OhmyNews hosts the world’s citizen journalists

I’m in Seoul right now attending OhmyNew’s International Citizen Reporter’s Forum.  Although we at NowPublic tend to avoid using the term the crowd here is full of die-hard pro am reporters.  They come frrom across the globe. The event was opened by a surprise video address from the Korean President, Rho Moo-hyum.   He acknowledged the [...]

Canadian Politicians Make Up Costs Of Piracy Just To Support Push For Stricter Laws

It’s no secret that the Big Content lobby has been pushing for much more restrictive copyright laws up in Canada, but it’s still fairly stunning to see what they’ve convinced the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology (made up Canadian politicians) to put into a report about piracy issues. Not one to shy away [...]

Montreal, by Wikipedia

Formerly the largest metropolis of Canada (a distinction acquired by Toronto in the mid-1970s), it is the second-largest French-speaking city in the Western world after Paris. As of the 2006 Canadian Census, 1,620,693 people resided in the city of Montreal proper.[1] The population of the Montreal Census Metropolitan Area (also known as Greater Montreal Area) [...]

Man charged in alleged plot to kidnap Montreal lotto winners

Police in Montreal have charged a man with allegedly plotting to kidnap and kill a Montreal couple who recently won millions in the lottery.
Investigators allege that Edwin Mata Lima, 18, targeted Zenovij Pacholuk and his wife Dolores Coffey, who won $27 million last month.

Source: ca.news.yahoo.com

NowPublic

Tags: allege | allegedly | charged | Coffey [...]

Texas: Gayer than you might think.

As Josh Marshall says:

Dallas may become the first of the top ten largest US cities to elect an openly gay mayor.
Source: talkingpointsmemo.com

The most expensive race for mayor of Dallas might make history for another reason. But many North Texans apparently just figured out why. Ed Oakley, a three-term city councilman and longtime Dallas resident, has [...]

Are Social Network Private Messages More Private Than Email Under The Law?

There are those who suspect that Facebook is backed by the CIA and then there’s this argument:

In a recent court case, one side requested access to the private messages in the same manner that they would normally request access to email. However, both MySpace and Facebook have privacy policies saying they won’t share the info [...]

Michael Moore’s ‘Sicko’ Leaked Onto Web

You just knew this was going to happen…

LOS ANGELES (AdAge.com) — Michael Moore’s new documentary “Sicko” has been pirated and is now widely available for download on the web on sites like BitTorrent, as well as peer to peer content sites like www.thepiratebay.org and blogspot.
Source: adage.com

NowPublic

Tags: [...]

Linux leaders plot counterattack on Microsoft

MOUNTAIN VIEW, California (Reuters) – The high priests of free software have congregated at Google Inc. headquarters this week to debate the future of the movement and face down recent patent threats by Microsoft Corp.
Leading names of Linux, the world’s biggest grassroots software phenomenon, are spending three days to Friday debating whether an increasingly commercial [...]

Clusterfuck Nation by Jim Kunstler

I recently discovered Jim Kunstler.  Endlessly thought-provoking…

Is the jailing, un-jailing, and re-jailing of Paris Hilton a harbinger of anything? Has America’s Love/Hate-o-meter for wealthy celebrities swung in the negative direction? And does that swing portend something more ominous for our society at large? I’ve been saying for a while that [...]

Dell is now listening to Jeff Jarvis

Behold the power of the blogosphere…

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Back in the summer of 2005, Dell ignored Jeff Jarvis’ complaints about a lemon laptop at its own peril. The blogger’s “Dell Hell” rants teed up a mainstream story starring the PC manufacturer as an arrogant giant that became a case study in how one man’s [...]