Bill | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net KitGuru.net - Tech News | Hardware News | Hardware Reviews | IOS | Mobile | Gaming | Graphics Cards Tue, 07 Feb 2017 12:52:55 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://www.kitguru.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/cropped-KITGURU-Light-Background-SQUARE2-32x32.png Bill | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net 32 32 U.S. House’s latest bill blocks emails from warrantless search https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/u-s-houses-latest-bill-blocks-emails-from-warrantless-search/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/u-s-houses-latest-bill-blocks-emails-from-warrantless-search/#respond Tue, 07 Feb 2017 09:22:23 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=321018 While the British government continues to make it easier for law enforcement to view the internet history of its citizens, the U.S. House of Representatives is looking to make it more difficult. The House has passed a motion that if it makes it through the Senate, would require police to acquire a warrant to look …

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While the British government continues to make it easier for law enforcement to view the internet history of its citizens, the U.S. House of Representatives is looking to make it more difficult. The House has passed a motion that if it makes it through the Senate, would require police to acquire a warrant to look at anyone's emails that are more than 180 days old.

During the Obama Presidency, many of the spying powers put in place by previous President Bush, were entrenched. While many weren't too concerned with that when Obama was in power, now that his successor has taken over, there has been some consternation about how he will use these powers. Looking to curtail his ability to do so, the House of Representatives wants authorities to receive judicial approval before going through the archives.

As it stands, U.S. agencies like the Justice Department, only require a subpoena, which while requiring judicial approval, does not require much oversight. They can also request emails and information on mass, which means little protection for individuals. With this latest bill, the House of Representatives wants to change that. It's something that a number of technology companies have been campaigning for for some time.

Source: Whitehouse

As Reuters reports, the passing of this bill was met with support from a number of those companies, including Google, who's representative said that it would fix a key flaw in U.S. law.

However, this is just the first stage of having a bill such as this passed. It will next need to make its way through the Senate, where it could see much more opposition.

It's also possible that this legislation, much like the Digital Economy Bill currently going through the UK's respective houses, will be amended with extras that could expand its scope and expand the surveillance powers of the law enforcement agencies it's looking to curtail.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: It's good to see politicians and representatives in the U.S. taking personal privacy a little more seriously now, but it's embarrassing that it took Trump for them to do that. Obama implemented, enforced and expanded the spying powers of his predecessor and almost no one batted an eye.

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White House refuses to back anti-encryption legislation https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/security-software/jon-martindale/white-house-refuses-to-back-anti-encryption-legislation/ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/security-software/jon-martindale/white-house-refuses-to-back-anti-encryption-legislation/#comments Thu, 07 Apr 2016 11:33:04 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=288949 The Obama administration will not be backing legislation that would allow judges to force companies like Apple to weaken the security of their hardware and software in order to facilitate snooping. While President Obama's personal opinion seems to still be in favour of this sort of bill, clearly there is dissension at the top, as …

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The Obama administration will not be backing legislation that would allow judges to force companies like Apple to weaken the security of their hardware and software in order to facilitate snooping. While President Obama's personal opinion seems to still be in favour of this sort of bill, clearly there is dissension at the top, as the White House will not be supporting this latest legislative move.

The draft bill being proposed by a cross party pairing of senators Richard Burr and Dianne Feinstein, will be introduced in the next week or so and is said by sources “close to the matter,” (as per Reuters) to be vague enough that it's not clear in what capacity companies would be forced to aid law enforcement. The implication is that it would be in weakening security, but could theoretically be applied in many cases.

obama222

Source: Wikimedia

Regardless, the White House won't be giving much support or input at all, possibly to avoid getting embroiled in the encryption debate in the months leading up to the election later this year. Obama's support for a candidate could be undermined if he were to come out on either side of this debate, so he is staying out of it for now it seems.

Very few others are though. Tech firms like Whatsapp have enhanced their security in the wake of Apple's court case with the FBI, which was recently stood down when the federal agency was able to find a third party that could unlock the phone for them. While repeatedly stating that it was just one iPhone as reason for Apple to help it, the FBI has now pledged to aid other agencies in opening up other handsets.

Apple and other tech companies have since called on the White House to consider legislation that finds a middle ground between protecting citizens, without invading their privacy.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: I'm not sure how legislation like that could come to pass. It feels like we're at a crossroads where one road leads to mass surveillance on a hugely intrusive and unregulated level, while the other sees some of the worst people in the world able to talk in private, just so we can do the same. It's a difficult call to make. 

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Despite calls for change, Snooper’s Charter to be rushed through https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/despite-calls-for-change-snoopers-charter-to-be-rushed-through/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/despite-calls-for-change-snoopers-charter-to-be-rushed-through/#comments Tue, 01 Mar 2016 11:04:15 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=285707 The Investigatory Powers Bill, Theresa May's revamped “Snooper's Charter ” as it has so often been termed, is set to be published in full later today, re-introduced to parliament on the 14th and voted on by the 22nd. This is far faster than it was ever meant to be pushed through and is taking place …

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The Investigatory Powers Bill, Theresa May's revamped “Snooper's Charter ” as it has so often been termed, is set to be published in full later today, re-introduced to parliament on the 14th and voted on by the 22nd. This is far faster than it was ever meant to be pushed through and is taking place despite the fact that three separate parliamentary committees have raised 123 issues with it.

May has been trying to introduce increased surveillance powers for Britain's intelligence agencies for years. She previously attempted to push through a Draft Communications Bill in 2013, which contained many of the provisions of the Investigatory Powers Bill (IPB). It was shot down by then coalition leader Nick Clegg, but since then she's come back harder than ever.

may

Source: Home Office/Flickr

The IPB would enshrine in law the collection of “internet connection records,” which certainly relate to browsing history, though its vaguery suggests that it could also be used to collect messaging history and similar content. While it does protect these records from unlawful viewing, it does provide special circumstances where a warrant is not required.

This is a major point of contention for all three of the parliamentary committees that have analysed the bill, among almost 100 other concerns, including the lack of oversight, invasions of privacy and the sheer cost of implementing such mass surveillance on a permanent scale. Estimations from ISPs we spoke to suggested that it could cost in the tens of millions of pounds per ISP, with no word on whether the government – and by extension, the public – would foot the bill for that.

shrug
Considering all of the Leo memes lately, it seems only right he explains May's position on committee concerns

As well as using the French terrorist attacks of last year as a springboard for this legislation, May has argued that the reason these concerns should be brushed off, is because internet browsing record collection, currently enabled under emergency legislation, is set to expire at the end of the year. However, as pointed out by fellow Conservative David Davis (via the Independent), that could quite easily be extended to give more time for the bill to be worked on.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: With the bill set to be published in full later today, it seems clear that May is not planning to listen to concerns. Fortunately it seems that there is cross-party opposition to it so passing it through will be difficult, but it's worrisome that so little concern is being paid to intelligent criticism of the bill, from a technical, legal and moral standpoint.

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Draft Investigatory Powers Bill will have ISPs record customer data https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/security-software/jon-martindale/draft-investigatory-powers-bill-will-have-isps-record-customer-data/ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/security-software/jon-martindale/draft-investigatory-powers-bill-will-have-isps-record-customer-data/#comments Wed, 04 Nov 2015 09:12:23 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=274089 One of the big issues privacy campaigners and some ministers had with the ‘Snooper's Charter' or as it was officially termed, the Draft Communications Data Bill, was that it would have made it mandatory for ISPs to record their customer's online actions for up to 12 months. While that was shot down when Nick Clegg dropped …

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One of the big issues privacy campaigners and some ministers had with the ‘Snooper's Charter' or as it was officially termed, the Draft Communications Data Bill, was that it would have made it mandatory for ISPs to record their customer's online actions for up to 12 months. While that was shot down when Nick Clegg dropped his support in 2013, that clause is back, with the Draft Investigatory Powers Bill set to be unveiled today, expected to have that very same clause in it.

Home secretary Theresa May, who pushed for that surveillance measure in the original bill, has gunned for it ever since it was shot down, stating soon after the Conservatives returned to power that she wanted ISPs move involved in the policing process. This bill has also received the backing of several police forces and David Cameron, who called the Investigatory Powers Bill one of the most important pieces of legislation of his government, as per the BBC.

However organisations like the European Court of Human Rights have ruled that mass data retention without suspicion is in breach of human rights. Home grown bodies like the Open Rights Group too have called for such powers to not come to pass, highlighting that there is a huge potential for abuse when evidence is collected before suspicion.

mi5
British intelligence agencies have been on a pro-PR run lately, trying to assuage any concerns about their activities. Source: Wikimedia

Backing ministers and police however have said that safeguards would be in place, preventing misuse of the data. They also highlighted that only the sites that people visit will be recorded, not the content they access on them. For that it will be able to contact those site owners to receive more information if required.

Of course any time data on anything is stored somewhere, there is also the danger that someone other than those intended will access it. Hacks at major companies over the past year would suggest that no data is 100 per cent safe. However to combat anyone thinking of looking at the data held by ISPs without due process, Theresa May plans to introduce a new law alongside the bill, which would give a two year prison sentence to anyone found accessing the data without lawful authority.

The Investigatory Powers Bill will be unveiled later today and will be debated in both Houses or Parliament before being voted on whether to bring it into practice in 2016.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: It seems so naive to assume that anyone performing any actions worth tracking won't be using plenty of obfuscating technologies to make the recording of data at the ISP level largely useless. 

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Campaigners resort to faxing U.S. Senate over digital bill https://www.kitguru.net/channel/generaltech/jon-martindale/campaigners-resort-to-faxing-u-s-senate-over-digital-bill/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/generaltech/jon-martindale/campaigners-resort-to-faxing-u-s-senate-over-digital-bill/#comments Tue, 28 Jul 2015 10:08:44 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=261018 As much as modern technology is something that everyone can enjoy and benefit from, it's often the generations that grow up and help develop it, which understand it the best. Perhaps that's why, with the average age of U.S. senators being in the mid-60s, they haven't responded favourably to the millions of emails received decrying …

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As much as modern technology is something that everyone can enjoy and benefit from, it's often the generations that grow up and help develop it, which understand it the best. Perhaps that's why, with the average age of U.S. senators being in the mid-60s, they haven't responded favourably to the millions of emails received decrying the Cybersecurity Information Share Act, currently set to be voted on in early August.

To try and reach out to them in a different, perhaps more understandable way, campaigners against the bill have now set up an automated system whereby emails and tweets referencing “FaxBigBrother,” are faxed to all 100 currently serving U.S. senators.

CISA is a bill, initially proposed by Californian senator, Dianne Feinstein, which is designed to allow the government and corporations to share more information about internet traffic with one another. Perhaps more importantly, the bill would allow any such sharing to be exempt from current Freedom of Information requests, making it very hard for people to know what data had actually been shared.

faxmachine
Keeping up with the times is apparently something that no politician subscribes to

This is opposed by privacy advocates and other internet related organisations like the Electronic Frontier Foundation. However they don't feel like their communiques have been appropriately responded too, so they're faxing them in future.

“Groups like Fight for the Future have sent millions of emails, and they still don’t seem to get it,” said Evan Greer of activist group Fight for the Future (via The Guardian). “Maybe they don’t get it because they’re stuck in 1984, and we figured we’d use some 80s technology to try to get our point across.”

While it might seem ridiculous that an important organisation like the U.S. Senate would still utilise fax machines, that is in-fact the case. According to one former Senate staffer, they are used quite often, since the records aren't so easily traceable. The same goes for pagers, which seems like the kind of tech that would be great for a Kids React video.

If you want your senator to receive a fax, you can tweet out a message with the #faxbigbrother tag, or visit FaxBigBrother.com.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: There really needs to be a lot of evidence based discussion on technological topics in law making before any legislation is passed. Too often politicians don't know what they are talking about and push bills on the basis of hearsay and naivety.

Image source: Wikimedia

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Pro internet freedom protests in Mexico block crackdown https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/pro-internet-freedom-protests-in-mexico-block-crackdown/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/pro-internet-freedom-protests-in-mexico-block-crackdown/#respond Fri, 25 Apr 2014 09:54:51 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=189032 A law that was set to pass in Mexico that could have given the government the power to shut down the internet if it wanted to has been blocked, after hundreds of protesters took to the streets and even more voiced their disapproval online. Similar to the filtering system being implemented in the UK at …

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A law that was set to pass in Mexico that could have given the government the power to shut down the internet if it wanted to has been blocked, after hundreds of protesters took to the streets and even more voiced their disapproval online.

Similar to the filtering system being implemented in the UK at the moment, the government's reasoning for the law, that would have allowed it to block the internet and other communication mediums in certain areas was to combat “illegal activity.” It cited things like child pornography – the usual buzzword for government censorship – as a reason for it needing to be able to kill off internet access and make it possible to shutdown mobile access at public events for the “safety” of the public – but Mexican citizens weren't having it.

silentzones
Silent zone creation would have meant protests couldn't tweet or share anything online or over the phone

On Tuesday protesters took to the streets in Mexico city, bearing aloft banners that read “no to censorship,” and “Freedom of Expression,” according to the ABC report. This prompted senator Emilio Gamboa, the leader of the ruling party in the senate and author of the bill, to state that “Any other additional power … like the blocking of signals for national or public safety will be excluded from the reform.”

As pleased as they were with the news, protesters saw the attempt to pass such a bill as nothing surprising, noting that many governments around the world were currently attempting to curtail internet based freedoms under the guise of protecting children and public decency.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: Good on the protesters, that's a significant victory for web freedoms in a part of the world that struggles enough under the weight of government crackdowns. 

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Loosely worded bill could cripple charity campaigns https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/loosley-worded-bill-could-cripple-charity-campaigns/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/loosley-worded-bill-could-cripple-charity-campaigns/#respond Wed, 04 Sep 2013 10:22:48 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=150825 Ah those politicians, they do love their vaguely worded bills don't they? We've had SOPA and PIPA before with their thinly veiled restrictions on freedoms and now there's a new one, though admittedly in a different sort of vein. Known as the Transparency of Lobbying, Non-Party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Bill, it's being rushed …

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Ah those politicians, they do love their vaguely worded bills don't they? We've had SOPA and PIPA before with their thinly veiled restrictions on freedoms and now there's a new one, though admittedly in a different sort of vein. Known as the Transparency of Lobbying, Non-Party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Bill, it's being rushed through without consultation and many organisations and legal entities are worried, that it could potentially cripple charitable campaigns and doesn't target the source of the problems it's designed to combat.

According to government toadies, the bill is designed to make trade union funding more transparent and to create a statutory register for lobbyists. Nothing seems to problematic with that, but it's the way it's worded and the way it's been introduced that is worrying people.

First of all, it was introduced on the last day of parliament before recess, meaning it has bypassed several consultative phases – which should set off warning flags for anyone that's campaigned against any of the anti-internet-freedom bills of the past couple of years. On top of that, the bill makes it illegal for non-political parties to spend any more than £390,000 on campaigning any issues during an election period. The government has stated that this is to stop rich millionaires from dumping money into charities and other groups and having them campaign on their behalf.

Detractors however have pointed out that not only does this not happen in the UK, as people can fund party campaigns directly, but that this would prevent charities and other lobby groups from standing on any issues as effectively during an election period. It essentially turns the election season into one that is dominated by campaigns for the political parties themselves.

Wired spoke with several people who are against the bill, including anti-fascist and racism charity, Hope Not Hate, which said that if this bill were to be passed, as much of 70 per cent of its planned expenditure across the UK would have to be halted.

gagorder
Hope not Hate has begun terming this bill, a “gag order”. 

MP Chloe Smith took a swing at arguing the case for the bill, saying that: “Charities will still be able to give support to specific policies advocated by political parties if it would help achieve their charitable purposes. The Bill does not regulate attempts to engage with the policy of any political party, having a view on any aspect of the policy of a party, or any attempt to influence the policy of a party. Such activity would only be captured if it was promoting the electoral success of, or enhancing the standing of, political parties or candidates.”

The problem with this, is that with electoral issues often hotly debated, with parties picking a stance of against or for, more often than not, campaigning in either direction could be considered as enhancing the standing of a political candidate.

Legal experts have also rallied against the bill, suggesting that once again, it's the loose wording and vaguery that causes problem with the law. If it isn't in black and white, the wiggle room could allow for all sorts of nasty circumstances to crop up, something that most are keen to avoid. Even the Electoral Commission isn't backing this one, suggesting that it doesn't matter what MPs say about the new bill, whether they believe it will affect charities or not, it's the wording of the law that matters and as it stands, it looks like it could cripple many charities during the run up to an election.

If you want to read the specific part of the bill that's got people's hackles up (or the whole thing if you're an exciting type of person) then you can do so here.

KitGuru Says: It also seems rather ridiculous that this has been the focus of the bill, when national Newspapers are allowed to declare their undying allegiance to certain parties and policies without reproach. This would be fine if these publications were a bit more trivial, but when they purport to report the news, shouldn't they simply cover the campaign instead of siding with one part of it? 

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Video showing how to build a Sapphire Edge VS PC https://www.kitguru.net/desktop-pc/base-unit/harrison/video-showing-how-to-build-a-sapphire-edge-vs-pc/ https://www.kitguru.net/desktop-pc/base-unit/harrison/video-showing-how-to-build-a-sapphire-edge-vs-pc/#respond Sat, 27 Apr 2013 12:45:25 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=133154 One of the biggest challenges for anyone looking to get into system building for the first time is the ‘but you have never done it before' challenge. If you've never tried to open a system, then it will be as daunting as opening a TV or doing your own plumbing. To help first timers get …

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One of the biggest challenges for anyone looking to get into system building for the first time is the ‘but you have never done it before' challenge. If you've never tried to open a system, then it will be as daunting as opening a TV or doing your own plumbing. To help first timers get around the fear, Sapphire has created a ‘How To…' video which shows you just how easy it can be to build and customise your own Edge VS  in under 5 minutes. KitGuru pulls out the popcorn.

When Sapphire began pioneering with the Edge series of Mini-PCs, the majority of sales were for fully build systems. You opened it, plugged it in, loaded your software and began working/watching/playing.

Every time one of these models arrives in the KitGuru Labs, our experts went on and on about how they would like to build it to their own specification.

Luckily, the designers at Sapphire HQ were listening – and self-assemble models using the latest APU processors are now readily available in the market.

But that still leaves you with a screwdriver, components and a plan – but no easy way to visualise the best way to complete your build. Until now.

Here's Sapphire's Bill Donnelly getting hands on with the Sapphire Edge VS series – doing a complete configuration in around 5 minutes.

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEktjIEn5WA']

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KitGuru says: With the price of Solid State Drives and high quality memory these days, the Edge VS series is more attractive than ever – and building one could not be simpler.

Comment below, in the KitGuru forums or join us over on Facebook.

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Secret court amendments fail https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/secret-court-amendments-fail/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/secret-court-amendments-fail/#respond Wed, 27 Mar 2013 12:38:52 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=129797 Several amendments to secret courts championing “justice and security bill,” have failed to go through, despite backing from several big name organisations, meaning beginning 8th May, when a new session of parliament is opened, more trials will be able to be held in secret. The reasoning for the bill, is that since certain evidence in …

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Several amendments to secret courts championing “justice and security bill,” have failed to go through, despite backing from several big name organisations, meaning beginning 8th May, when a new session of parliament is opened, more trials will be able to be held in secret.

The reasoning for the bill, is that since certain evidence in some cases is too sensitive to be heard in an open court room, that secretive trials would are necessary. This was opposed by several MPs, as well as organisations like Amnesty International, as they believe it will instead be used in order to perpetrate miscarriages of justice away from the prying eyes of the public.

Peers from differing parties made attempts to block and amend this bill, with Labour pushing for a judge ruling that would see secret trials only convened when a fair result was impossible to reach by any other means. This was rejected, as was the Lib Dem initiative to have judges weigh up the importance of secrecy in each case and balance its need against that of “open administration of justice.”

Secret justice
Secretive justice at work.

Loz Kaye, justice spokesperson for the Pirate Party Uk released a statement commenting on the news of the bill's passing: “This is very bad news for justice in the UK. Secret Courts undermine the right to know the evidence against you and set aside the principle that the working of courts should be transparent. Fundamental objections remain, such as questions over whether secret courts could be used where someone's liberty is at stake.”

“It beggars belief that the Lords were not even able to vote for an amendment which would have given judges the power to take in the need for ‘fair and open administration of justice' to balance national security.”

“This shows once and for all that the Liberal Democrats are part of the problem,” he continued. “Not influencing the authoritarian tendencies of the big parties as they claim. On the key vote in the Lords, more Liberal Democrats did not vote for these amendments than did. Secret courts, legal aid slashed, site blocking, attacks on the very idea of human rights. These are the realities of coalition Britain.”

Kitguru Says: This seems like something that could be so easily exploited and abused. Hopefully some judge will manage to legislate from behind the bench and set a precedent that these sorts of trials are rarely necessary.

[Thanks The Guardian]

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Germany approves Google News license fee https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/germany-approves-google-news-license-fee/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/germany-approves-google-news-license-fee/#comments Mon, 04 Mar 2013 12:14:55 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=127048 German parliament has now given the voted approval for a licensing fee should the search engine wish to reproduce more than just a few short excerpts of a news story. Fortunately to come into play it still needs to be ratified by the upper house of German parliament, but that's only a stone's throw away. …

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German parliament has now given the voted approval for a licensing fee should the search engine wish to reproduce more than just a few short excerpts of a news story. Fortunately to come into play it still needs to be ratified by the upper house of German parliament, but that's only a stone's throw away.

This isn't wholly surprising considering its country of origin. Germany has been a prime example of over protective legislature in recent years thanks to its licensing of music, which has kept many contemporary music services from setting up shop in the Central European nation – purely because it's so expensive.

Iron Sky
This is all cover for their giant moon base anyway. Source: Iron Sky

Ars points out that in this situation, Google isn't keen to abide by the new ruling: “As a result of today's vote, ancillary copyright in its most damaging form has been stopped,” Google said in a statement. “However, the best outcome for Germany would be no new legislation because it threatens innovation, particularly for start-ups. It's also not necessary because publishers and Internet companies can innovate together, just as Google has done in many other countries.”

It hasn't been made clear by German authorities, what the allowed “snippets” entail, so there is some wiggle room for Google and other search engines for now.

KitGuru says: This is just silly. More politicians wading into a creative industry that don't understand content creation and proliferation. Stop protecting things that require freedom in order to be experienced properly.

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Gibson Les Paul hitting $180,000 on eBay https://www.kitguru.net/channel/generaltech/jules/gibson-les-paul-hitting-180000-on-ebay/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/generaltech/jules/gibson-les-paul-hitting-180000-on-ebay/#respond Wed, 05 Dec 2012 09:05:52 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=117873 On the very loose basis that eBay uses technology, we wanted to bring you an interesting story from the interweb about just how much a 1960 Original Gibson Les Paul Standard guitar is being offered for on the world's top electronic auction site. It's a little bit more than it cost when first sold. KitGuru …

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On the very loose basis that eBay uses technology, we wanted to bring you an interesting story from the interweb about just how much a 1960 Original Gibson Les Paul Standard guitar is being offered for on the world's top electronic auction site. It's a little bit more than it cost when first sold. KitGuru selects a medium Fender pick to add a sprinkle of irony.

Dazed and Confused could refer to Jimmy Page inn Madison Square Gardens, coaxing weird and wonderful noises from his guitar with a violin bow, but it's equally likely to apply to the KitGuru office staff as we stare at a page on eBay and wish we'd bought one of the original Gibson guitars a decade ago.

You could set up a local taxi firm for that kind of money. Or offer emergency cateract surgery to more than 10,000 people in the 3rd world. Or buy bread for half a million homeless people. But still. Gibson Les Paul Original. Woah.

Les Paul was a designer and electronics guru, brought into the Gibson guitar company as a consultant in 1950 – having pitched them everal unsuccessful concepts in the late 1940s.   Even during his early days with Gibson, Les Paul was not always successful (or his ideas were not fully understood – either by Gibson as a company or the country/world as a whole).

It was the unsettled early start to the Gibson-Les Paul relationship that creates the $180,000 price tag seen on eBay today. Only 1,700 of these guitars were made. It was killed off to be replaced by the SG.

Ironically, it was on a Blues Breakers album in 1966, with a young Eric Clapton on guitar, that the Les Paul finally gained prominence as a serious contender to Fender's designs.

Looking back at the history of iconic songs, the enduring image of Les Paul is everywhere. If you want to spend £550 and ‘pretend', there are options for you, but one of the original 1,700 Standards will set you back around $180,000 and no mistake.

KitGuru says: Two guitar shapes dominate the history of rock and pop music. Between the Stratocaster and the Les Paul, the majority of cool riffs are stuck in a corner and pwned. Sure the McCartney Hofner Bass and Young's SG are famous, but the Strat and Les Paul lead the way. Anyone sitting on a dozen or so classic guitars in storage right now, is looking at a tidy little nest egg. Aren't they Bill?

Comment below or in the KitGuru forums.

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US politician to ask Reddit how to best protect web freedoms https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/us-politician-to-ask-reddit-how-to-best-protect-web-freedoms/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/us-politician-to-ask-reddit-how-to-best-protect-web-freedoms/#respond Mon, 19 Nov 2012 19:00:11 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=115846 Zoe Lofgren, current representative for California's 16th congressional district, will be taking to Reddit on the 19th of November to ask the site's users how they think web freedoms would best be protected. Their responses will help build a new piece of legislation that will be put before congress in 2013. While Reddit is famous …

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Zoe Lofgren, current representative for California's 16th congressional district, will be taking to Reddit on the 19th of November to ask the site's users how they think web freedoms would best be protected. Their responses will help build a new piece of legislation that will be put before congress in 2013.

While Reddit is famous for its Ask Me Anything sessions, where famous or interesting people answer questions on their lives, Mrs Lofgren will be asking them instead. While internet users might not often taken too kindly to politicians, Lofgren was a previous vocal opponent of SOPA, PIPA and CISPA – three bills that threatened web freedom quite heavily.

“We need to do more than just halt bad legislation, we also need to improve existing laws and make government work in the interests of innovation and Internet freedom,” she said, speaking with TechCrunch. “Sopa clearly showed that we need a new generation of forward-thinking laws to secure the internet's continued success. So let us direct the tremendous energy that killed Sopa toward enacting strong pro-internet policies.”

One of the biggest concerns of the bills she's previously opposed, as well as ACTA, was that they could be used as a method for shutting down sites without a fair trial. If a copyright holder believed it was being infringed, it could have sites delisted from the internet – effectively killing them – without investigation. Lofgren's bill seems likely to put safeguards in place to protect this. In fact she has already publicly addressed this problem, pointing to the many months of down time Dajaz1 experienced, simply because the RIAA took a long time to gather up its documents.

Zoe Lofgren
A politician that knows what their talking about AND listens to the people? Diamond in the rough folks.

“A blog has the same protections as a newspaper or magazine, and yet ICE saw fit to seize this site for over a year for dubious reasons,” Lofgren said. “It's an outrageous abuse of First Amendment and due process rights, raising serious questions about why the Department of Justice allowed this seizure to continue when the government clearly did not have probable cause.”

While quotes like this from a politician are music to the ears of many an internet freedom fighter and simple internet user, there are better ones out there. Wired has collected a few choice ones, perhaps the best of which is: “Domain seizures without due process are a form of censorship. In this instance, our government has seized domains with nothing more than the rubber stamp of a magistrate, without any prior notice or adversarial process, leaving the authors of these sites with the burden of proving their innocence. While this might be enough for the seizure of stolen cars or knock-off handbags, it is not enough for web sites and speech on the internet. It is disturbing that this administration is treating them the same.”

KitGuru: Zoe Lofgren seems like a dream come true. I'm sure she'd have a few things to say about the Digital Economy Act. Can we elect foreign politicians in this country?

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Windows 7 SP-1 download available for professionals https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/operating-systems/faith/windows-7-sp-1-download-available-for-professionals/ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/operating-systems/faith/windows-7-sp-1-download-available-for-professionals/#comments Wed, 28 Jul 2010 21:12:22 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=9818 KitGuru loves Windows 7. There. We've said it. We have big love for the Snow Leopard, but there's still plenty of room in our hearts for Bill Gate's latest incarnation. So how much better can it get? KitGuru receives flash-traffic from Microsoft's Technet, authenticates, inserts twin brass keys and prepares to launch missiles. OK. You've …

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KitGuru loves Windows 7. There. We've said it. We have big love for the Snow Leopard, but there's still plenty of room in our hearts for Bill Gate's latest incarnation. So how much better can it get? KitGuru receives flash-traffic from Microsoft's Technet, authenticates, inserts twin brass keys and prepares to launch missiles.

OK. You've got us. Too much Crimson Tide on Sky HD, but the reality is that the ‘almost ready for the public' version of Service Pack 1 for Windows 7 is now available for professionals to play with and we're downloading it as we type. Exciting times.

.Authenticating TechNet flash message in 2 parts, break break - as Hackman would say

Developing in harmony, alongside the continuously improving operating system, is the continuously improving delivery system for new versions.

Following the shambles that was Vista, delivery psychology at Microsoft has undergone a complete overhaul and is now a genuine pleasure to use.

Think back. Everyone of us got so used to having the Windows 7 beta, that when it began to expire – an army of enthusiasts made the purchase and finally switched away from the archaic (but functional) Windows XP code base. It's a tried and tested method for delivering new product that's been used by narcotic gangs across the globe for centuries and, guess what, it works!

Once you're logged in, Microsoft gives you a choice of 32-bit or 64-bit updates that will download as part of the standard Windows 7 updates – or you can click option ‘3'.

Being greedy fat sods, KitGuru has gone with the high-cholesterol, 1.22GB full ISO download.

With high speed broadband being what it is, Microsoft updates normally tank in around 800KB/sec.

Today's ISO is struggling to get above 230KB/sec.

Popular stuff.

Microsoft's data centre is being brought to its knees by the sheer volume of professionals demanding ISO

This link to the Windows 7 Service Pack 1 Beta for Professionals will either work for you or it won't. In which case you will need to be creative !

KitGuru says: Over the next few days, we'll download it, install it, have a play and report back on whether you actually notice any differences at all.

If anyone wants to post any issues that they've experienced and were hoping that SP-1 would fix, drop them below or in the forum and we will do our best to check if you've been healed or ignored.

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