0 Facebook Says It May Be Allowing 'Too Much' Free Speech In Some Nations
Facebook is reportedly negotiating with Chinese partners to launch the social network in China, where it is currently blocked from use.
But expanding into China requires abiding by Chinese laws, which require web companies to censor everything from search results to status updates.
Though Facebook says it is dedicated to making the world a "more open and connected" place--a mission that clashes with the Chinese government's frequent crackdowns on Internet expression--a spokesperson told the Wall Street Journal that it is considering censoring the content that appears on its site in nations abroad.
While he did not mention China specifically, Facebook lobbyist Adam Conner told the Journal, "Maybe we will block content in some countries, but not others."
(Facebook's director of international communications noted only that the company was "studying and learning about China" but has so far "made no decisions about if, or how, we will approach it.")
Facebook has remained relatively mum on the use of the site by protestors in Tunisia, Egypt and beyond as a tool for organizing demonstrations.
Conner suggested that the company may be bringing "too much" freedom of expression in some nations.
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"We are occasionally held in uncomfortable positions because now we're allowing too much, maybe, free speech in countries that haven't experienced it before," Conner said.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/20/facebook-free-speech-censorship_n_851499.html
0 Multiple Military Blackhawk choppers land in downtown Miami on "Domestic Security Task Force exercise"
Residents in the neighborhood saw and heard several military-style, “pitch-black” helicopters flying around and hovering on top of Brickell buildings Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning.
Turns out that it was a training exercise by the Southeast Regional Domestic Security Task Force. In other words, a Homeland Security operation, that few other authorities apparently knew about, including the U.S. Coast Guard.
Lt. Russ Tippett, spokesman for the coast guard happens to live in Brickell, and said the choppers didn’t make it easy to sleep, as the drill went on for hours.
“It was extremely loud and annoying,’’ Tippett said, theorizing at first that it may have been a U.S. Customs Operation.
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue didn’t know about it, referring media calls to the City of Miami’s Fire Rescue. A spokesman there assumed it was a film shoot.
Sgt. Bill Williams, who oversaw the operation for the Miami-Dade Police Department, was not immediately available for details.
“I couldn’t see them a lot of the time, but I could hear them because there are echoes around the buildings,” said Neilson Paty, who lives in Brickell Bay. “We see helicopters every day, but it was very obvious that these are not tourist or U.S. Coast Guard helicopters.”
A Miami police spokesman said the helicopters were conducting an “operational” training drill. He was not allowed to comment on details of the drill.
Paty said he is understanding of the city having its reasons to not inform residents about the drill and that he is not upset for not getting any alerts of the commotion.
“It was loud enough to wake up some people, but it wasn’t overwhelming enough to disturb the peace or something like that,” he said.
On Tuesday, Miami police officers in Brickell said that it was all part of a planned Homeland Security exercise, but confusion about the helicopters was rampant about 6 a.m. Wednesday.
It all began about 9:15 p.m. Tuesday, when at least three large Black Hawk-like choppers landed in a parking lot of the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts on Biscayne Boulevard and 14th Street.
The choppers then charged over the Brickell and Miami river area. Men who appeared to be SWAT team members were also seen taking part in the exercise.
Witnesses were tweeting as the event unfolded.
"Three choppers just dropped a group of men on top of the Bank of America building in Brickell," tweeted a man identified as Ianik Drouin, about 9:45 p.m.
"I just saw one of the brickell choppers turn so quickly, it had to go sideways," tweeted Sarah Elles about midnight.
Diana Pedroni also had trouble sleeping.
"Oh not again! #brickellchoppers flying on top of my building," tweeted Pedroni about midnight.
About 1 a.m., Eddie Prieto was surprised to find out he may have to endure more of it for the rest of the month.
"Five more niths? Boo! RT @Brickellinfo #DoD will be conducting drills through April 25th," tweeted Prieto about 1 a.m.
0 Chernobyl-2 Exclusive: RT at secret Soviet facility inside dead zone
It was the world's worst nuclear disaster, but 25 years on, the battle to contain it continues. Building a new sarcophagus over the Chernobyl site is the most pressing issue, as a meeting of donor countries is held in Ukraine.
0 White Sky Diary London UK. *Yellow Gas, Instant Cloud's and possible UFO's ?
WHITE SKY DIARY - ENTRY 1
Yellow gassy substance expands to form an 'instant cloud'.
As soon as the cloud reaches full expansion it is visited by several high speed flying objects.
NOTE: The objects fly THROUGH / UNDER and ABOVE the cloud, and are notably different to the flies and other insects seen at the beginning of the video.
The high speed objects were NOT visible at the time of filming.
Can anybody identify these objects?
Has anybody else noticed these instant clouds?
ARTIFICIAL CLOUD MAKING PATENT IN ACTION?
NASA BLACK PROJECT?
NATURAL PHENOMENON?
ALIENS?
Talk to me, all comments welcome here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzmxGw-iIp0&feature=channel_video_title
0 London is urged to issue smog alert as weather gets warmer
Boris Johnson today faced calls to issue a smog alert for central London.
Green Party mayoral candidate Jenny Jones said Londoners should be made aware of a poor air quality "episode" that is set to worsen with the sunny weather.
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| Dim outlook: how air pollution over the City can cloud view of landmarks |
In a letter to the Mayor, she said he had a duty to help protect the health of vulnerable Londoners and the hundreds of thousands of visitors who will descend on the capital for the royal wedding weekend unaware of the danger to their health.
London is expected to breach its European air quality limits within the next 24 hours. A site in Marylebone Road has tipped the capital over the maximum number of breaches allowed.
Ms Jones said: "London is currently experiencing an air pollution episode and this is likely to carry on through the next week.
"The Government have issued smog alerts on occasions and I feel that the Mayor should step forward to help protect the health of vulnerable Londoners and those visiting the capital. He should be making people aware of what they are breathing in and the risks to their health.
"It is important information for people to know if they suffer from a pre-existing respiratory problem."
She added: "We have the prospect of hundreds of thousands of visitors flocking to central London to stand around all day for the royal wedding, in one of the most polluted cities in Europe."
The Greens urged Mr Johnson to advertise the Airtext service which predicts air pollution.
During previous high pollution levels the Environment Department has issued smog alerts for vulnerable people.
The Mayor's own health impact study estimated up to 4,267 deaths in London in 2008 were attributable to long-term air pollution.
Cher Piddock, the Asthma UK Adviceline nurse, said: "High levels of pollution have been linked to an increased risk of asthma attacks, so people who have pollution as a trigger should avoid going out if air quality is poor, and always carry their inhaler. They should also keep windows shut whenever possible."
A spokeswoman for the Mayor said: "Information on air pollution is widely available, including in most daily newspapers such as the Evening Standard. In addition we encourage Londoners to sign up to the excellent airText service (http://www.airtext.info/) which provides free text, e-mail or voicemail alerts of elevated levels of pollution."
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/evening standard0 Jean Charles De Menezes CCTV Footage
This is a video that I put together a awhile ago...I have featured it here now, as I am pretty disgusted that "media"..even "alternative" has started to refer to him as
" The Brazilian guy that got shot on the London tube"...
0 Anti-internet piracy laws 'infringe human rights'
Laws designed to block access to piracy websites have been thrown further into doubt after a senior advisor to EU judges suggested such measures could infringe human rights.
Uk telegraph
He also said such a system would restrict the fundamental right to freedom of information.
Opponents of stronger copyright enforcement online have seized on the opinion. They claim it means laws such as Britain's Digital Economy Act, which grants the government or courts powers to force ISPs to block piracy websites, are illegal.
Ofcom is already investigating the feasibility of the laws, which have never been used.
The Advocate General’s opinion was published as part of an ongoing dispute between Scarlet, a Belgian ISP, and SABAM, a rights holder group.
Scarlet took its case to the European Court of Justice after SABAM won a court order in 2007 which would force it to build a system to identify and block unlawful downloads of copyright material.
Mr Cruz Villalón recommended that the ECJ should overturn the Belgian court order.
“Neither the filtering system, which is intended to be applied on a systematic, universal, permanent and perpetual basis, nor the blocking mechanism, which can be activated without any provision being made for the persons affected to challenge it or object to it, are coupled with adequate safeguards,” he said.
If the court agrees with the Advocate General, it is not clear exactly what impact its ruling would have on the Digital Economy Act’s website blocking provisions.
The Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt ordered Ofcom to review the laws in February, saying “it is not clear whether the site blocking provisions in the Act could work in practice”.
At the same time the government opened talks between ISPs and the music industry to encourage a voluntary agreement on a list of websites that would be blocked, which would avoid any need to use the Digital Economy Act.
Mr Cruz Villalón recommended that the ECJ should overturn the Belgian court order.
“Neither the filtering system, which is intended to be applied on a systematic, universal, permanent and perpetual basis, nor the blocking mechanism, which can be activated without any provision being made for the persons affected to challenge it or object to it, are coupled with adequate safeguards,” he said.
If the court agrees with the Advocate General, it is not clear exactly what impact its ruling would have on the Digital Economy Act’s website blocking provisions.
The Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt ordered Ofcom to review the laws in February, saying “it is not clear whether the site blocking provisions in the Act could work in practice”.
At the same time the government opened talks between ISPs and the music industry to encourage a voluntary agreement on a list of websites that would be blocked, which would avoid any need to use the Digital Economy Act.
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