taint.org: Justin Mason’s Weblog

Politics: California AG forwards anti-P2P screed on behalf of the MPAA.

However, the metadata associated with the Microsoft Word document indicates it was either drafted or reviewed by a senior vice president of the Motion Picture Association of America. According to this metadata (automatically generated by the Word application), the document’s author or editor is ’stevensonv.’ (The metadata of a document is viewable through the File menu under Properties.)

Sources tell Wired News that the draft letter’s authorship is attributed to Vans Stevenson, the MPAA’s senior vice president for state legislative affairs. MPAA representatives have issued similar criticisms of P2P technology in the past. Stevenson could not be reached for comment.

Funny: Humorix: Feds Unveil Practical Method To Combat Spam. ”If a spammer
has access to a list of millions of clue-impaired users, they won’t need to bother sending spam to anybody else’, Thullweppon argued.’ (thanks to Kenneth Porter for the link!)

Tags: anti, california, document, metadata, mpaa, politics, president, spam, stevenson, vice, word

This is absolute insanity. Let’s say you’re buying a car, and you’re checking out what will work out best, between an SUV and a fuel-efficient hybrid, money-wise. Let’s check the options:

• SUV: $86,000 in tax breaks
• hybrid: $2,000 tax break

Unbelievable.

But don’t worry — there’ll be plenty of gas to run the SUVs, since the US is checking the possibility of pumping oil from Iraq to Israel. (That’s assuming the entire Arab world doesn’t turn into a seething pit of ‘told you so’ hatred as a result, but hey….)

As Yoz says, ‘How To Blow Up The Middle East In One Easy Step’:

yozlet: They saved the game before they did this, right? Right?

Bilskirnir: Two US senators responsible for MPAA regulation may be up for lucrative $US1.15 million jobs as lobbyists with the same organisation:

‘It’s obscene for Tauzin and Breaux to be in the running for the MPAA, the fattest media lobbying job in Washington, while advocating in Congress on behalf of companies that control the MPAA,’ said Robert McChesney, Professor of Communications at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. ‘It tends to confirm what the vast majority of Americans have suspected - relaxed media ownership rules are an X-rated exercise in power and influence.’

As Nathan points out, an analogue of non-compete agreements, for would-be politicians-turned-lobbyists, would be a good way to deal with this one.

Tech: in more calming news: Dell Patents ‘Reboot and See If That Fixes It’ Technical Support Process (BBSpot via Craig).

Tags: break, car, check, checking, insanity, mpaa, say, suv, tax, unbelievable