"Twits" Expanding Definition of Online Hate Crime?

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, I wrote about the Electronic Frontier Foundation's Legal Guide for Bloggers, which attempts to help bloggers figure out and stay clear of some of the legal liability issues potentially involved in, well, blogging.

Now, as if there weren't enough to think about, today I came across this. 

I can't say it's really surprising - I mean if you're brainless enough to post something stupid on Facebook, Twitter or wherever, you probably deserve what you get. 

Anyone who hasn't yet figured out that police, reporters and future (and even current) employers will check up on what they're on to line ... well, let's just say they're not the brightest crayon in the box.

So, let's just hope all the twits tweeters out there remember that, too.

Although I must say that getting fired for simply stating what many might consider the obvious does seem a bit much.

Goddard landed in hot water last week after retweeting a comment by Twitter user @Uptownhockey, an account for Burlington, Ont.-based Uptown Sports Management, which stated: "Very sad to read Sean Avery’s misguided support of same-gender ‘marriage.’ Legal or not, it will always be wrong."

In his own tweet, Goddard wrote: "I completely and whole-heartedly support (Uptown’s) Todd Reynolds and his support for the traditional and TRUE meaning of marriage."

Let's hope they have a lot more than that backing them up when they try to defend a wrongful dismissal suit. Free speech anybody?

But if you thought that was bad, you might just want to sit down for this one.

Are the federal Conservatives trying to kill use of the hyperlink in Canada?

As ludicrous as that sounds, pending legislation in Ottawa seeks to amend the Criminal Code in a way that would make people who hyperlink to other websites potentially guilty of a hate crime if those linked sites wilfully promoted hatred against an identifiable group.

The wording in question in Bill C-51 is as follows:

"Clause 5 of the bill provides that the offences of public incitement of hatred and wilful promotion of hatred may be committed by any means of communication and include making hate material available, by creating a hyperlink that directs web surfers to a website where hate material is posted, for example.

The changes are touted by government as necessary to "modernize the Criminal Code in light of new technologies as well as to arm police with stronger powers to investigate computer-based crimes.

Yup, as crazy as it sounds, it appears that our esteemed Conservative government is seriously considering amending the Criminal Code so as to potentially make a blogger guilty of a "hate crime" for linking to a website that contains "hate material".

Now, I'm all for updating all manner of laws to deal with this brave new world we find ourselves in (including the rules of parenting!) but does anyone think this might be going just a little too far?

As pointed out by Mr. Schneidereit, what if the blogger didn't know the website she linked to contained such material? What if the material was posted to the second site after the link was established? What if the site linked to wasn't "hateful" but it (either now or later) linked to a site that was?  What if we've all gone down the rabbit hole?

And just as an aside, not that I am any fan of our current government, but doesn't "conservative" generally mean "less" government, not "more"?

 I mean I could see the federal NDPers trying something like this and giving all us "left leaners" a bad name. 

But the Conservatives?  Really?

Perhaps it's time we all put the mouse down and stepped away from the computer.

What Will They Think Of Next?

Why a blog worth calculator, of course.
This one is worth a little over $8k, give or take a bit.

My blog is worth $8,468.10.
How much is your blog worth?

A rather nifty find, don't you think?

Too Good Not To Share

John LeSieur's six year old grandson has autism. And like many parents, grandparents and caregivers of such children, Mr. LeSieur felt that his grandson was more capable than he sometimes appeared to be. In fact, he felt that with the right tools, Zac could and would want to use the Internet. Being a software designer, he decided to design that tool.

Meet the Zac Browser!

The Zac Browser greatly simplifies the experience of using a computer. It seals off most Web sites from view, to block violent, sexual or otherwise adult-themed material. Instead it presents a hand-picked slate of choices from free, public Web sites, with an emphasis on educational games, music, videos and visually entertaining images, like a virtual aquarium.

Other programs for children already offer that "walled garden" approach to the Web. But LeSieur's browser aims to go further: It essentially takes over the computer and reduces the controls available for children like Zackary, who finds too many choices overwhelming.

For example, the Zac Browser disables extraneous keyboard buttons like "Print Screen" and turns off the right button on the mouse. That eliminates commands most children don't need anyway, and it reduces the chance an autistic child will lose confidence after making a counterproductive click.

Children using the Zac Browser select activities by clicking on bigger-than-normal icons, like a soccer ball for games and a stack of books for "stories." The Zac Browser also configures the view so no advertisements or other flashing distractions appear.

"We're trying to avoid aggressive or very dark or complicated Web sites, because it's all about self-esteem," LeSieur said from Las Vegas, where he lives. "If they're not under control, they will get easily frustrated."

The best part is that through the generosity of Mr. LeSieur, the Zac Browser can be downloaded or run directly from this site for free.

That's not to say that the Zac Browser will work for every autistic child. The autism spectrum is so wide that a particular pattern of abilities or impairments experienced by one autistic person might be reversed in another. However, the approach of limiting distractions and using the software as a confidence-boosting tool would certainly appear to be on the right track as many autistic children tend to do best with educational materials that make unnecessary stimuli fade from view.

I found it interesting that the Washington Post article noted that some autistic children enjoy Webkinz, where kids care for virtual pets. Not surprising to me, others find chat rooms and instant-messaging a lower-anxiety way of socializing than talking to someone in person.

One HUGE advantage is that the Zac browser is free, while many assertive technologies cost upward of $5,000 and work only on specialized devices. Ask any parent, put the label of "special needs" on anything and the cost astronomically sky rocket. So thanks Mr. LeSieur. Bravo Zulu.

But that we all had we had access to software designing grandparents!

H/T to Pipecleaner Dreams

Nifty

Ever wonder if somebody has been copying content from your blog?

Copyscape

Find out at Copyscape. Just type in your site's URL and it will link you with all pages which appear to be plagerizing your content. They will also provide you with an anti-plagiarism banner to like the one below which you can post on your site to warm visitors not to copy your contents.

There is also information on plagerism and a forum for discussion of the issue.

All for free.

H/T to LawEddie.com

Round and Round We Go

There's a blog I like to visit daily. It's on the sidebar. Take 5.
Punky d has a had a few links to those Tom Cruise/Scientology videos that are all the rage on the net lately. One link is to Cruise's video, the other is a parody. That last one is rather funny ... in a scary kind of way.

I use to really like Cruise ...well, he's not that hard on the eyes, is he? And say what you will, he has done some pretty good movies. Admittedly, not so much lately. He has gotten a little [ahem] strange. Maybe that's what happens when you start believing your own press.

And I must admit that I hadn't given too much thought to where those videos came from or why. After all, there will always be someone out there with a bone to pick. Such is the price of fame, we say. As I said at LawEddie's yesterday, I think the explosion of technology just gives all of us more opportunities to behave badly.

But I thought it was interesting when I came across this. Apparently, anonymous hackers have released a new video declaring war on Scientology.

Whether you support the right of Scientology to exist as a religion or believe is should be crushed as a dangerous cult, the unique issue posed is the ability of dissenters to use the Internet to literally seek the destruction of a multibillion-dollar enterprise. New media is going beyond the power that traditional journalists have had to disseminate information in a way to achieve desired objectives. Perhaps more significantly, it is being done without hiding behind fictitious “objective reporting” claims. The goal — destruction of Scientology — is clearly stated.

Well, that might explain a few things. You can check out the hacker's rather interesting video at Business Lawyer Blog. And for any 'conspiracy theorisists' out there, consider this.

In fact, Lakhani’s analysis, written before the hackers released their video, raises an interesting possibility. If publicizing persecution is a way to attract members to a cult, this hacker video indirectly promotes Scientology. Could it be that Scientologists released it as a manipulative Internet marketing tool? Stay tuned.

Around and round we go. I guess some would have us believe that you can't take anything at face value anymore.

I Can So Say That!

Came across a site today that I thought some fellow bloggers might be interested in. To be perused in some of that oh-so-abundant spare time we all have .... yeah, right!

Anyway, its the Electronic Frontier Foundation's Legal Guide for Bloggers.

Whether you're a newly minted blogger or a relative old-timer, you've been seeing more and more stories pop up every day about bloggers getting in trouble for what they post.

Like all journalists and publishers, bloggers sometimes publish information that other people don't want published. You might, for example, publish something that someone considers defamatory, republish an AP news story that's under copyright, or write a lengthy piece detailing the alleged crimes of a candidate for public office.

The difference between you and the reporter at your local newspaper is that in many cases, you may not have the benefit of training or resources to help you determine whether what you're doing is legal. And on top of that, sometimes knowing the law doesn't help - in many cases it was written for traditional journalists, and the courts haven't yet decided how it applies to bloggers.

But here's the important part: None of this should stop you from blogging. Freedom of speech is the foundation of a functioning democracy, and Internet bullies shouldn't use the law to stifle legitimate free expression. That's why EFF created this guide, compiling a number of FAQs designed to help you understand your rights and, if necessary, defend your freedom.

Check it out if you're so-inclined.

Bloggers Unite On December 17

Update: My good deed on December 17th, you ask. To put the matter quite simply, I didn't kill anybody. Even if sorely tempted. And you?

For what it's worth.... It seems to be kind of like a random act of kindness, pass it on sort of thing.




And since I'm all about spreading the joy, I hereby declare that you don't have to be a blogger to particpate.

Blogees welcome.
You can post your random act of kindness here.

H/T to LawEddie.com

Shhh...

I assume most of my many readers, being as discerning and intelligent as they are, realize that email is not private. But it may be even less private than you think.

Is anyone familiar with a service called Hushmail? They bill themselves as offering private, secure, free e-mail accounts.

Hush uses industry standard algorithms as specified by the Open PGP standard (RFC 2440) to ensure the security, privacy and authenticity of your email. With Hushmail, users need only create and remember their own passphrases, and the secure Hushmail server does the rest. Encryption and decryption are transparent to the user, making Hushmail the most user-friendly secure mail solution available. Through the Hush Encryption Engine™, the Hush key servers take care of public/Private key exchange in a completely seamless fashion. When a user wishes to encrypt/decrypt data or verify/sign a signature, a connection is automatically made to a Hush Key Server to retrieve the necessary Public/Private Key. It's that simple! Only Hush's solution provides such a high level of security combined with total ease of use. The descriptions below will give you an overview of how the Hush system secures email.

But maybe not so much.

A court document in a drug smuggling case has shown that the private email service Hushmail has been cooperating with police in handing over user emails. Hushmail claims to offer unreadable email as it uses PGP encryption technology and a company specific key management system that it says will ensure only the sender and recipient can read the emails. However it seems the Canadian company has been divulging keys to the American authorities.

Do you remember that sage advice about being careful as to what you say? Something about eating your words or something like that...

The news will be embarrassing to the company, which has made much of its ability to ensure that emails are not read by the authorise, including the FBI's Carnivore email monitoring software."Hushmail's security cannot be broken or weakened by this government sponsored snooping software," the company states.

Uh huh. A morale for the company (what do you think the chances are that they will be sued ... or of them being able to rely on the protection afforded by US legislation?) and to all those who traverse the internet.

Shhh ... if you don't want anyone to 'hear' you, it might just be better to not to 'say' it all.


H/T to Business Lawyer Blog

Just Another Service I Provide ...

Well, yeah, I am suppose to be working. Thanks for noticing.

But I just came across a rather cool site (no, I wasn't actually working when I stumbled across it, thanks for noticing that too) that, out of the goodness of my heart, I am moved to share with you.

The other day B2 put me on to a great site for aviator slang. Trust me, if you don't know. There's a lot of it. Then today I came across this - Acronym Finder.

Which purports to let you search any known acronym ... resulting in a potentially lengthy list of possibilities, which they leave you to figure out on your own by context, I suppose. Still, I did think it was kind of cool. Should cut down on some of that head scratching, of the 'So what the heck does that mean?' variety.

Although I did notice that its missing my personal favourite for RTF ... Read The File, Stupid!

But, its okay. There's really no need to thank me. Unless, of course, you feel truly moved. In which case, you can just drop some coin instead of text into the comment box.