Blackmoor Vituperative

I have trimmed down the add-ons I am using with Firefox 2, and added a couple of new ones. Here is what I am using now:

1. Adblock Plus
2. Adblock Filterset.G Updater
3. ColorZilla
4. DictionarySearch
5. DOM Inspector
6. Duplicate Tab
7. Firebug
8. Foxmarks Bookmarks Synchronizer
9. gTranslate
10. IE Tab
11. Tabbrowser Preferences

Americans may need passports to board domestic flights or to picnic in a national park next year if they live in one of the states defying the federal Real ID Act.

The act, signed in 2005 as part of an emergency military spending and tsunami relief bill, aims to weave driver’s licenses and state ID cards into a sort of national identification system by May 2008. The law sets baseline criteria for how driver’s licenses will be issued and what information they must contain.

The Department of Homeland Security insists Real ID is an essential weapon in the war on terror, but privacy and civil liberties watchdogs are calling the initiative an overly intrusive measure that smacks of Big Brother.

(from CNN.com, Federal ID plan raises privacy concerns)

“Big Brother”? Please. Cameras on every damned streetcorner — that is Big Brother. Having to show “papers” in order to travel or go on a picnic, now, that’s more like the Soviet Union.

Hey, wait… weren’t they the bad guys?

Denis Kvasov, former head of the Russian download site AllofMP3.com (now MP3Sparks), has escaped damages sought against him by the international music industry. The Associated Press writes that a Moscow judge threw the case out on Wednesday, observing that while the Russian government passed laws aimed at the site last September, Kvasov ended his association with the company in December of 2005.

The case was filed by EMI, the Warner Music Group and the Universal Music Group, who together asked for $587,000 from Kvasov. The labels accused the executive of selling their artists’ music without permission, as well as reproducing it, the latter act indeed being illegal while Kvasov was in charge. Both arguments were rejected.

(from Electronista, AllofMP3 case thrown out of court)

The Digital Rights Mafia just doesn’t give up, do they? Regardless of the law, regardless of the ethics, regardless of the manifest failure of their outmoded business model, they just keep brandishing that buggy whip. As corrupt and demented as the media robber barons are, you have to admire their commitment.