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Archived News
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Wednesday June 30th, 2010
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The Crackdown Begins: Feds Seize Cash, Web Sites of Alleged Film Pirates
posted 06/30/2010, 11:53 PM (CNET News)
[Category: Big Brother/Orwellian]
 A week after U.S. Vice President Joe Biden warned that the government would start cracking down on illegal file sharing, the feds swooped in and seized assets belonging to operators of accused movie-pirating sites.
Tvshack.net will soon be offline after feds seized the site. The U.S. alleges site operators distributed unauthorized film copies.
The government on Wednesday also took control of at least seven of the sites in question: Movies-Links.tv, Now-Movies.com, TVShack.net, Filespump.com, Planetmoviez.com, ZML.com, ThePirateCity.org, Ninjavideo.net, and NinjaThis.net. More than a dozen bank, investment, and advertising accounts were seized, and authorities served search warrants on residences in several different states.
Authorities are searching for operators of the sites as part of an ongoing criminal investigation, according to Virginia Kice, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The crimes that the operators are accused of committing weren't clear, but some of the sites are accused of distributing film copies prior to their theatrical release.
As of 3 p.m. PDT, some of the sites were still operating, but government officials said they anticipated the sites would come under government control within hours.
The investigation involved multiple law enforcement groups, including the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York and ICE, a unit of the Department of Homeland Security.
Last week, Biden and Victoria Espinel, the U.S. intellectual property enforcement coordinator, told reporters that they wanted to send a message to counterfeiters and pirates that this administration was intent on protecting the nation's intellectual property. Espinel directed a statement at those people who trafficked in phony goods or unauthorized music and movies: "We have committed ... (more)Related: Obama Administration Announces Massive Piracy Crackdown
These sites merely embed videos, they don't store them on their servers, they link to people who do. In effect, they are trying to claim it's a criminal offense to link to copyrighted content (despite copyright infringement being a civil offense). This is an outrageously criminal act by our outrageously criminal government. - Chris |
Homeland Security Works For Disney Now?
posted 06/30/2010, 11:53 PM (Techdirt)
[Category: Big Brother/Orwellian]
Well, here we go. Remember how, a few months back, we noted how odd it was that the Justice Department (which, of course, employs many former RIAA/MPAA/BSA lawyers) was designating a special task force to fight copyright infringement? After all, copyright infringement is mostly a civil issue, between two private parties. For years, however, the ente... (more) |
FEC Attempts to Shut Down Campaign for Liberty
posted 06/30/2010, 11:53 PM (Campaign for Liberty)
[Category: Tyranny/Police State]
 Dear Liberty Activist,
The FEC has launched a pair of investigations on Campaign for Liberty.
Both are meritless, but could seriously disrupt our growing program.
Please read Campaign for Liberty President John Tate’s letter below and stand with us.
This is exactly the type of government action to quell liberty that I have spent my life opposing.
Sincerely,
Congressman Ron Paul
—
... (more) |
Blockbuster vs. the FTC (Keeping Future Competition Safe?)
posted 06/30/2010, 11:53 PM (Mises Institute)
[Category: Commentary]
 Five years ago, Federal Trade Commission staff lawyers threw a public temper tantrum, kicking and screaming until video store chain Blockbuster, Inc., abandoned its plans to purchase rival Hollywood Video. The FTC ran to a federal judge and complained that Blockbuster failed to provide enough information about the company's internal operations — in a merger "review," all a company's documents can be seized by FTC agents, as the Fourth Amendment magically disappears — and the agency needed more ... (more) |
Feds, studios join forces against piracy
posted 06/30/2010, 11:53 PM (Hollywood Reporter)
[Category: Big Brother/Orwellian]
Hollywood studio and industry executives have joined with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the U.S, Attorney for the Southern District of New York to launch Operation in our Sites, an initiative aimed at stopping Internet counterfeiting and piracy.
During a news conference Wednesday on a soundstage at Disney Studios, the feds announced that they have kicked off the effort by seizing nine Internet domain names of websites offering first-run movies, often within hour... (more) |
Feds Seize Domains of Movie "Linking" Websites in Piracy Raid
posted 06/30/2010, 11:53 PM (Digital Media Wire)
[Category: Big Brother/Orwellian]
New York - Federal authorities announced on Wednesday that they have seized the domains of seven websites said to be involved in the illegal distribution of copyrighted movies and TV shows online. Six of the sites -- TVShack.net, Movies-Links.TV, FilesPump.com, Now-Movies.com, PlanetMoviez.com and ThePirateCity.org -- are classified by the feds as "linking" websites, as they do not host copyrighted content themselves, but instead provide links to sites that do.
"Linking websites a... (more) |
Government Math... FOR KIDS!
posted 06/30/2010, 11:52 PM (Revolt of the Plebs)
[Category: Commentary]
 Luke: She’s rich.
Han Solo: [interested] Rich?
Luke: Rich, powerful. Listen, if you were to rescue her, the reward would be…
Han Solo: What?
Luke: Well, more wealth than you can imagine!
Han Solo: I don’t know, I can imagine quite a bit.
-from Star Wars-Episode IV-A New Hope
Hello, boys and girls!
Did you know that you and I can create millions,... (more) |
Why Schools Don't Educate
posted 06/30/2010, 11:51 PM (John Taylor Gatto)
[Category: Commentary]
I accept this award on behalf of all the fine teachers I've known over the years who've struggled to make their transactions with children honorable ones, men and women who are never complacent, always questioning, always wrestling to define and redefine endlessly what the word "education" should mean. A Teacher of the Year is not the best teacher around, those people are too quiet to be easily uncovered, but he is a standard-bearer, symbolic of these private people who spend their lives... (more) |
Residents battle to keep land state wants for south suburban airport
posted 06/30/2010, 11:48 PM (Chicago Tribune)
[Category: Resistance]
 Vivian and Willis Bramstaedt live on land their family has farmed in Beecher for half a century. The state wants part of the land to build an airport. (David Pierini, Chicago Tribune / June 30, 2010)
Willis and Vivian Bramstaedt don't have big plans for retirement; they simply want to live out their remaining years on the land their family has farmed in rural Beecher since the 1950s.
But when a letter from the state arrived in April, the Bramstaedts knew thei... (more) |
Time to shut down the US Federal Reserve?
posted 06/30/2010, 11:48 PM (The Telegraph)
[Category: Economy]
Like a mad aunt, the Fed is slowly losing its marbles.
Kartik Athreya, senior economist for the Richmond Fed, has written a paper condemning economic bloggers as chronically stupid and a threat to public order.
Matters of economic policy should be reserved to a priesthood with the correct post-doctoral credentials, which would of course have excluded David Hume, Adam Smith, and arguably John Maynard Keynes (a mathematics graduate, with a tripos foray in moral scienc... (more) |
Government Run Healthcare: VA hospital may have infected 1,800 veterans with HIV
posted 06/30/2010, 11:48 PM (CNN)
[Category: Brave New World]
A Missouri VA hospital is under fire because it may have exposed more than 1,800 veterans to life-threatening diseases such as hepatitis and HIV.
John Cochran VA Medical Center in St. Louis has recently mailed letters to 1,812 veterans telling them they could contract hepatitis B, hepatitis C and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) after visiting the medical center for dental work, said Rep. Russ Carnahan.
Carnahan said Tuesday he is calling for a investigation int... (more) |
Kentucky Senate: Paul (R) 49% Conway (D) 42%
posted 06/30/2010, 11:47 PM (Rasmussen Report)
[Category: General]
The U.S. Senate race in Kentucky is little changed from earlier this month, with Republican Rand Paul continuing to hold a modest lead over Democrat Jack Conway.
The latest Rasmussen Reports statewide telephone survey of Likely Voters shows Paul picking up 49% support to Conway's 42%. Three percent (3%) would vote for some other candidate and six percent (6%) more are undecided.
Support for both nominees is virtually identical to results found earlier
posted 06/30/2010, 11:47 PM (The New American)
[Category: Cover-Up/Deceptions]
 New revelations in the suspicious “suicide” death of whistle-blower Dr. David Kelly point even more strongly to the possibility of murder and a subsequent cover-up, according to an explosive investigation by the British newspaper Daily Mail.
... (more) |
Deputy who seized cell phone suspended (with pay)
posted 06/30/2010, 11:47 PM (Southern Maryland Newspapers)
[Category: Tyranny/Police State]
A St. Mary's sheriff's deputy has been suspended amid an investigation from his grabbing a woman's cell phone when she recorded him, and prosecutors have dropped a communication-interception charge that police filed against the woman.
"They've got to be stopped somewhere," Yvonne Nicole Shaw, 27, said outside a courtroom Friday after the felony charge against her was dismissed. "They can't keep treating everyone like that. They're supposed to protect and serve, but they're not. Th... (more) |
Airport body scanners 'could give you cancer'
posted 06/30/2010, 11:47 PM (The Telegraph)
[Category: Brave New World]
 Dr David Brenner, head of the centre for radiological research at Columbia University in New York, said Government scientists had not taken into account the concentration of the radiation on the skin. He said it raised concerns about a potentially greater risk of cancer than previously realised.
Dr Brenner, who is from Liverpool, said children and passengers with genetic mutations - around one in 20 of the population - were most at risk because they are less able to repair X-ray d... (more) |
Venezuela govt to nationalize 11 US-owned oil rigs
posted 06/30/2010, 11:47 PM (AFP)
[Category: Economy]
Venezuela's legislature has voted to nationalize 11 oil rigs owned by the US firm Helmerich & Payne.
The rigs, located in Monagas, Anzoategui and Zulia states, will be taken over by state oil giant Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), the official news agency AVN said.
PDVSA had asked the legislature controlled by supporters of leftist President Hugo Chavez to take over the rigs after the US firm declined to negotiate a new service contract, unlike 32 other foreign firms... (more) |
New Evidence Revealed: Gore Sex Scandal Victim Tells All!!!
posted 06/30/2010, 11:47 PM (National Enquirer)
[Category: Politics/Corruption]
 AL GORE SEX SCANDAL ACCUSER reveals shocking NEW EVIDENCE -- ONLY to the NATIONAL ENQUIRER in a bombshell world exclusive interview!
"AL GORE is a pervert and sexual predator," declares MOLLY HAGERTY, 54, the massage therapist who told Portland, Ore. police that the ex-VICE President sexually assaulted her.
"He's not what people think he is - he's a sick man!"
[...]
"I want justice served," Hagerty said as she reveals the key witness ... (more)Too funny! |
Veteran Chicago cop charged in tow scam
posted 06/30/2010, 11:46 PM (Chicago Breaking News)
[Category: Politics/Corruption]
Chicago police Officer James Wodnicki's Northwest Side beat was a gold mine for tow truck drivers as long as they were willing to throw a few bucks his way, federal authorities said.
When a stolen car was found by its owner on a Bucktown street in July 2006, the 20-year veteran patrolman allegedly broke department rules when he phoned a tow truck driver, who retrieved the car and took it to an auto shop. A second tow driver went along, ferrying the car's owner to the shop.
... (more) |
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The Century of the Self: The Untold History of Controlling the Masses Through the Manipulation of Unconscious Desires
Operation Gladio: The Hidden History of U.S. Sponsored False Flag Terrorism in Europe
The New American Century: The Untold History of The Project for the New American Century
The Ontario government has declared that it never passed any secret emergency law allowing police to demand ID from protesters on threat of arrest in the vicinity of the G20 meeting in Toronto last weekend.
Cop Who Karate Chopped NY Judge In Throat Gets Off Scot-Free
Florida Cop Smashes Compliant Woman's Face Into Car -- "Maybe Now You Can Understand Simple Instructions"
VIDEO: Lapel Cam Reveals A Day In The Life Of A U.S. Police Officer (Tasing, Beating, Breaking & Entering, Stomping On Heads... and Laughing About It)
Caught On Tape: Officer Sucker Punches Inmate In Face, Files Report Claiming 'Self Defense'
Insult Person On Twitter, Go To Jail
SWAT Team Brings TV Crew To Film Raid Against Threatening Internet Critic -- Raids Innocent Grandma Instead
Cop Karate Chops NY Judge In The Throat
When the Right to Resist Becomes the "Duty to Submit"