Archive for 2012/04/01

The mayors argue that they have the final say when it comes to the deportation of asylum seekers, their families and their children from The Netherlands, especially when their law enforcement officers have to assist and the mayors are expected to guard law and order in their local communities. Dutch Minister For Immigration And Asylum Gerd Leers rejects the views of the mayors on this matter and argues that his ministry is in charge exclusively.

Dutch language news articles:

http://nos.nl/artikel/357952-burgemeesters-tegen-uitzetten.html
http://www.nu.nl/politiek/2777699/uitzetting-vreemdelingen—politie.html

HD Guru recently published an article entitled“Is your TV watching you?” In it, we discussed the fact that new features in Samsung’s top 2012 models — including built-in microphones, HDTV camera, wireless and wired Internet connection, built-in browser with voice to text conversion, face recognition and more — could be used to collect unprecedented personal information, as well as present a new way for hackers to invade users’ lives.

We asked Samsung for a privacy statement prior to publication, but the company did not respond. Now, Samsung has given HD Guru an official comment, and shared two separate privacy policies.

http://www.technolog.msnbc.msn.com/technology/technolog/snooping-tvs-samsung-responds-criticism-607931

The new guidance (original news) has been designed to bring greater clarity to the market by requiring ISPs to provide a more honest account of both their service performance and flexibility to consumers.

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2012/04/uk-isps-react-as-asa-starts-enforcing-new-broadband-advertising-rules.html

http://gizmodo.com/5898010/watch-arthur-c-clarke-predict-the-internet-and-personal-computers-in-1974

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-31747_7-57407363-243/apple-publishers-to-settle-e-books-price-fixing-suit-report/

Company denies the allegations made by a Paramount exec, who included it in a list of top ‘rogue’ Web sites.

MediaFire is no ‘rogue’ Web site and is not run by any criminal gang, says Tom Langridge, one of the co-founders of the file-hosting service.

In a letter to CNET, Langridge has responded to comments made on Friday by Alfred Perry, vice president of worldwide antipiracy for Paramount Pictures. Perry appeared on a panel during the On Copyright conference at Columbia University.

MediaFire is not operated by an outlaw gang; we are in fact a group of reputable entrepreneurs with diverse backgrounds who have a history of building innovative and valuable websites and technologies. Over the last several years, we have been focused on releasing numerous updates to MediaFire’s professional and business services. For example, just in the last month we launched our document viewing system and rebuilt our image system – not the kind of features that incentivize illegal activity.Unlike the other sites on Paramount’s list (including MegaUpload), MediaFire doesn’t artificially construct download limitations (speed, number of downloads, size, etc.) in order to drive subscriptions nor have we ever paid users to upload content. Our premium customers get the same transfer rates, servers, and resuming capabilities as our free customers. Our paid services enhance the feature set that is most relevant to professional and business customers like usage statistics, custom branding tools, and multi-seat accounts.

MediaFire cooperates fully with the MPAA, RIAA, and various other organizations who work to identify and prohibit the distribution of copyrighted content. We have a variety of advanced automated systems designed to detect violations to our Terms of Service and automatically warn and terminate users.

Many of these systems were updated, extended, and enhanced to deal with abuse stemming from unscrupulous users looking for a new venue following the shutdown of MegaUpload. These enhancements have received rave reviews from organizations monitoring copyrighted content. 

More:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-57407711-261/mediafire-to-hollywood-studios-were-no-outlaw-gang/

Previously:

MPAA wants more criminal cases brought against ‘rogue’ sites – Top five ‘rogue’ cyberlocker services named
http://vrritti.com/2012/03/31/mpaa-wants-more-criminal-cases-brought-against-rogue-sites-top-five-rogue-cyberlocker-services-named/

Where Are The Top 5 “Rogue” Cyberlockers Services Located?
http://vrritti.com/2012/03/31/where-are-the-top-5-rogue-cyberlockers-services-

April Fools’ Day??

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-17576745

The Home Office confirmed that ministers were intending to legislate “as soon as parliamentary time allows”.

“Communications data includes time, duration and dialling numbers of a phone call, or an email address. It does not include the content of any phone call or email and it is not the intention of Government to make changes to the existing legal basis for the interception of communications”

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5hd9UvMaapM3t9fbUCbxmVV3UbP-w?docId=N0046311333234828463A

http://www.movementforjustice.org/2012/03/free-kalanzi-marvin-richard/

It also became known that immigration services will not believe asylum seekers to be homosexual if they are not able to inform Dutch authorities where to find the most popular gay bars in their home country. This appears to have been communicated to gay asylum seekers from Egypt

Dutch language news article:
http://www.joop.nl/wereld/detail/artikel/londen_demonstreert_tegen_nederlands_asielbeleid/