Gummint Snooping

Meet Lenny

“  Judge Orders Google to Turn Over YouTube Records A federal judge in New York has ordered Google to turn over to Viacom a database linking users of YouTube, the Web’s largest video site by far, with every clip they have watched there.  Will you have to waive your 5th amendment rights against self incrimination in order to obtain credit card. You may have to if Senator Dodd has his way. Senator Dodd is trying to pull a fast one in HR 3221 by slipping in a provision, totally unrelated to preventing foreclosures, that would require that personal credit card purchases must be reported to the Federal Government. "The bill specifically targets payment systems like eBay's PayPal, Amazon, and Google Checkout that are used by many small online businesses. The privacy implications for America's small businesses are breathtaking." Effective June 9, 2008 - Important Information Regarding Changes to Your Verizon Online Terms Of Service 1. Reporting of Actual or Potential Violations of Child Pornography Laws. We have added language to our Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) making clear that the Service cannot be used in any fashion for the transmission or dissemination of images containing child pornography. In addition, in Section 5, Privacy Policy; Legal Compliance, we have added language making clear that (a) we are required by law to report any facts or circumstances reported to us or which we discover from which it appears there may be a violation of the child pornography laws; and (b) that we reserve the right to report any such information, including the identity of users, account information, images and other facts to law enforcement personnel. This is a classic case of gummint usurping privacy by citing a hot button issue that nobody can argue with. Yet further language makes it clear that they will have the right to randomly monitor (read) e-mail.  As a Verizon Newsgroup service user, we wanted to let you know about some important changes that we will soon be making to our Newsgroup service. On June 24, 2008, we will be modifying our Newsgroup offerings to only offer groups in the Big-8 Newsgroup hierarchies, which are listed below. The 0.verizon.* newsgroup hierarchy will also continue to be available. Users will not be able to post or download from any other newsgroups using our Newsgroup service. comp.* humanities.* misc.* news.* rec.* sci.* soc.* talk.* ” Comcast has done away with newsgroups altogether.  I'm guessing that the gummint placed such a strict burden of liability on providers to monitor for child porn, or anything that suits them, that corporate legal advised  them  to cut bait.  The problem is that groups like alt.* contained  many worthwhile groups, but because of some very questionable content (by my standards), just as you'll find on a  Google search, the whole shebang is shut down.  Like the man said, gummint will eventually take all our liberties and have us applauding while they do it.