Someone found a way to check their application status early, told everyone else, then everyone got busted:

CNN.com - Stanford rejects hacker applicants - May 30, 2005

HBS To Reject Snooping Hopefuls

In a statement, Clark called the prospective students’ actions “unethical at best—­a serious breach of trust that cannot be countered by rationalization.”

Unethical? Serious breach of trust?! WTF? I imagine these students trusted YOU to keep data about THEM secure and confidential. There is a serious lack of security precautions if some n00b can simply manipulate a URL and gain unauthorized access to your files. How is it their fault you left your website so open? These people are checking information about THEMSELVES (and this has been said before…probably here). Its such bullshit that data about someone can be considered the property of someone else. If educational institutions would do their fucking job and get these people their application status (or OTHER administrative duties; i.e. GRADCHECK…but thats a completely different rant) in a much more timely fashion then you wouldn’t have problems like this. Fuck school.

I saw this today:

Clear Channel Pirate Radio

so those worms at clear channel are trying to start a pirate radio station. That’s like when major studios (Disney) putting out not so major (Miramax) films. Anyway hopefully all the big major media outlets will someday rot and die. Keeping it positive here folks.

& here is the full site.
Stay Free! Home Base

Court Overturns Arthur Andersen Conviction

Apparently this was some shady accounting company that was helping out the even shadier Enron. Once again the real criminals (billions) serve the least time.

Big brother is at it again, trying to get back its ability to muscle ISPs into handing over user data to combat terrorists. Shady. This was struck down not too long ago by a federal judge that ruled part of the Patriot Act unconstitutional.

Wired News: Big Brother Tries to Muscle ISPs

This reminds me of those commercials on TV shortly after 9/11 with the slogan “What if America Wasn’t America? Freedom. Appreciate it. Cherish it. Protect it” sponsored by the Ad Council that would show; people hiding in a basement praying in secret, another of someone bad mouthing the government and another person tells him, “Shhhh…someone might hear you,” or the one where some teenager tries to check out some books at the library and two men in suits come after him. I think they were advertisements trying to drum up some sort of support for whatever shadiness the government was up to. You know, that we Americans should enjoy these freedoms we take for granted and essentially follow the gov’t like lemmings because big brother will take care of us. But it seems as though America really isn’t America any more. I don’t think it ever was.

And people STILL buy into this dream.

To prevent iPod users from easily copying vast libraries of songs from computer to computer, Apple forbids tracks from being moved off the iPod — songs can only be put onto the iPod…[but] Someone who keeps music on her computer at work could fill up her iPod with tracks, take it home and copy the songs onto a home computer using ml_iPod plugin and Winamp.

Wired News: IPod Plug-In Sets Music Free

Developers making it happen for those Win98 and ME users who can’t use iTunes and at the same time, setting the music free 4GBs at a time. Nice.

Assata

This is pretty old news, but it was shady.

Why dont they raise the bounty on Bin Laden?

Looks like while the Gov’t is looking out for 133t connections only, someone else (besides Systems) is out there protecting n00bs.

Vigilante hackers use Old West tactics for cyberspace justice - Yahoo! UK & Ireland News

“We are in the process of creating a cultural rupture between a younger generation that uses the technologies that companies and societies have made available, such as the iPod, file download software, peer-to-peer networks, etc.,” Judge Dominique Barella told Wired News. “It’s like condemning people for driving too fast after selling them cars that go 250 kmh.”

Wired News: Volez ce MP3!

Time to move to France?

According to the government, the third Star Wars prequel was available through Elitetorrents.org more than six hours before it was first shown in theaters, and was downloaded more than 10,000 times in the next 24 hours.

And a bunch of idiots still stood in line for days to see the film, which broke box-office records. Even so, the government sought to put an end to this disturbance in the force:

Wired News: U.S. Jacks Torrent Site

With numerous social problems continuing to plague America, its a little disheartening to see such a blatant misappropriation of funds. Unfortuantely, with the government being a tool of the cartels, it does not seem like this will change any time soon.

“Our goal is to shut down as much of this illegal operation as quickly as possible to stem the serious financial damage to the victims of this high-tech piracy — the people who labor to produce these copyrighted materials”

Its interesting to hear these law enforcement types talk about how they got their man…as if all is right with the world because they stopped a few leeches from downloading Star Wars. Great, now I can finally sleep peacefully knowing that good ol’ Uncle Sam is looking out for them cartels.

Man. Looks like a lot of people are gonna lose their Internet connection if this ever goes through.

Wired News: FTC Would Kill the Messenger