quicklinks: December 2006 Archives

In 2003, at a cost of $50,000, N.Y.U. sent the names and last known addresses of 140,000 alumni identified as possible donors to an electronic screening company, Kintera, which specializes in gathering information from public records for nonprofit and educational institutions. The goal was to obtain current information on their worth, location and background. ¶

Sunday December 24, 2006

Saturday Night Live's 'Special Treat in a Box'

Censored sketch 'jumps' bleepless onto the internet ¶

Saying Yes to Mess

really neat people are not avatars of the good life; they are humorless and inflexible prigs, and have way too much time on their hands ¶

Free Genarlow Wilson Now

Ah, to be a teenager in Georgia. Or not. ¶

Saturday December 23, 2006

Unlike love, more law does not make the world a better place

It would take the average adult over 400 years to read all the law applicable in modern Britain ¶

Italy digs in its heels in artifact dispute with the Getty Museum

U.S. is really going to automagically declassify 'Secret' documents after 25 years

Friday December 22, 2006

The secret of Borat's fluent Kazakh - it's Hebrew

Students' perceptions of the hierarchy of UK universities 'might change'

Students are more likely to study close to home than somewhere 'prestigious'. ¶

Graduates 'regret degree choice'

How do I know I am an inforg?

If you spend more time connected than sleeping, then you are an inforg. ¶

Thursday December 21, 2006

Inside the secret and sinister world of the BNP

Guardian reporter Ian Cobain became central London organiser for the BNP [the British National Party] and found the BPN encrypted emails, targeted the middle-class, used false identities and had a "covert rulebook". Shock horror. ¶

Are we being ripped off over software? | Technology | Guardian Unlimited Technology

"Any attempt to associate real value with what we buy in [aka pay for] software is probably doomed to failure" ¶

EU ignores calls for cod fishing ban

Wednesday December 20, 2006

'Paris Syndrome' strikes Japanese

Apparently the Japanese react badly to French 'manners'... ¶

Tuesday December 19, 2006

Stewardess 'banned from taking bible on plane'

It's illegal to bring bibles into Saudi Arabia: ergo stewardess sues BMI, whose fault it really is. Apparently. ¶

Equator's glaciers slipping away

Monday December 18, 2006

Migrants 'shape globalised world'

2006: the year in celebrity

Saturday December 16, 2006

OFT blasts government agencies for manipulating the market in public sector information

Data restrictions allegedly cost economy £500m: the Ordnance Survey comes in for particularly virulent criticism. ¶

Free Our Data: Make taxpayers' data available to them

Intimate strangers

Susie Rea talks to and photographs the people who you see every day but who you never actually meet. ¶

Friday December 15, 2006

Newspapers that used illegal information named but not shamed

The Daily Mail came top of a league table of newspapers and magazines which have paid private detectives to illegally obtain information about celebrities and other individuals. ¶

Landmark ruling could spell end of 'kiss and tell'

Your right to protect your private life now outweighs someone else's freedom to sell/tell their story about you. There is still no right of privacy in the UK, but the courts have developed a right to sue for misuse of private information, which may be synonymous in some cases. ¶

UK law lords uphold the right to protest

Gloucestershire police go off and sulk. The Metropolitan Police's plans to criminalise all protests by anyone against anything may now be slightly delayed. ¶