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Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Mastercard's MasterPass Turns Your Phone Into Your Own Personal Checkout Lane
Monday, February 25, 2013
Iceland's plan to ban Internet porn sparks uproar
REYKJAVIK, Iceland (AP) ? In the age of instant information, globe-spanning viral videos and the World Wide Web, can a thoroughly wired country become a porn-free zone? Authorities in Iceland want to find out.
The government of the tiny North Atlantic nation is drafting plans to ban pornography, in print and online, in an attempt to protect children from a tide of violent sexual imagery.
The proposal by Interior Minister Ogmundur Jonasson has caused an uproar. Opponents say the move will censor the Web, encourage authoritarian regimes and undermine Iceland's reputation as a Scandinavian bastion of free speech.
Advocates say it is a sensible measure that will shelter children from serious harm.
"When a 12-year-old types 'porn' into Google, he or she is not going to find photos of naked women out on a country field, but very hardcore and brutal violence," said Halla Gunnarsdottir, political adviser to the interior minister.
"There are laws in our society. Why should they not apply to the Internet?"
Gunnarsdottir says the proposals currently being drawn up by a committee of experts will not introduce new restrictions, but simply uphold an existing if vaguely worded law.
Pornography is already banned in Iceland, and has been for decades ? but the term is not defined, so the law is not enforced. Magazines such as Playboy and Penthouse are on sale in book stores, and more hardcore material can be bought from a handful of sex shops. "Adult" channels form part of digital TV packages.
Iceland's left-of-center government insists it is not setting out to sweep away racy magazines or censor sex. The ban would define pornography as material with violent or degrading content.
Gunnarsdottir said the committee is still exploring the details of how a porn ban could be enforced. One possibility would be to make it illegal to pay for porn with Icelandic credit cards. Another, more controversial, route would be a national Internet filter or a list of website addresses to be blocked.
That idea has Internet-freedom advocates alarmed.
"This kind of thing does not work. It is technically impossible to do in a way that has the intended effect," said Smari McCarthy of free-speech group the International Modern Media Institute. "And it has negative side effects ? everything from slowing down the Internet to blocking content that is not meant to be blocked to just generally opening up a whole can of worms regarding human rights issues, access to information and freedom of expression."
Despite its often chaotic appearance, the Internet is not a wholly lawless place. It is regulated, to varying degrees, around the world. Police monitor the net for child pornography and other illegal material, and service providers in many countries block offending sites.
Some governments also censor the Internet at a national level ? though the likes of authoritarian Iran, North Korea and China are not countries liberal Iceland wants to emulate.
European countries including Britain, Sweden and Denmark ask Internet service providers to block child pornography websites, measures that have met with only limited opposition.
But broader filtering has mostly been resisted. A few years ago, Australia announced it would introduce an Internet filtering system to block websites containing material including child pornography, bestiality, sexual violence and terrorist content. After an outcry, the government abandoned the plan last year.
Critics say such filters are flawed and often scoop up innocent sites in their net ? as when Denmark's child pornography filter briefly blocked access to Google and Facebook last year because of a glitch.
On the streets of Iceland's capital, Reykjavik, there was some support for a porn ban, but also skepticism about how it would work.
"I think this is a good idea, but I think it might be problematic to implement this," said shop assistant Ragnheidur Arnarsdottir. "It is difficult to fight technology."
Iceland's moves are being closely watched. It may be a tiny country of only 320,000 people, but its economic and social experiments ? like its active volcanos ? often have international impact.
For centuries economically dependent on fishing, Iceland transformed itself in the early 21st century into a pioneer of aggressive credit-driven banking. Then in 2008, the country's debt-burdened banks all collapsed, making Iceland the first and most dramatic casualty of the global financial crisis, and leaving a string of failed businesses around the world.
The economy is now bouncing back, aided by Iceland's status as one of the world's best connected countries, with one of the highest levels of Internet use on the planet. Recent initiatives to boost growth include plans to make Iceland a global center of media and technology freedom ? a status that advocates like McCarthy fear could be threatened by an online porn ban.
Anti-porn activists, however, are hailing Iceland as a pioneer. It is certainly not afraid to go its own way. Although the country has largely liberal Scandinavian values, it broke with most of Europe in 2010 by banning strip clubs.
"This is a country with courage," said Gail Dines, a professor of sociology and women's studies at Wheelock College in Boston and author of the book "Pornland."
"Iceland is going to be the first country with the guts to stand up to these predatory bullies from L.A. (in the porn industry)," she said. "It is going to take one country to show that this is possible."
But opponents say the project is both misguided and doomed.
"I can say with absolute certainty that this will not happen, this state filter," said Icelandic parliamentarian Birgitta Jonsdottir, a prominent advocate of online freedom.
She is confident those drafting the anti-porn measures will see the error of their ways. They may also run out of time ? Iceland is due to hold parliamentary elections in April, and the unpopular coalition government could be thrown out.
Jonsdottir said the key to protecting children and others from hardcore harm is for citizens to better inform themselves about the Internet and how it works.
"People just have to make themselves a bit more knowledgeable about what their kids are up to, and face reality," she said.
Gunnarsdottir, the political adviser backing the ban, just hopes the emotional debate around the issue will cool down.
"I think we should be able to discuss the Internet with more depth, without just shouting censorship on the one hand and laissez-faire on the other hand," she said.
"Is it freedom of speech to be able to reach children with very hardcore, brutal material? Is that the freedom of speech we want to protect?"
___
Lawless reported from London. Jill Lawless can be reached at http://Twitter.com/JillLawless
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/icelands-plan-ban-internet-porn-sparks-uproar-074215822.html
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Sunday, February 24, 2013
Santana exhibition debut pushed back to mid-March
New York Mets starting pitcher Johan Santana reacts during a spring training baseball workout, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013, in Port St. Lucie, Fla. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
New York Mets starting pitcher Johan Santana reacts during a spring training baseball workout, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013, in Port St. Lucie, Fla. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. (AP) ? Johan Santana will not make his first spring training appearance for the New York Mets this year until mid-March.
General manager Sandy Alderson said Friday the 33-year old left-hander is expected to pitch in an exhibition game sometime from March 10-12 instead of March 2. Alderson said he didn't think Santana will miss the start of the regular season, but said it was a possibility.
"There's no structural issue. It's just a matter of building up strength," Alderson said. "He'll be long-tossing before he gets back on the mound. We expect that his schedule will have been delayed somewhat."
A two-time AL Cy Young Award winner, Santana missed 2011 following shoulder surgery and went 6-9 with a 4.85 ERA in 21 starts last year, when he pitched the first no-hitter in Mets history on June 1 against St. Louis. He didn't pitch after Aug. 17 because of lower back inflammation.
Santana threw off a mound Sunday for the first time since August on Sunday. He said he felt fine after the 20-pitch session and was on track to start the April 1 opener against San Diego.
Mets medical director Dr. David Altchek examined Santana this week.
"We expected he would have had a normal offseason and he did have a normal offseason with the exception of not throwing," Alderson said. "His throwing program is somewhat behind, but the important thing is Altchek saw him yesterday. There's no structural issue. There's no shoulder issue, it's just an overall conditioning issue as it relates to throwing."
Santana gets $25.5 million this year in the final guaranteed season of his $137.5 million, six-year contract. The Mets hold a $25 million option for 2014 with a $5.5 million buyout.
Alderson also said reliever Pedro Feliciano and outfielder Jamie Hoffmann have returned to New York for follow-up exams to their physicals, which took place Sunday. Alderson would not go into detail other than terming the issues "non-orthopedic." He expects the both players to return to camp within two days.
New York said reliever Frank Francisco is expected to begin throwing Monday or Tuesday. Francisco was examined by Altchek on Thursday and Alderson said it was determined there was no structural issues in his surgically repaired right elbow. Francisco has not pitched in more than a week due to inflammation.
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Saturday, February 23, 2013
China raps Abe over remarks on disputes
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Osborne says AAA downgrade is reminder of debt problems
LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - As it turns out, Lindsay Lohan doesn't have much luck as a plaintiff in legal proceedings either. Troubled "Liz & Dick" actress Lohan, who has experienced more than her share of legal woes in recent years, was shot down Thursday in her lawsuit against Pitbull, Ne-Yo and Afrojack over the 2011 song "Give Me Everything." Lohan had sued the trio, along with others, under New York Civil Rights Law, claiming that the song made "disparaging and defamatory statements" about Lohan, violated her privacy, and used her name for advertising purposes without authorization. ...
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/osborne-says-aaa-downgrade-reminder-debt-problems-221715863--finance.html
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