abortion’
by Sarah Lai Stirland
Wired.com
April 3, 2008

A U.S. government-funded medical information site that bills itself as the world’s largest database on reproductive health has quietly begun to block searches on the word “abortion,” concealing nearly 25,000 search results.

Called Popline, the search site is run by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Maryland. It’s funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, the federal office in charge of providing foreign aid, including health care funding, to developing nations.

The massive database indexes a broad range of reproductive health literature, including titles like “Previous abortion and the risk of low birth weight and preterm births,” and “Abortion in the United States: Incidence and access to services, 2005.”

But on Thursday, a search on “abortion” was producing only the message “No records found by latest query.” (more…)

Bill Would Ban Swearing in Bars
AP
January 8, 2008

St. Charles, Mo. — What the …? A St. Louis-area town is considering a bill that would ban swearing in bars, along with table-dancing, drinking contests and profane music. City officials contend the bill is needed to keep rowdy crowds under control because the historic downtown area gets a little too lively on some nights.

City Councilman Richard Veit said he was prompted to propose the bill after complaints about bad bar behavior. He says it will give police some rules to enforce when things get too rowdy.

But some bar owners worry the bill is too vague and restrictive, saying it may be a violation of their civil rights.

Marc Rousseau, who owns bar R.T. Weilers, said he thinks the bill needs revision.

“We’re dealing with adults here once again and I don’t think it’s the city’s job or the government’s job to determine what we can and cannot play in our restaurant,” Rousseau said.

The proposal would ban indecent, profane or obscene language, songs, entertainment and literature at bars.

A meeting to discuss the proposal is set for Jan. 14.

Photo: John Cleese from The Age

Va. Teacher Fired for Buttocks Art Sues
by Bob Lewis
October 4, 2007

Richmond, Va. (AP) — A high school art teacher fired after officials learned he moonlighted by creating paintings using his bare buttocks and other body parts sued his former employers on Thursday.

Stephen [Stan] Murmer was fired in January after Chesterfield County Public Schools officials saw a YouTube video of Murmer wearing a swim thong and a Groucho Marx mask, demonstrating how he applies paint to his backside, then presses it onto a canvas.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Richmond by the American Civil Liberties Union, said Murmer’s firing violates his First Amendment rights. It also alleges that after he was suspended from teaching in December, school officials ordered him not to discuss his suspension even as they commented on it in news interviews. (more…)

‘Big Brother’ was watching George Orwell
by Graham Tibbetts
Telegraph.co.uk

George Orwell, the author who coined the phrase “Big Brother is watching you”, was himself the subject of intense surveillance by the secret services, documents released on Tuesday disclose.

The creator of Nineteen Eighty-Four, which envisages a day when every person’s movements are scrutinised by a totalitarian state, was closely monitored amid concerns that he was a prominent member of the communist movement.

Every aspect of his life came under the microscope during the 1930s and 40s. The scrutiny even extended to his wife Eileen, who had to be vetted before she was allowed to take up a post with the Ministry of Food.

Files released by the National Archives disclose that in 1942, Scotland Yard was paying close attention to Orwell, who was then working at the BBC. (more…)

Point, Click… Eavesdrop: How the FBI Wiretap Net Operates
by Ryan Singel
Wired

The FBI has quietly built a sophisticated, point-and-click surveillance system that performs instant wiretaps on almost any communications device, according to nearly a thousand pages of restricted documents newly released under the Freedom of Information Act.

The surveillance system, called DCSNet, for Digital Collection System Network, connects FBI wiretapping rooms to switches controlled by traditional land-line operators, internet-telephony providers and cellular companies. It is far more intricately woven into the nation’s telecom infrastructure than observers suspected. (more…)

Adorable Orwellian Cartoon Cops Patrol Beijing’s Internet
by Walaika Haskins
TechNewsWorld
August 29, 2007

Web users in Beijing will soon have company — even when they surf alone. The Chinese government has deployed two cartoon cops to make appearances on users’ screens every half-hour, reminding them of China’s laws regarding “objectionable” content on the Web and asking whether they’d care to report any possibly illicit activity.

In an attempt to combat what it views as illicit activities, the Chinese government announced Tuesday it will deploy two virtual police officers to patrol the Internet, according to reports from the state-run China Daily.

The cartoon cops, one male and one female, will hit their beat Saturday and will be on duty 24/7, safeguarding Beijing’s gateway Web sites and accepting cybercrime complaints concerning online pornography and other so-called malicious content.

Fending off objectionable content is the duty of the Chinese government and its citizens, according to Zhao Hongzhi, deputy chief of China’s Ministry of Information Industry’s bureau of Internet Surveillance Center. The animated cops, he said, will protect Web surfers from content that does public harm and disrupts social order, as well as listen to suggestions of Internet users. (more…)

Colbert: Ku Kos Klan Vs O’Reilly

via Media Channel

Couple arrested at Bush rally settles lawsuit for $80,000
by Andrew Clevenger
The Charleston Gazette
August 17, 2007

The federal government has agreed to pay $80,000 to a Texas couple arrested for wearing anti-President Bush T-shirts at a 2004 event with the president in Charleston.

Jeff and Nicole Rank went to Bush’s Fourth of July speech at the state Capitol wearing homemade T-shirts with a red circle with a bar through it over the word “Bush.”

On the back, hers read “Love America, Hate Bush” and his read “Regime Change Starts At Home.”

When the couple refused to cover up their shirts, they were arrested and charged with trespassing. Those charges were later dropped by the city of Charleston, and city officials later apologized.

The American Civil Liberties Union subsequently filed a lawsuit on the Ranks’ behalf in federal court in Charleston, alleging that the Ranks’ First Amendment right to free political speech had been violated. (more…)