Weekend tech reading: Facebook, Twitter banned from French media

[Matthew DeCarlo]

"Facebook" and "Twitter" banned from French airwaves The French are notorious for their obsession with maddening, micro-meddling rules and regulations. Anglo-Saxons who live in France, as I do, constantly struggle with the puzzling paradox in a society universally admired for its splendid "joie de vivre" -- yet infamous for its oppressive bureaucratic culture of legalistic codes and decrees. This Much I Know

Netflix sharing will be a crime in TN State lawmakers in country music’s capital have passed a groundbreaking measure that would make it a crime to use a friend’s login -- even with permission -- to listen to songs or watch movies from services such as Netflix and Rhapsody. The bill, which has been signed by Gov. Bill Haslam and takes effect July 1... The Tennessean

LulzSec claims FBI affiliate hacked LulzSec announced moments ago that it hacked the Atlanta chapter of Infragard, an FBI affiliate, and uploaded the company's user database to the Internet. The cracking group also claims that documents yielded by the intrusion expose an associated company's use of botnets (networks of malware-infected personal computers) and an attempt by someone involved with it to pay LulzSec not to expose the breach. Boing Boing

Windows is tougher to hack than you think Over the past few weeks, I've been putting together test hacking scenarios for a customer. They wanted to see copies of the RSA attack, the Google attack, advanced persistent threat (APT) simulations, social engineered Trojans, worms, remote buffer overflows, and more. The objective: to test what they could do to prevent all of those assaults on their predominately Microsoft Windows environment. PCWorld

What's your cell phone's maximum radiation level? Interactive database With recent news of a possible link between cell phone radiation and risk of brain cancer, you may have a new-found interest in knowing how much radiation your mobile handset is giving off -- or, more importantly, how much your body might be absorbing. Computerworld

The Zune that never was, developed by members of the former Microsoft Courier team A group of Softies filed a patent application in 2009 for a media player that Microsoft never ended up launching. The device was going to be similar in form to Apple’s iPod Nano, according to the images Kakkar found. ZDNet

SSFIV: AE PC – DRM: We had it wrong Last week, when I put up a blog about all of the great new features and thoughtful PC-specific design considerations that were added to Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition PC, many folks ignored the goodness therein and zeroed in on the implementation of the offline mode and its limitations. Capcom

Batteries that can multitask There’s more than meets the eye in the battery-powered model car sitting in Emile Greenhalgh’s laboratory at Imperial College London.The model has been modified by the researcher’s team to increase the amount of electrical energy it can store — but not by installing a bigger battery. NY Times

Vandals plaster Windows Logo on upcoming Apple Store in Hamburg, Germany On Friday morning, folks walking past the upcoming Apple Store in Hamburg, Germany were greeted with some Banksy inspired nerd vandalism on the side of one of the building’s construction barricades. Edible Apple

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/44104-weekend-tech-reading-facebook-twitter-banned-from-french-media.html

 

[Xclusiveitalian]

So in France, I'm guessing... there is no freedom of speech.

 

[gwailo247]

Why stop there? I'm sure they still give out phone numbers on the air for people to call. This unfairly discriminates against telegraph operators, messenger pigeons, and smoke signal enthusiasts.

 

[Benny26]

Quite a shock from France, no doubt about that. I thought the "west" were supposed to be setting the example for free speech?

Clearly not.

 

[PinothyJ]

I have always felt that the Facebook and Twitter ban should be here in Australia but only for non-commercial stations that are not allowed to mention any commercial brand except if it is in the news or finance. But for any private or public company, that is completely absurd!


FFS…

 

[PinothyJ]

So in France, I'm guessing... there is no freedom of speech.

The USA is one of the few countries that do have freedom of speech. Other supposed 'free' countries only have the illusion of free speech but most do not have a constitutional law declaring so.


The more you know…

 

[treetops]

Thats what they get for being so snooty.

 

[Xclusiveitalian]

Yea, but the West is supposed to be a "symbol of peace" for the whole world, this just shows that in France they are not any more free than in most Middle eastern countries.

 

[PinothyJ]

xclusiveitalian said:
Yea, but the West is supposed to be a "symbol of peace" for the whole world, this just shows that in France they are not any more free than in most Middle eastern countries.

Peace has NOTHING to do with free speech. The USA that has free speech has a homicide rate and death penalties (in certain states) that is akin to those very countries you allude to in your reply. So when push comes to shove, which would you prefer?

Banning FaceBook and Twitter on the news is NOT going to uproot any sense of peace what-so-ever…

 

[Guest]

Welcome to the Islamic republic of France xD

 

[captaincranky]

So, basically what you're saying is this, if the Nazis had been allowed to stay longer, France would have had a much more open society?

 

[Xclusiveitalian]

calm down kid lol it was a typo, i meant symbol of free speech geez lol

 

[Xclusiveitalian]

xclusiveitalian said:
calm down kid lol it was a typo, i meant symbol of free speech geez lol

Ignore the kid part i was just in a bad mood, but yea it was a typo

 

[Guest]

Ignore the kid part i was just in a bad mood, but yea it was a typo

We don't lol. We don't forgive. We don't forget xD

 

[Guest]

Freedom of speech in America is only tolerated if it conforms to what a person is told how to think through mainstream sources.

 

[gwailo247]

Guest said:
Freedom of speech in America is only tolerated if it conforms to what a person is told how to think through mainstream sources.

You have no idea what lack of free speech is, and hopefully you never will. The only thing you can't say is that you're going to harm someone. If that is lack of free speech, then you've got issues.

 

[Guest]

@gwailo247 I'm talking about speech that are against government policies, environmental issues, foreign policy. Here's an idea, go and protest the Federal Reserve and say that you are against their policies. You will find out very fast that your right to free speech is just an illusion. If you thought that I was talking about freedom to speech in terms of harming others, you're the one with issues.

 

[gwailo247]

So what you're telling me is that if I send a letter to the Federal Reserve protesting their policies, the FBI is going to show up at my doorstep?

What exactly are you not allowed to say in America? There are millions of blogs out there for the express purpose of criticizing the government. White supremacists have web sites that advocate race wars.

You have complete free speech. You can say anything you want. It really pisses me off to hear Americans complaining they have no free speech when a good chunk of the world wishes they had what we have.

But you seem to have more knowledge about this. Please give me some concrete examples of people's free speech being curtailed in the US, I'm really curious.

 

[captaincranky]

What exactly are you not allowed to say in America? There are millions of blogs out there for the express purpose of criticizing the government. White supremacists have web sites that advocate race wars.

Well, first I would like to mention that more than a few posts have been pulled down at TS. So censorship does exist, both here and elsewhere. But presumably, it's for the greater good.

I would like to mention that while white supremacy blogs do exist, they are under the close scrutiny of several federal law enforcement agencies. of this I'm fairly certain. Probably this could be summarized as, "say whatever you like, but we're going to listen to everything you say".

All of that notwithstanding, this would make a good read for someone interested in the civil liberties discussion: http://www.amazon.com/Shouting-Fire-Civil-Liberties-Turbulent/dp/0316181412

 

[fpsgamerJR62]

Interesting weekend reading here. French obsession with rules and regulations as a cover for their resentment of Anglo-Saxon cultural symbols. I hope the French government and all the members of its bureaucracy haven't forgotten that their "Anglo-Saxon" allies were the ones who liberated their sorry lot from Nazi occupation and who will probably be the first ones to come to their aid the next time an invading army comes marching thru their "impregnable" Maginot line.

 

[gwailo247]

Well, first I would like to mention that more than a few posts have been pulled down at TS. So censorship does exist, both here and elsewhere. But presumably, it's for the greater good.

Very true, but most of them usually have something to do with personal attacks, and we do have to respect that this is private site that gets to set its own rules. But on the other hand this site allows Guests to offer their interesting insights with some degree of anonymity, so that would balance out the free speech equation on TS.

But, all and all, I think you'll agree with me that Americans enjoy one of the broadest freedoms of speech in the world. While there may be hiccups here and there, we have the right to free religion, and the ability to criticize the government, and its officials, and its policies. Which is why we argue about out inability to see a boob on TV or say a bad word, because those other, arguably much more important freedoms exist.

 

[captaincranky]

Very true, but most of them usually have something to do with personal attacks, and we do have to respect that this is private site that gets to set its own rules. But on the other hand this site allows Guests to offer their interesting insights with some degree of anonymity, so that would balance out the free speech equation on TS.

Indeed they do. And the passing members of the Apple Corps seem to have caught on in great measure. I think it's article 11 in the Bill of Rights, "You have the inalienable right to annoy the living crap out of PC enthusiasts in a transient and guerilla fashion.

But, all and all, I think you'll agree with me that Americans enjoy one of the broadest freedoms of speech in the world. While there may be hiccups here and there, we have the right to free religion, and the ability to criticize the government, and its officials, and its policies. Which is why we argue about out inability to see a boob on TV or say a bad word, because those other, arguably much more important freedoms exist.

Wherever human beings interact socially, the consequences of "speaking your mind" can be harsh indeed.

So, the truth is closer to, you can say whatever you like, but you should measure the potential ramifications first, and very carefully. Your right to free speech can get the crap beat out you, even if you are in the right.

On the larger stage, I believe we in America do enjoy freedom of speech unparalleled in the world. Unfortunately, so much "political correctness" is required to exercise that right, it becomes quite diluted in the process.

In a more specific sense, it always was so incredibly therapeutic to be able to shout from the roof tops, "this guy Bush is a total *******". I'm sure the same sentiments publicly shared in other countries about their leaders, would net the firing squad.

Ahh, remember George Dubya? Who says you can't see a boob on TV.

 

[gwailo247]

So, the truth is closer to, you can say whatever you like, but you should measure the potential ramifications first, and very carefully. Your right to free speech can get the crap beat out you, even if you are in the right.

That's pretty much right on the money. Ice-T put out an album back in the day "Freedom of speech, just watch what you say".