Wednesday, May 02, 2012

BBC America treats Americans as the immature children the probably are

A writer for British comedy The Thick of It has criticised BBC America's decision to censor the show.

Jesse Armstrong described the move to 'bleep' Armando Iannucci's award-winning political satire as an "error".

"They should at least have a conversation with Armando and check what they're going to do with it before they put it out," he told the BBC. "It seems a little odd."

BBC America stood by its decision, despite the show airing at midnight.

Read more here.

Scumbag engineer at Google knew exactly what he was doing

The Google engineer who wrote a program that collected personal data from wi-fi networks told at least two other colleagues, a report has revealed.

Google released the full investigation conducted by the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

It said senior staff on the Street View team were unaware of the plans.

The company was fined $25,000 (£15,300) earlier this month for impeding the FCC's investigation, but was ruled to not have broken the law.

The report came two weeks after a heavily redacted version was released by the FCC at the time of the original fine.

It detailed how one Google engineer, referred to only as "Engineer Doe", produced a computer program capable of collecting data from people's unsecured home wireless networks.

The data gathered included contents of some emails and web browsing history.

Read more here.

China throws yet another tandrum, this time over Chen Guangcheng

China demanded an apology from the United States on Wednesday after a human rights activist emerged from several days of refuge inside the U.S. Embassy in Beijing.

Chen Guangcheng's presence in the U.S. Embassy had prompted a flurry of diplomatic activity between the United States and China. The situation has threatened to overshadow U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's scheduled meetings with senior Chinese leaders this week.

"The U.S. handling of this was interference in Chinese domestic affairs, and this is totally unacceptable to China," Liu Weimin, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said in comments reported by the state-run news agency Xinhua.

Read more here.

Tuesday, May 01, 2012

It pays to be rich: Conrad Black to come back to Canada

The Conservative government won't confirm a report saying Conrad Black has been given permission to return to Canada for a year, even though he gave up his citizenship in 2001 and has criminal record in the U.S.

The Globe and Mail is reporting that Citizenship and Immigration Canada has granted Black a temporary resident permit, which would allow him to live in Canada from May 2012 until May 2013.

Black would normally be inadmissible because he isn't a Canadian citizen and has a criminal record.

According to a government website, a temporary resident permit temporarily overcomes inadmissibility.

So does being one of the club...

Read more here.

Harper and Co.: "We’re part of the crusade"

More from the intellectual giants, um, leading us...

The Harper government was privately concerned last fall about costs, delays and the quality of communication it was receiving on the U.S. F-35 stealth fighter project even as its chief spokesman on the file assured Canadians all was well...

...“We will purchase the F-35,” Mr. Fantino told Fort Worth business leaders during his visit. “We’re on record. We’re part of the crusade. We’re not backing down,” the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported him saying.

Read more here.

North Carolinian and his shotgun: Idiot of the Day

Update: one of these gun toting fools, a certain "Chase Young", has had the video pulled from youtube.