Here's a nice
clip Of Ann Coulter Melting Down On Fox News.

The Daily Show's Mo Rocca has really outdone himself this time!

This has got to be one of the funniest bits I've ever seen.

Apparently, there's a new syphilis outbreak, and the Dept. of Health hired an advertising company to run some focus groups and find out the best way to deal with the problem.

The result: The Healthy Penis. A squeaky clean fallice with a big smile to help people understand about healthy genital hygiene. San Francisco residents responded very positively to The Healthy Penis.

Everything seemed great, until it was time for The Healthy Penis to bring the campaign down to Los Angeles. Citizens there, such as Ron Jeremy, objected to a healthy penis being used as a symbol for syphilis. As an alternative, organizations in L.A. created "Phil the Sore" to start a negative campaign using scare tactics to educate the public about syphilis, (rather than having a healthy genital representative's positive tips and information).

This film was produced by Jim Margolis and Edited by Einar Westerlund.

This is from the August 20, 2003 program.

The Daily Show - Sore Loser (Small - 10 MB)

The Daily Show (The best news on television.)

It's actually some guy fighting with himself :-)

Nevertheless, I laughed outloud for the fifty-fifth time and decided that, in all fairness, I had to blog this.
(Thanks, Larry.)

Here is the full text of the page in case the link goes bad:

http://radio.weblogs.com/0001011/blogparody.htm

Simple Guide to the A-List Bloggers

Dave Winer

Anyone who disagrees with me is a festering disease-carrying burnt-toast maggot. I am the Internet, doncha know that? I made it what it was. I invented Blogs. And my markup spec's are the all. Scripting and DaveNet was everything, I was ahead of the game. And when you all were still in diapers, I was (and still am) the world. I am King of the Whole Wide World. Microsoft is pure evil, they want to steal your kids, salt your lawn, plant greenish-oozed nuclear waste in your laundry detergent. I, however, have only the best of intentions. Comments? Sorry no can do. But trust me. Link Link Link Link to my supporters. Slam slam slam the ones I hate. Backstab here, backstab there. Change this spec here, change that spec here. RSS Spec fight here, RSS Spec fight there. Only thing worse than Microsoft are the morons at SixApart. Change spec - here, there and everywhere. Disagree? Then you are Evil Incarnate. Unreadable unmanageable code here, unreadable unmanageable code there. How to Disinfluence People and Tick-Off the Entire World via Blog. Anyone who was under the mistaken impression that Bloggers all get along hasn’t met me. Slam slam slam slam slam slam the ones I hate. Hey, not so fast, I invented that. Yes I did. YES I DID! Here’s a pointer to this issue 3.5 years ago when I discussed and invented it. So there! Here is my definition of what a makes a blog a blog, and I outta know.

10. Print “Blogs are Cool, they will Save the World. And Dave is the King of the Entire World.”
20. Goto 10.

Commmeoooon, everyone, shout along to the beat. Ready now? A one...A one, two three, fouuurrr...Slam slam s-l-a-m - Slam slam s-l-a-m - Slam slam s-l-a-m.

“In the beginning was the Blog, and the Blog was with Dave, and the Blog was God. The same was in the beginning with Dave. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness (everyone but Dave) comprehended it not.”

Doc Searls

Peace brother. Peace. Chill out, man. If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands. If you’re happy and you know it, your Blog will surely show it. Clap your hands. Greetings from the Left Coast. Internet Utopia. Blogs do have a metaphor. It’s writing. Journalism. I am not a real Doctor, but Linux will cure cancer. Toke up, yah man, peace. Happy happy. No conflicts, Contractions do not exist. Someone said Blogs are the director’s cut of journalism. I am never wrong. Circumvent, distort, sleight-of-hand tricks, and even when I am cornered, I simply open the discussion for my supporters to back me up. Follow along. Or contribute. Or both. Whatever. Just don't disagree. This new meme here, that new meme there. Here’s some pointage to back and forth between this person and that person on this issue. DIY Journalism. The powers of Big Media have been forever broken!! Power to the People. Linux rules! Linux makes a great hamburger topping. Blogs, there is no us and them. It’s all us. Weblogs are the highest form of audience content. Weblogs are the highest form of evolutionary development. Printwash, Searlsowash, but NOT Googlewash, no no. Google is God. If not on Google it doesn’t count. Libraries, reference material? Hogwash! Wall yourself out, get what you deserve. Hotel Internet troubles! Blanket the World in FREE broadband Wi-Fi. Yes! Wi-Fi will save us all! And oh, Andrew-Orlowski-is-the-Devil-Wash-But-I-Still-Sorta-Like-Him-As-I-am-A-Happy-Person-Always, Ireallyhavenoearthlyideawhatiamtalkingaboutbutiblogonwash, Chill, Peace, Everything should be free man. Free! Paying for content on the web is downright Satanic. Free man free. The blog train has been delivering clues to the newspaper publishing business for several years now, but we don’t have a sign that the biz is taking delivery. Link Link Link to these people who support me. I had lunch with this person, she’s been one of my favorite conference buddies. Link Link to the ones that don’t, but only to the ones I can make fools of (in a nice way). Linux weenie Geek Cruises. Linux weenie Geek Conference Blog reporting. Linux weenie geeky tours of this city, of that city. Check out this Geek party I was at. Companies may start launching Web logs that have a business objective. Bad. Bad. Bad. As they won’t really have authentic voices. Link Link Link to these interesting things. Cluetrain. No such thing as branding. Cluetrain. Comment. Comment. Comment. Understanding the new world. AirplaneWindowMoblogging. At 5 or so I arrive at JFK. I’m in New York through Tuesday. Whoa. So very very dreamy. The web is growing larger and more important to nearly everybody. I am bulletproof, even if I am wrong, I will blog endlessly and bore you to death in a Blog comment ‘endless-loop-link-link-link-maze’ so you will forget. I’m here, somewhere in Long Island. Blogging from The World of Sheraton. Internet is the all, always growing. Technobabble. Link Link Link to these interesting things. Comment. Comment. Comment. Here's some totally pointless pointage to back and forth between this person and that person on this issue and that issue. Now I’m at this conference, which thankfully has working Net access provided by a solid Wi-Fi connection. Yeah, strange as it may seem, I actually believe half of the BuzzPhrases, I made up in that old computer program. I have two regrets about this conference trip. One is that I only brought one undershirt. The other is that I forgot my copy of this latest book. I had lunch with this person, he’s been one of my favorite conference buddies. This new meme here, that new meme there. Friends, supporters and speaking fees. I want speaking gigs, 6 figures please, and oh please buy my book! Pretty please! I alone know all about the New Age of Marketing. Clap your hands. Every one else has no Clue. Internet Utopia. Linux-weenie Geek Conference Blog reporting. How did I ever live with dial-up? Suffering it at this hotel is proving how blogging is a grace of bandwidth, at least for me. Here’s some pointage to some back and forth between this person and that person on this issue. This person brings up a really good question. Discuss. Here’s some pointage back and forth on this question. This new meme here, that new meme there. Discuss. Discuss.

DocSpeak Demystified

Doc: The sky is purpleish brown green with red dots and grayish-yellow stripes.

No the sky is blue.

Doc: Well, the real issue is, what do we really mean by sky and how do we externally perceive it? And where does (what we mean by) sky exist? All skies are not “blue”, as on some planets somewhere, I think maybe, the sky could be purpleish brown green with red dots and grayish-yellow stripes. The sky is, in fact, multi-colored, it is just our false perception of what the internal makeup of this thing we call “blue” is to our imperfect human eyes. This false reality that forms our observation of what is, is in fact, not reality at all. Far out. Stop being so close minded and dogmatic. Link. Link. Link. Chill out. Link. Link. Link. Link. Peace. Link. Link. Link. Link. Link. Discuss.

Dan Gillmor

I am not really a journalist, I just play one on a Blog. This meme here, that meme there. Swarm Journalism!! Blogs are everything. Hey, I am writing a book on this, please help me. Blogs are everything yes. Blogs are everything yes yes. Repeat, Rinse, Repeat, Rinse and Dry. Journalism needs to get a clue, yo wake up, you old-fashioned Newspapermen, this is the future. I am leading the charge, I get it, how come you don't? Buncha morons!! It’s cloudy and chilly in Helsinki, where I’ll be participating in a social software/blog workshop. It’s foggy and chilly in London, where I’ll be participating in a social software/blog workshop. I am in Europe phone calls are expensive, Net access is iffy. And there’s no ketchup to be found for miles!! And I am not really a political reporter or Blogger, but I hate those Republicans and all their drumbeat Warmongering Buddies! Oh they are EVIL! They all just play golf, inherit money and wage wars for Oil! SUVs are EVIL. Silicon Valley Leftist short-comment rant here, Silicon Valley Leftist short-comment rant there. Bill Moyers is God! Technorati is God. This meme here. Sheesh, hotel Internet problems! Anyone know any cool Wi-Fi hotspots? Any Bloggers out there wanta go for a coffee? Visit to this Internet start-up company, visit to that Internet start-up company. They are the greatest, they do good work. News story comment quip. UPDATE: Several readers say they read this story different. After a closer reading, I tend to agree. I tend to write before I think. This meme here, that meme there. This meme here, that meme there. This meme here, that meme there. This meme here, that meme there. Thanks to the Blogosphere I never have to do real reporting. I take what Bloggers say at face value. Microsoft is Evil no wwwaaaiiiit I mean Good, no Evil, no now they are Good, but Evil, but still Good, Evigood Gooevil EvGoilod. Google is God. This meme here, that meme there. This meme here, that meme there. Repeat. Endless loop.

Howard Rheingold

Smart Mobs. Smart Mobs. Could you Mobs who are Smart, buy my Smart Mobs book, please? Smart Mob thyself to the bookstore. Whole Earth, Whole Earth, The Well, remember me? I was the original Internet hippie. I was everything. Power to the People, yeah yeah. Hum that around the drum circle. The Virtual Community, Virtual Reality, Tools for Thought. Mondo 2000, Wired ’94, all the glory utopiaistic future. Social Revolution, yeah man, yeah yeah. Brainstorms Community, MUDs as Constructionist Learning Environments, far out man. Are we awake to the world we’re building, or are we, as an old Sufi saying goes, merely asleep in life's waiting room? Excursions to the Far Side of the Mind: A Book of Memes, Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming. New Age Cybertechnophile’isms. Whoa, far out. Rheingold Associates, sustainable social networks, teamwork spaces, Online Social Networking, hire me, pretty pretty please. Yah yah yah. Man. Brave new world. I was present at birth. Smart Mobbing. Woulda like to see my painted shoes? Social Revolution, yeah man yeah. Smart Mobs, and don’t forget to Smart Mob thyself to the bookstore. Whole Earth, Whole Earth.

Joi Ito

Blog about Blogging. More Blogging about Blogging, yet more Blogging about Blogging, still more Blogging about Blogging, would you believe more, Blogging about Blogging. Blogging about Wiki. Wiki’ing about Wiki. A new meme: OPM (Other Peoples Money). It’s amazing where you can go, and what you can do using OPM. Social software. Look at me, I am doing Lunch with these VIPs. Lunch. Lunch. I am Japans best citizen. Making the World Safe for Emerging New Democracy, that's all me. Hussling Energy. I was here, before any of you. I am the Silicon Valley of Japan. I “survived” the Bubble, but I won’t tell you how. I am everything to the world, and I have money. I am a Venture Capitalist, I will talk up this tech, get everyone jazzed, but I am looking to get in on it or I already have, but everything I do is so open and transparent, you can trust me, repeat, you can trust me, I am just having a conversation. Emergent Democracy American Bandstand Dance Party. Lunch, Lunch, Link Link to friends and people that like and reward me. Blogging about Blogging. Lunch, Lunch, Party, Party, Conference, Government panel, Lunch, Party, Party, Jet Set Travel. Government panel. Overthrow the Japanese Government! Cultural and Political Revolution! Check out my non-profit. I give back to the little people. Tell me I am great. The Internet will save us all. Speech here, speech there. Moblogging. Moblogging about Blogging. Moblogging about Moblogging. Moblogging about Wiki'ing. Blogging about me. Doncha wish you were me? Tough. Blogging about my greatness. Japan needs a Revolution. Wiki. Wiki. Blog. Blog. Emergent Democracy Lunch. Times are tough, revenues are down, but I don't let that stop my enthusiasm or the hype machine. Emergent Democracy Blogger Hula Hoop Party. Join the conversation. Lunch. Lunch. I am Japans best citizen. Blog about Blogging. More Blogging about Blogging. Emergent Democracy ‘Toys-R-Us’ Superstore Grand-Opening Party.

Chris Locke/Rageboy

Long rambling essays about my penis. Casuistic sickening introspection. Internet is everything. I was here at the start. But because I am a tad narcissistically satirical, you can see that I don't take it all so very seriously, but yet oddly I do. Buy my book. Rolling Stone 70s era drugified rock-and-roll journalism revivals. I only wish I was Lester Bangs. Pointless wandering meanderings about nothing, but aren't I a good writer? You think Hunter S. Thompson likes me?

Esther Dyson

Release. Spew. Discovering the obvious and promoting the impossible. New Age Tech Cult of the Month. Whoa this Blogger meme here. How did I miss this? Thanks to the O’Reilly Emerging Tech Conference, for turning me onto this. Whoa. You mean I have to communicate clearly? Oh this is new. This is so very very new. I can’t really talk about anything, all under wraps. But trust me, whatever I do, and wherever I go, whomever I talk with, it all is so very very very important. Santa Fe Institute, yeah, join my New Age Science Cult. I have been orbiting Pluto for quite sometime now. I don’t think I was born on this planet. But I know everyone in this industry I am powerful, so doncha DARE cross me, or you will pay dearly. I know people. Double-agent and back-stabbing extortion as a profession. Highest bidder wins out. Hi. Pre-Release 4.0. Pay me money. NOW!

Chris Pirillo

I am everything. I created newsletters. I made them work. Want some of my spammy newsletters? Former TechTV star. I am cool. The size of my ego wouldn’t even fit in Texas. Doncha wish you lived my life? In the Age of Spam, my answer to everything is email newsletters, yes, links to shareware, freeware, thisware, that ware, along with smart comments quips from Super Geek, why I mean me, of course. It is all about branding and my chaotic hyperkinetic personality. Join my Brain Trust and I can tell you how *I* did it, yes, yoooou tooo, can cassssshhhh in on all the Internet Riches out there just waitttting to be found, for onnnnnlllllllyyyyy $97 a month. But waiiiiit thereeeereee’s moooree, we'll throw in a cool piece of Pocket PC software that I got from my Microsoft buddies. They like me. I like me. I use a Palm now however. But I am Super Geek. And there was no Bubble. No no no. That’s a lie! This shareware product here is cool, that shareware there is too, this freeware thing here rocks me. Hey, I want freebies. I won’t review or promo your product unless you give it to me. I am a Marketing Tidal Wave. Doncha know that? You just don’t get it, do yah? TechTV sucks now, it should be called LeoTV. I hate TechTV, don’t pay attention to them now that *I* am not there. Well, they were crap even when I was there, but that's beside the point. I am here now, Your Super Geek at work. Come to my Conference. Link Link. Link to this this cool computer magazine I am in, you can subscribe too, pretty please. Link to Gretchen. Amusing private story about Gretchen. I am the real Geek. Supreme Geek of All. Come to my conference. Its everything. All the other Bloggers know this. I am El Geeko Numbero Uno, there is no other. Wanta know my tricks? You too can be a geek like me, just open your wallet, and send all to me. Multi-Level-Geek-Marketing, its a whole new world! I am a Geek, repeat I am a Geek. But Linux sucks. Geek. Geek. My face as branding, only I know how to market, I am the new Marketing Force, check out these sexy hot chic pictures, my wife cuts cabbage to relieve stress, we got a video of it. Want to pay me lots of money for creative weird advertising things I dream up after too much computer monitor radiation? Advertise on my coffee mug. Advertise on my t-shirt. Advertise on my laptop, send your company logo stickers. Want to pay me some money for my photobloglog? You never know who I will run into. Multi-Level-Geek-Social-Software-Spammy-Newsletter Marketing, its a whole new world! Link to Gretchen. Amusing private story about Gretchen. I am the future of Marketing, everyone else just doesn’t get it. Only I do.

Ben and Mena

We are cute. We are cute. We are cute. We are cute. We are cute. We are cute. We are cute. We are cute. We are cute. We are cute. We are cute. We are cute. We are cute. We are cute. We are cute. We are cute. We are cute. We are cute. We like blogs. We are cute. We are cute. We are cute. We are cute. We are cute. We are cute. We are cute. We are cute. We are cute. We are cute. We are cute. We are cute. We are cute. We are cute. We are cute. We are cute. We are cute. We are cute. We are cute. We are cute. We are cute. We are cute. We are cute. Blogs rule. Moveable Type rules. We are cute. We are cute. We got money from Joi, yippie. We are cute. We are cute. Blogs rule. Moveable Type rules. We are cute. We are cute. Blogs rule. Moveable Type rules. We are cute. No one else is cuter. We are cute. We are cute. We are cute.

Adam Curry

Celeblogging. I used to be a MTV VJ, you know, big hair, that whole thing? Yeah, I was cool. MTV sucks now though. I am cool. I am Beautiful People. But I am now European cool again. Follow my life. Oh I love Macs. Wonder if my stock is up? Our Italian wedding made all 4 major gossip mags! Link Link Link to interesting things, mini-comments, snippy mini-comments. Link Link to interesting things, big comment, small comment. My wife is a sexpot. I am so lucky. Link Link to interesting things, comment, comment. I used to be a MTV VJ. Good morning from Belgium. Good morning from Italy. Good morning from France. Good morning from Germany. Good morning from London. Europeans rule, Americans suck. I hate Americans and your doofus President. Europeans rule, Americans suck. Link Link Link to interesting things. Follow my life. I am cool, but sophisticated, yeah, not like you Americans who eat at McDonalds and ruin the world, no no. Link Link to semi-interesting things, comment quip, comment quip. Link to celebrity news, comment quip. Link to bad MTV news, comment quip. I wish they’d go bankrupt! MTV sucks, so do you Americans! I try and forget that I am American. Check out this big name celebrity party I was at, comment quip. Good morning from Holland. I am Beautiful People. I am Beautiful People. Yeah, I was cool. MTV sucks now though. I am cool. Good Morning from Belgium. Partly sunny with showers.

Gnome Girl

Freak out. I have more blogging friends than non-blogging friends. I communicate better in writing then verbally. Live from California. Whoa. See like, this, like, was, like, fer sure, like, totally, like, cool, like, like, yeah. Ok, I hafta have a serious moment now. Real serious. Oh ok, like that's over. See like, this, like, was, like, fer sure, like, totally, like, cool, like, like, yeah. Krad! Totally. I am sexy. I want someone to sing “your body is a wonderland” someday to me. I rock. To GnuKnow me is to GnuKnow that you GnuKnow me, GnuKnow what I am saying? Like, totally! No Gnunews is good Gnunews. Goodbye suck toes man. Groovy angels, rock my world. Miss Gnomedex. I think everyone has a superpower, mine is the ability to put lipstick on without looking in a mirror. See like, this, thing was like, was, like, fer sure, like, totally, like, cool. I rock. I am sexy. I love presents!! Send me some. Totally! Seriously I don’t like golf so I stay as far away from it as possible, also spinach can’t stand the stuff!

David Weinberger

Darwinism'ims. Leftist shrill rant. Small pieces, loosely joined. Loosely joined small pieces. Leftist shrill rant. Link Link, Blog friend link. Leftist shrill rant. Leftist shrill rant. Leftist shrill rant. Touchy-feely Leftist shrill rant. Bleeding-heart Leftist shrill rant. Capitalism is evil. Commons is good. Neo-Communism rules. Leftist shrill rant. Good and Evil do not exist, but Andrew Orlowski is the Devil. Link Link. Interesting things. One paragraph sum up of this link here. Link Link, Blog friend link. Leftist shrill rant. Blogs as Education. Blogs. Blogs. New meme here, rant there. The Internet is a whole water-skiing pyramid of giants. Utopia. Blog friend link. Blog friend link. Leftist shrill rant. Touchy-feely Leftist shrill rant. Bleeding-heart Leftist shrill rant. New meme here, rant there. Link Link, Blog friend link. Leftist shrill rant.

Ray Ozzie

Social software. Social software. Incredibly powerful collaborative project management software. Social software. Groove me baby. Incredibly powerful collaborative project management, project management, chaotic collaborative project management. Thoughts about Blogging in companies. Blogging Guidelines. Blogging as collaborative project management. Ubiquitous computing, Networking, Web and RAD technologies. COM and C++, .NET and Scripting. Social software, yeah man. Force chaos into the system. Groove on. Collaborative Project Management. Lotus. Far out. Eastern Psychobabble Mysticisms. Ubiquitous computing. My thoughts on remaking the whole internet in my image. Thoughts about Blogging in companies. Chaos! Blogging Guidelines. Grooooovvvvve. Repeat 100x.

Anil Dash

New York. New York. Big Apple Blogger Bash. But the thing I kept coming back to was the barley. I mean, wheat is the big man on the grain campus. You can’t ignore wheat. Links. Weird Links. Cool Links. Links about Links. Links. More Links. Index of Links. Link Indexes of Link Indexes Indexed. Ben and Mena inside gossip. Moveable Type. Radio sucks! Dave Winer is a smushed toad. Winer is a Whiner. I work in Marketing. Moveable Type! Journalists are the Devil, they only ever rewrite Press Releases. Just who do they think they are anyways? Bah Humbug! Bloggers are the future. Weird Links. Cool Links. Links about Links. Links. More Links. Andrew Orlowski is exactly what is wrong with the world. Avoid trolls, or anyone who disagrees with me, same thing. Pretentious New York City life random observations. The other day, I had beef mushroom barley soup. But that was unusual, not just because it included mushrooms, but because Carson Daly was sitting about 10 feet away at the time. But I digress. Links about Links. Links. More Links. New York stories. Links about Links. Links. More Links. Moveable Type! Ben and Mena! Yeah! Blogs are the future. Big Journalism has met its final deathmatch. Bloggers are the future. Bloggers of the World, Unite! New York stories. Links about Links.

Dave Barry

I am not really a Blogger. Just spreading the humor to the Blogosphere. I am a super popular newspaper columnist. I am hip enough to understand the web. Me make funny joke. You laugh. I love Miami. South Florida is like heaven. Come back to the early days of the web, when everything was all a funny weird link. Its the Worst of the Web, with Dave as your host. See me try and make funny. Me make funny. See my snippy, oh so funny, comments about all these weird links. Yes, the weird is out there. Funny funny. Please laugh. Read my column. Buy my numerous pointless but funny (least I think so) books. The Publishers are kinda getting mad. Laugh Laugh. Please? Question of the day: Will they run up the Pyramids in slow-motion wearing really tight Bathing Suits? Laugh. “If you leave this blog, I will kill this defenseless toilet.” Me make funny. Dave Barry for President. Me make funny joke. You laugh. Me make funny joke. I know the humor is so very very dated and stale. But laugh. Laugh. Please?

Robert Scoble

I am nice, reasonable, normal smart type, not always given to the usual Blog Groupthink. I am not like all those other Bloggers. So why I am a Blogger? I am just gaming this meme. Link to friends. Link to more friends. Link to other friends. Link to these friends. Link to more friends. Link to my boss, he’s way way cool. Hey, didyah know, I used to work for Radio Userland. And I used to plan Tech Conferences, I know every Geek in the world! They all like me. Link to other friends. Link to Microsoft developers. NEC Tablet PC rocks. See this picture of Bill Gates holding one, here’s another picture. But I have a Toshiba Tablet PC at Microsoft, as the NEC Tablet PC is not on Microsoft’s approved list. Link to .NET developers. Link to friends. Link to other friends. I like Apple too. Link to other friends. Microsoft stories. Working at Microsoft is so very super cool. I love this place. Woz is my friend. Don Box is my friend. Chris Sells is my friend. Chris Pirillo is my friend. I am Dave Winer’s only friend. Name drop here, name drop there. Link to this Developer here, link to that Developer there. Blogs are like everything. So what if I don’t have that many readers? I want quality. Its all about quality. People who don’t read me, obviously aren’t quality material. Blogs are power. Link to friends. I am friends of all. And now look who I am having lunch with. I know lots of people, used to be Silicon Valley Geek Schmooze King, now I am playing the same game in Seattle. Name drop here, name drop there. Blogger Movie Night. Blogger Food Court Night. Blogger Shopping Spree. Blogger Wal-Mart Blueberry Slurpee run. Link to friends. Link to other friends. Career advice. Link to friends. Link to other friends. I love working at Microsoft. Come to the Professional Developers Conference. Link to friends. Link to other friends. If you are an important person, wanta do lunch? Link to friends. Name drop here, name drop there.

Andrew Sullivan

Political Media Blogger Soup. Daily Political Soap Dish. Blogger Power! Journalism is outdated. Pledge Week. Give me money. Money, I know I asked before, but I need more. Donate money. Donate money. Link to a NYT piece. Oh gosh they got it all wrong. Link to Wash Post piece. Oh they missed the whole point. Link to a NYT piece. Oh gosh they got it all wrong again. Link to another NYT piece. Oh heck, fire them all. Link to a BBC piece. Oh gosh they got it all wrong. Nitpick here, nitpick there. Link to a NPR piece. They are all wrong! Should be called National Public Communist Radio. The root of all evil is the New York Times, except, of course, when I write for them. Blogs as takedown POWER! This New Republic piece is total junk. Rick Santorum = Satan. The Guardian is total evil. Oh pleassseee donate. Pledge Week II. Donate. If you read this page regularly please help us keep it going by chipping in. Support your Sullivan. Money money. I need to pay my bills. I am your watchdog. And hey, even Liberals hate Hillary and Bill. Insane Hillary quote. Insane Clinton Administrational figure quote. One thing everyone (Left or Right) can agree on: We ALL are SICK of Hillary. Oh donate! If we keep up this pace this week, we’ll truly establish this site financially. Link to a NYT piece. Oh gosh they got it all wrong. Link to a BBC piece. Oh gosh they got it all wrong. Link to a Wash Times piece. Oh gosh they got it all wrong. Oh look at this here, another embarrassment for the New York Times. Pledge Week. Donate. SOS! Support Our Sullivan. Money money. My take on this now completely debunked hysteria. My take on this now completely debunked news story. My take on this now completely debunked New York Times story. My take on this now completely debunked Washington Post story. Pledge Week XXVII. Pledge Week MMMMCMXCIX. Our goal this week is to reach a total of 350,000 members altogether - a base that can assure the site’s survival and my actually getting a salary. Link to a NYT piece. Oh gosh they got it all wrong. My take on this observation. I’m amazed that more people haven’t been asking this question. It seems to me that it’s extremely important. Link to a BBC piece. Oh gosh they got it all wrong. Donate, essentially, we’re trying to create a model that’s subscription-based but still free to access. Link to a LA Times piece. Oh gosh they got it all wrong. My take on this now completely debunked Washington Post story. My take on this now completely debunked Nation story. Oh look at this here, yet another embarrassment for the New York Times. Donate money. Donate money. Donate money. Donate money. My take on this now completely debunked New York Times story. I need money! Money!!

Glenn Reynolds

What??? What? You mean the war is over? Say it ain’t so, Joe! Oh no!!! But still important questions remain! Yes. Yes! Pay attention now. Post-War Iraq, the War on Terror, that still goes on! How dare you go about your normal life! Do you NOT understand? Sheeesh, what is it with you people anyways? If you’ve spent the weekend, you know, “having a life,” and missed things, you may want to scroll down to these 150 or so posts. Important! Post-War Iraq, people are still getting killed. Very Important! Let’s discuss things. Yes, important issues. Discuss, discuss. Comment quip on Iraq news. Comment quip on the latest Pentagon news. Comment quip on Iranian news. Comment quip on Syrian news. Comment quip on Terrorism news. War on Terror still being fought. How can you even dare to think of mundane everyday life stuff? Blogs are power: the role of the Internet in dissolving the Raines regime. Send me links. Links to stories. War Stories the Major Media Missed. War Stories the Major Media are Missing. Post-War Stories the Major Media Missed. Post-War Stories the Major Media are Missing. All sorts of interesting information on French doings, and a very cool Flash banner on War stories. Paris Correspondent Reports. And I’ve published quite a few constructive recommendations for The New York Times. Christopher Hitchens points out something *I* noted here a while back. Comment quip on new Post-War Iraq news. Comment quip on new Iranian news. Reader emails. Political terminology hairsplitting. Excerpt of this news story. Excerpt of that news story. Swarmy sarcastic comment quip on this news story. Swarmy sarcastic comment quip on that news story. Comment quip on Iraq news. Comment quip on the latest Pentagon news. News story: they are absolutely right on this, and it seems clear that priorities are still askew. But if pop-ups have been keeping you away, be advised that his site is now popup free! Why the Russians would want a not-terribly-friendly-or-stable nuclear-armed power on their southern border has never made sense to me. Comment quip on Major-Media missed Iranian news. Comment quip on Syrian news. Comment quip on Terrorism news. The former, of course, supports an Administration claim; the latter contradicts one. Former true? Latter true? Is either reliable? Who knows. Sorry for the lack of intensive Blogging this morning. It’s been busy around the InstaPundit household, 5 months worth of laundry. Comment quip on Terrorism news. War on Terror still being fought. Andrew Sullivan made lots of money. I didn’t. Its not fair!! Pout pout. But thanks to those who gave. I’m using the money for a series of sessions with a trainer who specializes in stretching exercises that remedy the problems caused by excessive computer use. Comment quip on the latest Pentagon news. Post-War Iraq, the War on Terror, that still goes on! How dare you go about your normal life!!! I’m going to talk about the role of the Internet in helping usher in perfect world peace.

Lawrence Lessing

This Blogger permits others to copy, distribute, display, and perform the work. In return, licensees must give the original Blogger full credit and total kudos. Translated: Link to me, tell me I am great! I am cyberlaw! But Creative Commons is not a law firm and does not provide legal services, in fact it is a House of Sand that has never stood the test of Law. I am Cyberlaw Superman! I can’t win in courtrooms, but I will win in the Blogosphere! Free! Internet needs to be Free! Capitalism is EVIL. Record Companies are EVIL’ER still. AlwaysOn has an interview with Professor Lessig. Open Education has an interview with Professor Lessig. NYT has an interview with Professor Lessig. GQ has an interview with Professor Lessig. The Stanford Report has a write-up of Professor Lessig’s talk. Slashdot discusses Professor Lessig’s Q & A forum. Wired has an interview with Professor Lessig. Professor Lessig is mentioned in an online news article. Everyone loves me, well except for those evil Judge types. Courts and corporations are attempting to wall off portions of cyberspace. In so doing, they are destroying the Internet’s potential to foster democracy. Power to the people. Internet utopian Democracy! And Mickey Mouse is the Devil! Copyright Law and the Roasted Ham. Publish out-of-print books onto the Internet. So this is so very cool — the 7th Circuit posts mp3s of its argument. Reform copyright. Framers had the timeframe right. And Peer to Peer is the future. Reclaim the Public Domain, yes. All free. Copyrights are evil. Bad. Bad. Scalia to Marx in one easy step. Free! Everything should be Free! I am a Lawyer. I argue important cases, but I never seem to win. I lose cases. I am a washout as a lawyer (thank God for tenure) BUT I have street credits with the Slashdot crowd. When you see me on a case, its a guaranteed short-sell signal. Reclaim the Public Domain petition! Sign it please. Spam the world with my petition!!! A Bounty on Spammers, exceptions for me of course, the Law always has loopholes. I actually believe people will pay attention to some corny online petition! Also take pictures at Starbucks! Civil Disobedience Protests! And oh Microsoft is evil. Bad bad bad. They ruined Netscape. Netscape could have been a platform. Lucifer works for Microsoft. New Evils: DRM and Palladium! Petition! Petition! Petition! Yet there are many who are frustrated that this doesn’t go far enough. Many on Slashdot, for example, demand that we “hold out” for something much more radical, but small step. I once was a normal mainstream conservative, but I am now an Internet Commons Communist. I am cyberlaw! No one ELSE knows more about CYBERLAW than I do. I am everything. Wired did a profile on me! I belong to EFF! And look at all these other groups I am a part of. I am cyberlaw! Take a look at my 2.5 gigs of PowerPoint slides, they show you why I am right! My Internet vision is sharper than anyone else’s. I am not a Scientist, but Scientific American named me a Visionary! Make New (Free) Code, Not War. Free! Open Source! Money is the root of all Evil. Free! I have a degree in Economics but I still somehow believe in the Free Lunch Philosophy. Software copyrights are bad! Abuses mean there should be no laws at all! I am cyberlaw! I am cyberlaw! I am cyberlaw! REDUCE Spam Act! Except for my Petition! That is ok SPAM. The ends justifies the means! Doncha know anything about the Law? Sign my Petition and forward to your closest 8,675,309 friends! Thank You!

Jeff Jarvis

TV Guide of the Blog World! I used to be a TV critic. Now I am a BLOG evangelist! War Blog! War Blog! War Blog! War Blog! News Story Fact-Check Blogging. News Story Fact Check Blog Comment. News Story Comment. News Story Fact-Check Blogging. Buzz buzz buzz. Power to the people. I report on Entertainment...but Pop Culture is evil. I am a Media Critic, but doncha DARE criticize Blogs! News Story Comment. News Story Comment. The people are POWER. Blogs are that power! IM and blogs are killing all the old ways. Blog tech report. Blogs in the news. Ways Blogs will change society. Blogs as household babysitters. Blogs as Education. Buzz buzz buzz. Creative uses of a Blog. News Story Comment. News Story Comment. 101 Uses for a Blog. Creative Ways this Business is using a Blog. Important people who are now using Blogs. People who finally understand the importance of Blogs. People who hated Blogs that have seen the light. Blogs as Journalism. Check out this blog about how big weblogging is. Blogs as Blogs, as power. News story comment quip. Buzz buzz buzz. War story comment quip. NYT story comment quip. Republicans-Are-Evil story comment quip. But Janeane Garofalo is a nuthead comment quip. Weblogs are a clickstream of consciousness. That is both their charm and their value. Buzz buzz. An important factor in the appeal and success of weblogs is that they are badly written. Buzz buzz buzz. New Meme. There’s a trend to watch here. Not sure whether it’s good or bad yet, but it’s rolling. Buzz buzz buzz. Jayson Blair did far more than bring down the House of Howell. He had an impact on the news business that we cannot even begin to measure. News story comment quip. Buzz buzz buzz. War story comment quip. NYT story comment quip. The Sunday Times of London gives credit to bloggers for spearing Raines. But that’s wrong; the competitor in the news business isn’t other news, it’s other, more fun things to watch and do. This doesn’t apply to Blogs however. Blogging goes light (as opposed to lite) for a few hours; I’m soon to get on the train to this city for the blog confab. Damn, I do love my comments. But there are a few people who drive me batty (and I won’t name them). Creative uses of a Blog. 101 Uses for a Blog. Creative Ways this Business is using a Blog. Important people who are now using Blogs. But now let’s get back to arguing over Andrew Sullivan and his monotonous harping. Now, of course, neither of these inside-baseball brawls will matter one whit to anybody with a life -- and it won’t serve the blogosphere’s interests to dwell on them -- but they will be fun to watch. But seriously, here’s some important people who are now using Blogs and some more people who finally understand the importance of Blogs. People who hated Blogs that have now been Saved. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Some info about Blogs as Journalism. Buzz buzz buzz. News story comment quip. War story comment quip. NYT story comment quip. Republicans-Are-Evil-But-So-Are-The-Democrats story comment quip. Link to this, link to that. News Story Comment. Smarty News Story Comment. News Story Comment. News Story Comment. Sarcastic News Story Commenting. Buzzwords. Buzz.

Clay Shirky

P2P Part 2 (P2P P2). Permanent, NearFarWideCloseNet, ObjectsinMirrorAreCloserThanTheyAppearNet, Position paper here, position paper there. Buzzphrase here, Buzzphrase there. “Systems where supposed innovation vests to lose out interest of.” Not really a blogger, I am a positional papergger. Social software! A live conversation in the room, and an overlapping real-time text conversation. P2P 1337ness. Peer to Peer as Salvation. Oh but that was so, like, last year. New Memes to take its place. Take all Memes in one-big casserole soup bowl. Mix, add some spice, stir and serve. I plan Emerging Tech conferences, but you better think like me. My orthodoxy is the only way. LazyWeb. WebLazy. LazyWeb. The Fellowship of the 802.11b. I want speaking gigs! I can chat endlessly about nothing! I am a charmer! Speaking gigs! Money, money! Position papers as a ticket to fame, ego-gratification and fortune. I create nothing, I only yabber on endlessly. I am an Internet Philosopher. The FCC’s vote on media concentration, diversity plus freedom of choice creates inequality. Wi-Fi and VoIP mean that the telecos significant competitors are its customers. DNA as Database. Moldy cheese as spreadsheet. Wi-Fi will save the world! Wi-Fi. Evil companies destroy power of the people! The skills required to do online media well can actually damage online community. Weblogs are so efficient that they destroy the financial value of publishing. P2P Jedi Council! Software designed for groups encodes political bargains. I wait till the Blogosphere and the Internet Community has said its piece and then I swoop in and summarize, adding all sorts of new twists. Twisting in the wind. Discuss. Discuss. Feedback loop. Discuss my stuff. Feedback. Adds value! Position paper here, position paper there. Position paper here, position paper there. Peer to Peer = Freedom. Since discovering the Internet in 1993, I am a Producer of Position Papers, a Professor of Memes, a Designer of Thoughts, an Author of Ideas, a Consumer of Pop Tarts, a Watcher of Television Media, an Observer of Things that Happen. My position paper on the approach to representation in 3D space and the super spacey-looking blue-ray gun in shoot-’em-up games. When it rains, why is it easy to buy an umbrella, but next to impossible to hail a cab? And why is it easy to buy an iPod, but next to impossible to cook a microwaveable pizza to perfection? Position paper here, position paper there. Speaking gigs! Money, money! Speaking gigs! Money, money! The Telco’s are totally clueless! They don’t know anything, well except that Microsoft’s SmartPhone is total crap, they know that at least. Position paper. Discuss. Feedback loop. Discuss my stuff. Feedback. Interoperability, interoperability. In Praise of Freeloaders! Dot-communism and Net leeches Unite! In things digital it is replicated; not consumed. But freeloading doesn’t work elsewhere, so stay outta my fridge! The rest of that Subway sandwich is mine! And hey that’s MY soda, go getcha own! Ok, who used all the shampoo? But freeloading works, in digital space at least. Speaking gigs! Money, money! Peer to peer computing, web services, wireless internet, weblogging and emergent intelligence, whooo!

Cory Doctorow

“I mean, books are printed on substrate that is so fragile that it burns when it comes into contact with oxygen. We actually use that substrate to wipe our asses with. This is not robust, archival material. This is the very definition of ephemeral, that literature is a book written on toilet paper.” - Cory Doctorow

y0 toTaL 0wnz0red. y0 LiKeZ kRaD!!1!!1! DRM is EVIL! Magic Sci-Fi Future Net-Inspired Utopia Whuffie Waffle dust. Post-death, post-work, net-in-your-head future. BounceBounce. BoingBoing. SmoingeSmoinge. eBook freebies as marketing gimmick, yes get my freeeeeee book. This person is doing a killer-job live-blogging about this blogging conference of bloggers. News-Links-of-the-Day-with-Pithy-Comments-from-the-Doctorow. News Links. Sci-Fi Industry News Links. Sci-Fi Industry Contest Links. More Sci-Fi Industry News/Contests Links. Sci-Fi Writing Contests! Contests! Contests! News links. News Links. More News Links. Misc. News Links. Still more News Links. Yet even more News Links. CNN - Cory News Network with Comments extra. Check out the guest blogger! We bagged Dvorak! Blogs have power! Guess old John C. knows old media is DOOMED. “Amazzzing Graccce, I onccce wasss blllinnnnddd butttt noooowww I seeeeeeeeee...” Whooooo! My first novel is out! I love me. I write weirdly chaotic ‘makes-no-sense’ Sci-Fi stories about a not-to-distant future, or maybe the future is now. But since it is all Sci-Fi I get away with all this random un-defragged sheer-chaos. Look at me! I write Sci-Fi. I won all these awards! I won the John W. Campbell Award! Yeah yeah yeahhhh! I am special! I like Disney! Jeff Bezos likes my book! Look at my history of Short Sci-Fi stories. Gosh, I am one heck of an accomplished writer. And yes, sometimes it is hard to distinguish between my fiction and and my non-fiction. But look at me! I write Sci-Fi. I won all these awards! Stuff the Hugo Online Awards ballots. Creative Commons licensing system, I am so great. I give back to the people. Look at me! I write Sci-Fi. Support me in other ways. Love me! Invite me to conferences! Let me be a speaker! I am also a bigtime Blogger! I embrace everything the Groupthink says. Whatever meme is the meme of the moment I am for it. Bad memes? Despite the fact that I think that these memes are foolish, they persist. Bad meme, Bad bad. Swat the Bad Memes with a Rolled-Up Newspaper. I love Emerging Tech. Want to quote me in a newspaper story or Radio/TV show? Huh? Huh? Please! Pleeeaaaase! Pretty Please? I want publicity! Novel, novel. The novel is not really digestible, per se, to someone not on a Lucid Dreaming plane. I also write things about Emerging Tech. Return of the Mind-Warp Cyberpunk Utopia Future Novel. Buy my next books, please! Remember me! Movable Type rules! I love Ben and Mena! P2P as distro method! My first novel, promotion! Whuffie Lucky Charms Cereal, with the Blue-Marshmallow Diamonds. Respect, Karma, Mad-Props! Whuffie Whuffie!

“The guy who’d figured out the pineapple-orange fruit roll-up edible routing tags had Whuffie to spare: Adrian’s mom knew someone, who also knew someone, who knew this guy, who knew the friend, who knew this neighbor down the street, who had a sister, who knew this guy that worked at the donut shop, who had a blogger friend that told her, and she said that he had an entire sub-aquatic palace, with an exotic tropical-fish aquarium and a room full of robotic Furbies, to rattle around in. A clamor of swallowing and burping noises filled his ears, as the crowd subvocalized...”

Foolish Courtney. 911 changed everything.

Now Flight Attendants rule the skies!

Now we have to keep them happy.

Singer Love warned after flight incident
From the BBC.

Rock star and actress Courtney Love has been released with a warning by police in London for "causing harassment, alarm and distress" on a transatlantic flight.

The 38-year-old was arrested at Heathrow Airport on Tuesday morning after allegedly being verbally abusive to cabin crew...

She told waiting reporters the "brief verbal disagreement" had been "highly exaggerated".

She said: "I cussed at a lady - my daughter always said I had a potty mouth - I cussed at a lady named Mary, she wasn't letting my friend into first class and I said, why are you being such a bitch about it."

...And asked what the previous nine hours had been like inside the police station, the singer said: "It was fine. They were wonderful in there. It was like being on Prime Suspect."

Here is the full text of the article in case the link goes bad:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/2724499.stm

Tuesday, 4 February, 2003, 23:54 GMT
Singer Love warned after flight incident
Courntey Love leaving Heathrow police station
Love said the "disagreement" had been exaggerated
Rock star and actress Courtney Love has been released with a warning by police in London for "causing harassment, alarm and distress" on a transatlantic flight.

The 38-year-old was arrested at Heathrow Airport on Tuesday morning after allegedly being verbally abusive to cabin crew.

She told waiting reporters she had a
I cussed at a lady named Mary, she wasn't letting my friend into first class

Courtney Love
Love, widow of Nirvana star Kurt Cobain, was held on suspicion of disruptive behaviour and endangering the Virgin Atlantic flight from Los Angeles.

After spending the day at Heathrow police station Love was allowed to leave at 2220 GMT.

She told waiting reporters the "brief verbal disagreement" had been "highly exaggerated".

She said: "I cussed at a lady - my daughter always said I had a potty mouth - I cussed at a lady named Mary, she wasn't letting my friend into first class and I said, why are you being such a bitch about it."

Asked how she felt about her treatment at the hands of the airline she said: "I have been flying British Airways for a long time and I will continue to do so. This is my second time on Virgin and my first time wasn't so great either."

And asked what the previous nine hours had been like inside the police station, the singer said: "It was fine. They were wonderful in there. It was like being on Prime Suspect."

Police called

Love, former lead singer of rock band Hole, was accused of hurling abuse at flight staff during the flight.

The crew were said to have tried to calm her down but she refused to sit in her seat and put her seatbelt on.

She was verbally abusive towards our cabin crew and disruptive

Virgin Atlantic
The captain called the airport as Flight VS08 was on its approach to Heathrow.

Staff on the ground alerted police who were waiting for her as the plane touched down.

Police went on board and spoke to her for 20 minutes before she emerged from the Virgin Upper Class cabin.

Wearing bright red lipstick and sunglasses and waving and smiling to passengers, she was ushered into a police van.

Stars banned

Love is in London for a concert at the Old Vic Theatre on Wednesday night, hosted by Sir Elton John and actor Kevin Spacey.

This is not the first time rock stars have been at the centre of allegations about bad behaviour on board planes.

In October 1998, former Stone Roses singer Ian Brown was jailed for four months for using threatening behaviour towards an airline stewardess and captain on a flight from Paris.

In the same year Cathay Pacific banned Oasis from its flights after a rowdy episode of drunkenness involving singer Liam Gallagher.

In April last year, REM guitarist Peter Buck was cleared of attacking British Airways staff on a transatlantic flight to London.

From the "anything for attention" department, Declan decides to take on reality by making the argument that the DMCA's Chilling Effect on scientific research doesn't really exist.

Meanwhile, back on planet earth, Ed Felten, a scientist who has been personally put on ice more than once clarifies the issue -- along with two other chilled out scientists: Edward D. Lazowska
(University of Washington; Co-chair, Computing Research Association
Government Affairs Committee) and Barbara Simons
(Co-chair, ACM US Public Policy Committee).

Boy that's a relief! And all this time I thought there was a problem with the DMCA! Thanks, Declan, for putting everything into perspective!

Here's the full text of Ed Felten's response in case the link goes bad (full text of declan's story follows below) :

http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/archives/000020.html#000020

August 19, 2002
Response to Declan's DMCA Piece

Declan McCullagh misses the boat at least twice in his August 19th
column concerning the potential impact on computer science research of
the Digital Millennium Copyright Act ["Debunking DMCA myths," c|net
News.Com, http://news.com.com/2010-12-950229.html].

First, the DMCA has two arms: one that prohibits devices that circumvent
copy protection, and one that prohibits acts of circumvention. The
research conducted by Professor Felten and his colleagues took place
prior to the time when the "acts of circumvention" provisions became
effective in October 2000. Thus, these provisions did not apply to that
research. However, there is little doubt in the legal community that
this research, and similar research, would be illegal under the "acts of
circumvention" provisions. Declan fails to recognize this arm of the
DMCA in his column.

Second, the chilling effect of the DMCA cannot be described by the
probability of conviction alone. One must also consider the magnitude
of the exposure if convicted. Because the "acts of circumvention"
provisions of the DMCA were not in effect at the time of the Felten
research, the probability of an adverse judgment was indeed small.
However, a group of highly respected legal consultants told Felten's
employer that the cost of an adverse judgment could be truly enormous.
The combination of these two factors had a very substantial chilling
effect. (It is also the case that two individuals were likely to lose
their jobs if the paper was published. This illustrates the human
dimension of the chilling effect.)

Other issues, on which we shall not elaborate, include the
anti-dissemination provisions of the DMCA, and the civil (in addition to
criminal) provisions.

It is disruptive to the progress of research when scientists must first
consult with attorneys to determine if previously legitimate research
might be in violation of the DMCA. We are happy to agree with Declan
that "The DMCA is ... an egregious law ... and should be unceremoniously
tossed out by the courts."

Edward W. Felten
Princeton University

Edward D. Lazowska
University of Washington; Co-chair, Computing Research Association
Government Affairs Committee

Barbara Simons
Co-chair, ACM US Public Policy Committee

Here's the text of Declan's original piece (that the above is a commentary on):

http://news.com.com/2010-12-950229.html

Debunking DMCA myths
By Declan McCullagh
August 19, 2002, 4:00 AM PT

WASHINGTON--Should researchers really be so worried about the much-reviled Digital Millennium Copyright Act?

If you believe the buzz, you'll conclude that programmers, academics and engineers should be scared witless about being sued under the DMCA. In effect for nearly two years, the law sets protections for the codes that are wrapped around certain copyrighted content such as DVDs and electronic books.

An attorney for the Computing Research Association, representing the computer science departments of some 200 universities, claims that "professors are afraid to study information systems or to publish their research." One researcher in the Netherlands announced that, because of the DMCA, he would not reveal his analysis of Intel's digital video system. Edward Felten, a computer scientist at Princeton University, and his colleagues postponed a presentation of their co-authored paper for four months after receiving DMCA threats.

Because some of his co-authors' employers nixed the presentation, Felten's delay is understandable. However, the fears of legal action may not all be justified.

Don't get me wrong. The DMCA is both an egregious law and a brazen power grab by Hollywood, the music industry and software companies. It is probably unconstitutional. It creates unnecessary federal crimes, cedes too much authority to copyright holders, and should be unceremoniously tossed out by the courts. (As a bonus, perhaps we could horsewhip its many fans in Congress.)

If activists hope to assail a law like the DMCA, they'll be taken more seriously if they know what they're talking about.
Even so, not all execrable laws are equally loathsome. A careful look at the DMCA shows that, far from prohibiting all security research, the law does not regulate as many activities as people seem to believe. And if activists hope to assail a law like the DMCA, they'll be taken more seriously if they know what they're talking about.

"The risk that a researcher could go to jail for giving a speech at an academic conference is essentially zero," says Orin Kerr, a law professor at George Washington University and a former prosecutor for the Justice Department. In fact, Kerr says, it makes sense to take opponents' claims about the scope of the copyright law with a grain of salt.

"Opponents of the DMCA want to dramatize its effects, so they want people to believe that the law is incredibly broad," Kerr says. "If the public believes that the DMCA is stopping Professor Felten and other researchers from conducting legitimate research, then that is a major victory for opponents of the law."

The fine print
Start with the text of the DMCA itself. It says, "No person shall manufacture, import, offer to the public, provide, or otherwise traffic in any technology, product, service, device (or) component" that is primarily designed to bypass copy-protection technology. Note it does not explicitly prohibit research or published work, and in fact the DMCA explicitly includes limited exemptions for encryption research and reverse-engineering.

Actual violations of the DMCA can be punished with a civil suit for damages or, if done for commercial gain, prosecuted as criminal acts. The Justice Department indicted Dmitry Sklyarov because his employer, ElcomSoft, sold an e-book decoder that he helped to create, triggering the DMCA's criminal penalties.

By contrast, in a legal opinion, the Justice Department stressed that the paper co-authored by Felten provided zero grounds for criminal prosecution. The government even lauded the work as "designed and published to further scientific research."

On the other hand, it's conceivable that the DMCA permits a civil suit against an academic report that includes source code or object code. A company seeking to sue a researcher could argue that the DMCA covers such an act, as eight movie studios did when successfully suing the magazine 2600 for distributing a DVD-descrambling utility.

But R. Polk Wagner, who teaches intellectual property law at the University of Pennsylvania, thinks that a lawsuit sparked by a paper or presentation would be "a really long stretch."

"I don't think there was ever a realistic chance that Felten would have been liable, and I think all parties knew it from the beginning," Wagner says.

In a report accompanying the DMCA, Congress stressed that research could not be targeted: "The committee believes it is very important to emphasize that (this section) is aimed fundamentally at outlawing so-called 'black boxes' that are expressly intended to facilitate circumvention of technological protection measures for purposes of gaining access to a work."

Code-free zones
If published research does not include working code--which is a vital part of research--the odds of a successful lawsuit rapidly approach zero.

If published research does not include working code, the odds of a successful lawsuit rapidly approach zero.
Peter Jaszi, a law professor at American University, is an ardent DMCA foe who worked to defeat the bill when Congress was considering it. While there are no guarantees, Jaszi says, "it's a bigger reach to say that describing the process by which some kind of hack might be accomplished without providing any kind of code is covered."

So if English-language descriptions of security flaws are permissible, what explains the near-constant state of jitters among security researchers nowadays? (It can't just be Hewlett-Packard's quickly abandoned DMCA threats against security researchers.)

One explanation is an unreasonable fear of the law. Citing DMCA fears, TiVo asked people to stop posting information about how to copy video off the device onto another machine--even though its legal liability is nonexistent. Dug Song, a security expert at network-protection company Arbor Networks, even took his personal Web site offline. For a while, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers required authors writing for its science journals to certify that their papers were DMCA violation-free--until cooler minds prevailed and IEEE recanted.

Exaggerated threats
Another explanation is overly aggressive advocacy by groups like the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which represented Felten. "They succeeded in creating a kind of chilling effect in the scientific community because of the kind of fear-mongering they were engaged in," says Allan Adler, vice president at the Association of American Publishers (AAP).

Adler says that because the AAP represents corporations and universities that publish books of computer code, the organization has every reason to worry about restrictions on distributing technical information. Among the AAP's members are MIT Press, Princeton University Press and Stanford University Press. McGraw-Hill, which publishes books such as "C: The Complete Reference," filled with programming examples, is another.

But, Adler says, the AAP isn't concerned about the DMCA. "Such a reading of the statute (to include restrictions on research) is a clear stretch given its constitutional implications and the absence of any supporting legislative history. Moreover, it is a stretch that would not have been lightly countenanced by ardent First Amendment advocates in the publishing industry."

The Register's Thomas Greene put it more bluntly. A recent DMCA alert, Greene said, was a "nonissue which EFF inflated into gargantuan proportions."

For its part, the EFF points to the potential chilling effect of even unfounded DMCA threats, saying that "nastygrams" can halt a lot of legal acts--and most people are not willing to risk being right at the cost of civil fines that swallow their kids' college funds.

"Not every grad student or even professor is going to have easy access to free counsel who can provide a counterweight to the university lawyers," says Lee Tien, an EFF staff attorney. "Even if the paper were published, was it somehow bowdlerized? This is corrosive to scientific discourse."

Any type of publishing carries risks, including possible suits for libel, copyright infringement or invasion of privacy. Security research is no different. Before self-censoring, a researcher should make a sober evaluation of which allegations are likely to stick and show courage by not bowing to spurious threats. Back in 1977, cryptographers Ron Rivest, Adi Shamir and Len Adleman, and lawyers at MIT showed commendable mettle when standing up to threats from the National Security Agency related to their encryption research.

Luckily for them, the threat from the government soon faded. But because the DMCA has not yet been wielded in a court battle against a researcher, anxieties remain.

University of Pennsylvania professor Wagner says that's likely to remain the case for a while: "Copyright owners will kill two birds with one stone by expressing support for good-faith, serious research. It's good PR, and maintains the helpful--to them--vagueness of the current state of the law. I see an uneasy truce in our future."

Marc Perkel was interviewed by Jennifer Liberto and asked if he knew about Media Whores Online, to which he explained he didn't. She then proceeded to print an article saying the project got started with some funding from him -- and now Salon won't amend it or pull the piece.

Here is the exact language in question:

As best can be determined, Media Whores Online originated in Tulsa, Okla., in 1996 when a self-proclaimed "ADD Catholic with an IQ of 64" began an irreverent left-leaning e-mail listserv called RL-LNW, short for "Rush Limba -- Lying Nazi Whore." Shy yet passionate, its low-profile editor, Terry Coppage, took on right-wing agendas with cutting and often crude humor. He received some financial help from Marc Perkel, an eccentric computer programmer who ran against incumbent John Ashcroft in the 2000 Missouri Republican Senate primary, garnering 10 percent of the vote with almost no campaigning. Soon Coppage began publishing his commentaries on a Web site called Bartcop, and adopted the moniker "Bart."

Since the HTML version of the article in question cannot be accessed by the public at large, I've also created a plain text version for everyone's convenience.

Here's the actual Letter To Salon from Marc Perkel, but he also explained some of the details to me in an email:

I talked to her as she researched the article. She came across as if she were doing a pro-media whores article and asked questions relating to how sites like mediawhoresonline.com were a reaction to the failures of traditional news media.

In our discussion she asked who was behind the site and I made it clear that I had no idea - which is true. We talked about Bartcop.com - a site that I am behind and founded - with a guy in Tulsa OK in 1996 and I talked about why I was doing that.

I do think Bartcop did coin the term "Media Whore" so there was enough of a connection for this writer to deliberately confuse the facts. I think that mediawhoresonline was a bartcop inspired publication as are many sites on the web.

As best I can tell - this all started with people on CNN crossfire started arguing about who is behind MWO and made it out to be some sort of mystery or secret. This reporter who wrote the Salon piece did it from the perspective of smearing the left and to out the secret author of MWO. Having failed to get the facts as to who MWO is - she decided to out me and Terry as MWO.

Bartcop has dedicated an issue to her with links to many other sites that reacted to Salon's story and Salon's refusal to pull the story after Salon realized it was a false piece.

From the "and you smell bad too" department, we have Don Henley mincing no words whatsoever regarding his opinion of Ms. Love.

Check out the Vancouver Sun story by Kerry Gold:
Eagles still test the limits .

As for Courtney Love, who's also waging battle with the recording industry for the same reasons, Henley is quick to separate himself from the loud-mouthed grunge rocker turned Hollywood actor.

"She's not a part of our group, nor do we want her to be, because she's a pain in the ass, and she's a loose cannon. She's her own worst enemy."

But Henley's not finished.

"She's an asshole, okay? I can't say it any plainer than that. She is a huge asshole. She's bright but she's wasting it, because she's so interested in being a personality that that is all she can think about.

"God knows we have enough image problems to overcome as it is. Artists are known for being flakey, and mindless and self absorbed... and Courtney doesn't help us in that arena."

In the "ask me if I care" department, Sharon Osbourne didn't bother mincing words in a NY Post catfight between Nugent and Osbourne started by the tabloid itself, obviously so they could report on it.

What is it they say: if you don't like the news, go out and make (up) some of your own?

This NY Post article about Terry Gross' interview with Gene Simmons is really misleading. I heard this interview over the air live as it was taking place, and these quotes were taken totally out of context, not to mention out of order.

The article also misrepresents the facts surrounding why recordings and transcripts of the interview are not available, saying "The interview was apparently so controversial that NPR has declined to make it available on its Website where it posts at least portions of nearly all other interviews that appear on "Fresh Air," one of its most popular daily shows."

Now that we've got the facts straight, I will agree that Simmons' behavior was rather surprising. I remember running into the next room to tell my friend when it happened -- but that was due to my disbelief in what Simmons' was saying, not my shock at Terry Gross' reaction to it, which was completely professional.

Gross didn't so much as raise her voice throughout the entire exchange. She conducted herself in her usual polite manner. Towards the end, she stopped speaking entirely, and just let Simmons babble away until the time ran out.

Simmons was a hostile guest to the nth degree. He was making personal attacks about NPR and Terry Gross within the first five minutes he was on the air.

Perhaps Gross' first question was a little pointed -- something about 'does he ever feel like he's hiding behind his makeup?' But this could also been seen as a fair question, considering the title of his new book is "KISS and Makeup". He was actually giving a great answer to that question for a little while. He was talking about the history behind Paul's makeup, and then Ace's makeup, and then he got to his own makeup and it was like he remembered who he was and that he had to be rude or something.

Most of the interview wasn't really about rock and roll, or women, or even the band at all. It was all about money. Simmons just could not stop talking about money: How it was the most important thing in the world. How he feels that if he has money, he can basically buy everything else -- love, sex, respect, whatever. Gross finally said a single sentence like: "you think money is the most important thing there is, huh?", and Simmons took it from there, for about 10 minutes straight. Why yes, he does feel that way, and Gross and the other bumpkins on NPR are idiots for not realizing that money is the most important thing in life. Etc. etc.

In conclusion, no one will ever know why Gene Simmons chose to insult NPR, its staff, and its entire listening audience instead of selling them all a couple hundred thousand books. Whatever the reason, the incident has left me a litle sad inside. I think, in part because I used to always have a more than a little respect for Gene Simmons -- ever since I put my first "Rock and Roll Over" sticker on my binder in the fourth grade.

Now I wish he would just grow up little.