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:: MAX BLACK ::

"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." --C.S. Lewis

"The Swiss pocket knife of conservative thought on the web..." - Eli Kardrakian

"Bookmark Max and dump your subscription to the newspaper; if you don't have a birdcage you really don't need it anyway..." - Shirley St. James

:: Saturday, June 26, 2004 ::

EFF UPDATE

Patent Busters:

EFF Asks Public to Identify Bad Patents in Patent Busting Contest

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is calling on the public to help identify patents that are having negative effects on Internet innovation and free expression. As part of EFF's Patent Busting Project, EFF seeks nominations for the ten worst offenders in the world of intellectual property. Winners will become the first targets for the project's team of attorneys, technologists and experts, who will file "re-examination" requests with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), asking the agency to revoke the patents. EFF staff attorney Jason Schultz, who heads the project, said he can't wait to see what the contest turns up. "We have seen illegitimate patents asserted on such simple technologies as one-click online shopping, video streaming, and paying with credit cards online. When individuals and small businesses are faced with million-dollar legal demands, they have no choice but to capitulate and pay license fees. We aim to change that."

Wish somebody would target pharmaceutical patents and companies granted rights to chunks of the human genome.

FBI "National Security Letters" Challenged by EFF

"Before PATRIOT, the FBI could use National Security Letters only for securing the records of suspected terrorists or spies," said EFF Attorney and Equal Justice Works Fellow Kevin Bankston. "Now the FBI can use them to get private records about anybody it thinks could be relevant to a terrorism or espionage investigation, without ever having to show probable cause to a judge."

Ironically, many 'conservatives' support this kind of post 911, 'patriot-act' over-reaching by the federal government. It's becomming more and more common to see the feds utilize these broad new powers for non-terrorist related cases--just as most libertarians suspected they would. I'm with EFF and the ACLU on this one.

If you consider yourself libertarian, you might want to join the EFF. Go here for more information [>]

:: Max 7:12 AM [+] ::
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