From the open publishing newswire: I just receive an automated telemarketing call asking me to warn Oregon Sen Gordon Smith (why only Smith? Wyden is at least as sleazy...) AGAINST support of "net neutrality" beacuse according to the telemarketing speaker "net neutrality" would mean that "consumers would bear the cost of enhancements and expansions to internet" ...

... and ABSENT net neutrality, according to the telemarketing, "big corporations like yahoo and Comcast" would bear these costs.

Receiver of call is than asked to press "1" (I think it was) to leave what they said was to be a personal voice message to Smith saying that you DON'T WANT NET NEUTRALITY because NET NEUTRALITY means only "higher costs to consumer" without consumer benefit.

From the open publishing newswire: Bummer! I just learned that Free Geek, Portland's computer recycling non-profit ("Helping the needy get nerdy") has been broken into and several laptops / LCD monitors were stolen. Please report suspected stolen laptops / LCD monitors (being sold on Craigslist, on the street, etc.) to Free Geek. They track the serial numbers of items and could likely tell you if something was stolen from them, if you are able to obtain the serial number. If someone tries to sell you any of these things and refuses to give the serial number, or otherwise acts suspicious, notify the police (on the chance that they can distract themselves from harassing immigrants and shooting mentally handicapped people) and give them as much detail as you can. [ Read More ] [ Free Geek Breakin \ Free Geek ]

IPRC Robbed!

Portland Independent Publishing Resource Center, a nonprofit devoted to facilitating creative expression, was broken into and robbed on Sunday night sometime after 8 p.m. Thieves stole our main computer (an apple G5), which housed the records for our library of over 5500 zines, our member/user database, and more. Theives also took two computer monitors, and in true grinchy fashion, the covers of the couch cushions (presumably to carry away our items). If you know anything about this robbery, or can help in some way, please email our temporary email address: iprcoutreach@yahoo.com or call (503) 827 0249 thanks! [ Read More ] [ IPRC ]

From the open publishing newswire: At a Press Conference today, October 18, 2006, held at Powell's Books on West Burnside in Portland, Senator Ron Wyden spoke about Network Neutrality and the fight in Congress over the future of the internet. He was joined by local business owners and concerned citizens who delivered more than 20,000 petitions from Oregon residents supporting Net Neutrality.

Net Neutrality is the longstanding principle that ensures all Web sites and services are treated equally. This fundamental principle, in place since the Internet was created, prevents Internet service providers from discriminating against content or services traveling over their wires based on which companies pay them the most.

From the open publishing newswire: Senator Arlen Specter's solution for the President's refusal to obey U.S. law requiring warrants for wiretapping Americans is to change the pesky law in order to make the President's warrantless wiretapping program legal. He is now trying to pass the National Security Surveillance Act, S. 2453. We Need To Stop This!

So far this has happened -- SAN FRANCISCO - The Bush administration appealed a court decision Monday that allowed a lawsuit to go forward challenging the president's warrantless domestic spying program.

In rejecting government claims that the suit could expose state secrets and jeopardize the war on terror, U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker ruled July 20 that the eavesdropping was so widely reported there appears to be no danger of spilling secrets. Walker also said he did not see how allowing the lawsuit to continue could threaten national security. Walker is the only judge to rule against the government's claim of a "state secrets privilege."

And this is where I as well as BORDC are asking everyone to contact their Senators now and at the very latest by Aug 2!

From the open publishing newswire: listen to an hour's worth of interviews from Free Geek's 2006 Geek Fair held on Saturday July 15. This audio is available in both streaming (pls) and download (MP3) formats and features interviews with folks from Free Geek, Shift to Bikes, Wibiki, Backspace, Redwing, and "Nature" with music by the Eclectic Bastards and an excerpt from "Geek Arena!"

From the open publishing newswire: San Francisco - A federal judge today denied the government's motion to dismiss the Electronic Frontier Foundation's (EFF's) case against AT&T; for collaborating with the NSA in illegal spying of millions of ordinary Americans. This allows the case to go forward in the courts.

The court deferred to the government on one matter: the judge ordered that EFF can't compel AT&T; to disclose whether or not the telecom participated in a separate program, first reported by USA Today, in which the NSA allegedly examines Americans' phone records without a warrant.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) | background on ATT&T; case

From the open publishing newswire: With the Turin Winter Olympics and the Italian elections over, repression of the "NO TAV" movement has begun and pressure will be on to begin work on the Turin-Lyon (France)link of the Italian high-speed train network (TAV). Massive protests late last year finally forced the issue into national attention, and now eight subpoenas have been handed down from those protests. But the opposition is ready to continue their 15-year struggle.

This article was written before the subpoenas came down three weeks ago. The first appearances before the magistrate will be happening soon. One of those requested to appear is Beppe Joannas, mayor of Bussoleno, one of the more outspoken of the 38 or so Susa Valley mayors, who all oppose the project. It is unclear at this point what eventual charges may be filed. Also only slightly covered in the article is what effect the narrow election of Romano Prodi's "center-left" coalition will have on the TAV issue. Prodi was involved in the early stages of the TAV network's development, supported it while President of the European Commission, and still supports it. But some key members of his coalition, like Fausto Bertinotti of Rifondazione Comunista, who was elected as President of the House of Deputies (3rd highest position in the government) has opposed it. To learn more about the issue, read on....

From the open publishing newswire: Two annual reports recently released by federal agencies show that surveillance activity conducted by the United States government has continued to rise dramatically since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, with use of investigative powers under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act again at an all-time high.

A coalition of consumer and civil liberties groups joined EPIC in filing comments with the Federal Communications Commission that urge the agency to adopt stronger protections for phone records. Phone records (and other types of personal information held by businesses) are vulnerable to "pretexting," a practice where an individual impersonates another person, employs false pretenses, or otherwise uses trickery to obtain information. In 2005, EPIC identified 40 websites offering to obtain phone records through pretexting, and filed a petition with the FCC to require stronger rules for protecting phone records

NSA tracing all domestic calls | Qwest is only U.S. company not spying | ACTION ALERT: Tell ATT, Verizon, Cingular, SBC NO NSA SPYING! | Cheney and Rumsfeld Shielded Telecoms from Domestic Spying Charges in the 1970s | NSA Whistleblower To Expose More Unlawful Activity | Network News Being Stalked by NSA | If this isn't Treason nothing is

From the open publishing newswire: Those of us super isolated in rural America are dependent upon access to the independent media centers through the facilities of extended wireless services as proposed via FCC docket 04-151. The FCC is to be commended for their work and support in bringing this proposal to it's present state and should be encouraged to resist reopening docket 04-151 which would likely result in a takeover by big corporate providers.

From the open publishing newswire: Washington, DC - Today [August 5, 2005] the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued a release announcing its new rule expanding the reach of the Communications Assistance to Law Enforcement Act (CALEA). The ruling is a reinterpretation of the scope of CALEA and will force Internet broadband providers and certain voice-over-IP (VoIP) providers to build backdoors into their networks that make it easier for law enforcement to wiretap them. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has argued against this expansion of CALEA in several rounds of comments to the FCC on its proposed rule.

CALEA, a law passed in the early 1990s, mandated that all telephone providers build tappability into their networks, but expressly ruled out information services like broadband. Under the new ruling from the FCC, this tappability now extends to Internet broadband providers as well.

From the open publishing newswire: This past weekend People's Food Co-op in SE Portland made history. During a conference with tech and IT folk from co-ops around the country these uber-geeks assembled and successfully rang out items on the world's first entirely free, open-source point-of-sale system. A point-of-sale system (or POS) is the software needed to run a cash register and manage the pricing of all the items in a store.

It all started several years ago when Tak Tang, the Technology Coordinator at The Wedge Co-op in Minneapolis, MN got frustrated at his stores POS system because of his inability to get the information out of it that would really be useful to the store. Like most proprietary software POS systems have a locked core that prevents anyone from copying the source code and also prevents anyone from getting inside to mine data that the software wasn't designed to spit out. Not being able to get inside of the software means expensive service calls to vendors when something goes wrong. It also means having to wait to purchase the next version for new features and bug fixes.

Well all of this was really cheesing Mr. Tang off so he decided to go ahead and write his own POS system. And he DID! IS4C (Information Systems 4 Co-ops) was born.

From the open publishing newswire: The City of Portland and Portland Development Commission held their first open meeting in a request for proposals (RFP) process that will create a citywide wireless broadband network beginning next year. Commissioner Sam Adams spoke at the meeting Thursday night at the Oregon Association for Minority Entrepreneurs on N. Vancouver St. in Portland, where he described a network that would be open to competitive internet service providers (ISPs).

The roughly forty attendees included staff from PDC, Tri-met, City of Portland, Portland Public Schools, Intel, Microsoft, as well as concerned and interested citizens and businesses who have been waiting to see how Portland will handle city-wide wireless internet in our typically innovative and community-oriented fashion. To date, much appreciation though little recognition has been offered to the Personal Telcos Project for their non-profit work in setting up wifi hotspots around the city.

From the open publishing newswire: i am a diehard cyberpunk fan, and information pattern junkie. as i started reading about the history of the making of the movie "tron", patterns started to emerge that were interesting to me. here is a brief timeline of some interconnections that might surprise you...life imitating art, and the inevitable feedback loops.

1975: john brunner's "the shockwave rider" is published. often regarded as the first literary concept of cyberspace, and a primary influence on william gibson.

1979: william gibson describes his first conscious thought of cyberspace, living in vancouver, b.c. with a group of fellow vietnam war draft dodgers:

"I was walking down Granville Street, Vancouver's version of "The Strip," and I looked into one of the video arcades. I could see in the physical intensity of their postures, how rapt the kids were inside were. It was like one of those closed systems out of a Pynchon novel: a feedback loop with photons coming off the screens into the kids' eyes, neurons moving through their bodies, and electrons moving through the video game. These kids clearly believed in the space games projected. Everyone I know who works with computers seems to develop a belief that there's some kind of actual space behind the screen, someplace you can't see but you know is there."