Don't Mess With EU Privacy Laws

Copyright cop wedding crashers fined by Spanish court

The next time you have a wedding, make sure your videographer isn't a secret spy for the RIAA or similar copyright group. This real-life scenario happened to a couple in Spain thanks to the efforts of the Spanish General Society of Authors and Editors (SGAE), a rights group for musicians and artists. But although the group managed to bust the reception venue for copyright violations, SGAE itself has been fined for violating the privacy of the newlyweds.

The incident originally took place back in 2005, when SGAE snuck a private detective into the wedding reception acting as a cameraman. The group had suspected the venue—La Doma restaurant near Seville, Spain—for using music without paying royalties. Predictably, this series of events have horrified privacy advocates who argue that the couple's privacy was breached. As noted by The Sunday Times, however, the issue has come to light recently because SGAE has increased its efforts to catch venues that are avoiding royalty payments, and another, similar case is about to go to court.

SGAE claims that the video was taken by guests. However, in the case of the La Doma video, a Seville court ruled that it could not be used as evidence of copyright violations because it was "a clear violation of the constitutional rights to a person's own image." Despite this, La Doma was fined €43,179 for illegally using the music. La Doma got off lightly compared to the SGAE, which was nicked for €60,101 for the privacy violations. So the SGAE's copyright enforcement cost it nearly €18,000—not including court costs.

SGAE apparently doesn't feel that it has done anything wrong, and apparently plans to continue crashing weddings in order to catch venues in the act (and maybe sneak a slice or two of cake in the process). "Using private detectives to investigate fraud is common. We will carry on doing it," SGAE director Pedro Farre told the Times. On the other hand, with cameramen being fined upwards of US$86,000, SGAE may soon find itself hard-up for volunteers to carry out its dirty deeds.

I think the article is overblowing the risk to investigators here. The privacy violation is NOT about the intrusion into the wedding party ("wedding crashers"), it's about the information that was collected about identifiable individuals--in this case, I'd guess embarrassing video of drunken guests dancing horribly ("constitutional right to a person's own image"). The message is clear: don't take video. The only information the investigator needs is the song played, and the time and place. Record more than that and you're asking for trouble.

Report: Russia's Venezuela Visit Filled With Mishaps

Not the dangerous kind, the funny kind.

Tal Cual, a Venezuelan daily newspaper, described the exercises as a “clash of civilizations” due to the strange and even hilarious events that occurred. To start with, the Cuban officers brought along by the Venezuelan navy as interpreters were not allowed by the Russians, who could not understand why the Venezuelan navy had to rely on Cuban personnel. When Venezuelan strongman Chavez tried to visit the ship “Admiral Chabanenko,” his bodyguards were not allowed to go aboard. A fistfight broke between the Russian sailors and the bodyguards -- one Russian sailor suffering a broken nose.

The Venezuelan participation in the exercises was finally reduced to two frigates, F21 and F24, and the transport ship T81, since the other units were not seaworthy. The access of Chavez to the flagship Russian “Peter the Great” was not allowed. In retaliation, Chavez refused to receive Russian President Medvedev at his arrival, sending his colorless vice president Ramon Carrizales instead. Medvedev was reportedly not amused, but his visit had objectives to fulfill that were more important than his irritation at Chavez’s faulty protocol.

Source.

Insulting: Jim Ryan Calls for Leaders with "Moral Compass"

Jim Ryan--the former IL AG who ran for Governor and lost to Blagojevich--needs to shut the hell up and just fade away.

In response to the corruption charges against Blago, Ryan had this to say:

"I feel bad for the people of Illinois," said Jim Ryan. "They need to rise up and say we need authentic leaders with a moral compass and we haven't had that in a while."

This, coming from a guy who tried to advance his career through entrapment schemes.

Illinois Attorney General Jim Ryan is trying to make a name for himself in law enforcement circles by conducting his own sting operation against private-party firearms sales. Ryan has been pushing his agents to violate Illinois law in order to get people to sell them "illegal" firearms over the Internet. Could this "tough-on-crime" charade be a political ploy by Ryan? After all, in Illinois primary elections are in March and 2002 is an election year.

According to the Associated Press, Ryan’s agents were able to procure some firearms: a semi-automatic pistol and two so-called assault weapons. However most of the cases could not be prosecuted either for a lack of evidence, or because Ryan violated an Illinois law prohibiting entrapment operations. The sting, which resulted in only one conviction -- Christopher Tocco of Goodrich, Michigan who pleaded guilty to unlawful use of a machine gun--has been severely criticized by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF)...

Trying to trick innocent people into breaking the law and sending them to prison so your political career might take off. Yeah, some moral compass.

Fuck off.

Linked: British Purge Commanders Over Iran-Hostage Drama

THE British navy has completed a discreet clean-out of the senior figures involved in the debacle over the arrest by Iranian Revolutionary Guards of 15 British sailors and marines.

Those involved in the Royal Navy's humiliation at the hands of Tehran have been pushed out of their high-profile jobs as part of an attempt to sweep away any reminder of the debacle...

The victims include two vice-admirals, the captain of the ship on which the boat crews served and a senior official in the failed public relations operation that followed their return to Britain.

Full article

OI Fails at Reading Comprehension

I really dropped the ball on this one. In the beginning of November, I said the natural born citizenship issue was dead because Hawaii authorities confirmed the validity of the birth certificate.

I'm a fucking moron.

Here is the story in its entirety:

State officials say there's no doubt Barack Obama was born in Hawai'i.

Health Department Director Dr. Chiyome Fukino said today she and the registrar of vital statistics, Alvin Onaka, have personally verified that the health department holds Obama's original birth certificate.

Fukino says that no state official, including Republican Gov. Linda Lingle, ever instructed that Obama's certificate be handled differently.

She says state law bars release of a certified birth certificate to anyone who does not have a tangible interest.

Some Obama critics claim he was not born in the U.S.

Earlier today, a southwest Ohio magistrate rejected a challenge to Obama's citizenship. Judges in Seattle and Philadelphia recently dismissed similar suits.

Notice the sentence "State officials say there's no doubt Barack Obama was born in Hawai'i" is NOT attributed. The attribued statements are "Health Department Director Dr. Chiyome Fukino said today she and the registrar of vital statistics, Alvin Onaka, have personally verified that the health department holds Obama's original birth certificate," "She says state law bars release of a certified birth certificate to anyone who does not have a tangible interest," and "Fukino says that no state official, including Republican Gov. Linda Lingle, ever instructed that Obama's certificate be handled differently." None of these statements answers the question as to the contents of the birth certificate. All we have is an unattributed assertion by the reporter that the contents are in order.

The question of the eligibility of the President-Elect is still live. And it seems that we don't have an effective legal mechanism to get a look at that damn thing to end this issue once and for all. The only thing I can think of right now is that a subordinate of the then sworn-in President would have to replicate the Berg suit. Berg lost on standing of course; standing being satisfied by a subordinate being the plaintiff, the court could not dismiss the case prior to discovery, which would mean that damn elusive little piece of paper could be taken as evidence and the relevant official deposed under oath. Short of that happening, I'm out of ideas.

So yeah. I blew it by sucking at reading comprehension. I guess I just wanted it to be over and I saw what I wanted to see instead of what was actually on the page.

H/T: Conservative Thinker

Sometimes It's Easy to Tell Who the Good Ones Are

081207-M-6159T-144 CAMP BASTION, Afghanistan (Dec. 7, 2008) U.S. Senators John McCain, left, and Joe Lieberman leave the airfield aboard Camp Bastion. U.S. Military service members and British Royal Army personnel briefed U.S. Senators McCain, Joe Lieberman, and Lindsey Graham on the progress and status of their area of operations in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. (Official U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Pete Thibodeau)

I tried Googling this meeting and came up empty--no news coverage, except for this photo taken by a USMC photographer--er, sorry. Joker--combat correspondent. I much prefer the politicians who still Give A Shit when the campaign is over and attention is elsewhere.

Not Again

MOSCOW, December 8 (RIA Novosti) - One naval officer died in a fire on Russia's Baltic Fleet frigate the Neukrotimy (Indomitable) on Monday, a senior Navy official said.

"The body of an officer was discovered during a thorough search of the ship," Captain 1st Rank Igor Dygalo, an aide to the Russian Navy commander, said.

Earlier reports said no one had been hurt in the fire that broke out early on Monday on the frigate anchored at Baltiisk, the Baltic Fleet's main base.

A regional emergencies official said the fire was put out at 14:00 Moscow time (11:00 a.m. GMT).

He said five firefighting teams, including a special firefighting boat, had been involved in extinguishing the fire.

The Baltic Fleet press service said only insignificant damage had been caused to the vessel, while the cause of the fire had yet to be established by a special investigations commission.

Dygalo said the frigate, at the end of its operational life span, was due to be taken out of service, adding there had been no weapons on board the ship when the fire started.

The Krivak-2 Project-1135 Neukrotimy, built in 1978, was damaged in 2005, when a practice mine exploded during rehearsals for Russia's Navy Day, causing a 3-meter hole in the ship's hull and flooding the ship's engine room.

This is senseless. These guys really need to work on their safety procedures.

Rest in peace.

Source.

US in the ICC?

Boldly said, but I remain unconvinced. ("You are not prepared!!!" Ahem.)

Maybe for no other reason other than that it was just a lousy article. Of course, on the issue of the ICC, what really matters is the risk of the body being used as a political weapon against American Soldiers. Out of 19 paragraphs, only 3 sentences are dedicated to this issue:

Initial U.S. fears that the court would be politically motivated have proved groundless. The court’s respect for the principle that it can exercise its jurisdiction only when national courts prove unwilling or unable to do so has proved unbending. Attempts to bring British forces in Iraq before the court for alleged crimes have been rejected by the prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo of Argentina.

That definitely got my attention, and it's worth considering. But this issue needs to be explored comprehensively to make an informed decision here, and two supporting facts is hardly weighty analysis. The rest of the article? Fluff about how the everyone else is doing it and whining about how unilateral Bush is. Crap we've heard 1000 times before that isn't all that convincing.

For what it's worth, Cohen has a point about us needing to shake the perception that we don't care about international law, because the development of new international rule sets is going to be vital to winning the GWOT. We need to be leading in that area, not be pariahs. But there is a lot more to international law than just the ICC. Right now, the crucial issue in this realm is the UNSC, and that should be painfully obvious to everyone. It's possible that we can make progress with the ICC, but there are serious practical issues that have to be worked out that can't simply be dismissed as "groundless."

China Stepping Up

Major General Jin Yinan has announced China's intention to get involved in anti-piracy efforts in the Gulf of Aden. This has the potential to be huge---for once, instead of being the UNSC member obstructing solutions to international problems, they're going to play an active part. This comes on the heels of a unanimous UNSC reslolution that renewed authorization to persue pirates into Somali waters, authorized the detention and disposition of suspected pirate vessels, and perhaps most significantly, called on member states to establish laws to enable them to prosecute those arrested.

I've been looking forward to the opportunity for the US to start working with China as a partner rather than as a rival. And for that to happen, China has to start realizing that its interests coincide with ours---in open, secure markets, regional stability, and increased connectedness. Their intention to get involved in the piracy issue means that they're starting to think about more responsibilities as a major power and less about the Taiwan issue or a potential rivalry with us. (EDIT: Galrahn beat me to it: "that might be the smell of maturity.") As this plays out, we can look forward to an increasing partnership with China, which means the looming war between us becomes less likely, and hopefully at some point we'll be able to reallocate part of that part of the defense budget to something more useful. Good times.

WANT

Too bad I don't like crying and/or puppies.

Thinking Strategically (Or, How Galrahn Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Pirates)

Gal's given me another reason to plug Information Dissemination with two of his latest insightful posts. So seldom do we find anyone who thinks about the big picture.

I'm not going to bother quoting key passages, as these are definitely worth taking in in their entirety:

Observing the Strategic Success of US Policy Toward Somali Piracy

Are Pirates the Problem, Or the Solution?

(Related OI post: Piracy a blessing in disguise?)

One Less Vertical Scenario Playing Out

I guess we can sleep a little easier knowing that the BrahMos will not be exported as widely as previously feared:

There were initial hopes that Russia and India could export up to 2,000. China and Iran have expressed interest in the weapon, but only Malaysia, Chile, South Africa, Kuwait and the UAE (United Arab Emirates) have been approached with a sales pitch. No one has placed an order.

Smart people, not selling to China and Iran. India apparently realizes that its relations with us are a bit too important to throw away to make an easy buck or two. It also seems that we figure into the poor sales elsewhere.

Earlier this year, India ordered 800 more of the new PJ-10 BrahMos missiles. Attempts to find export customers, however, have not succeeded. India believes this is because they have not previously been a major arms exporter, and have not developed the skills and techniques to sell high-tech weapons. Another reason, which the Indian arms salesmen don't like to dwell on, is that BrahMos was originally designed to go after heavily defended American aircraft carriers. Few countries see attacking the U.S. Navy as a promising military strategy. That, and the high price of the BrahMos probably accounts for most of the sales resistance.

I might suggest that they could find potential customers in NATO, but I doubt India's partners will like that idea. What a pity.

Such an Odd Place...

I knew the Somali pirates were getting rich and living the glamorous life, but I didn't realize the size of the boom they're causing:

But in northern coastal towns like Haradhere, Eyl and Bossaso, the pirate economy is thriving thanks to the money pouring in from pirate ransoms that have reached $30 million this year alone.

In Haradhere, residents came out in droves to celebrate as the looming oil ship came into focus this week off the country's lawless coast. Businessmen started gathering cigarettes, food and cold glass bottles of orange soda, setting up small kiosks for the pirates who come to shore to re-supply almost daily.

Dahir said she is so confident in the pirates, she instituted a layaway plan just for them.

"They always take things without paying and we put them into the book of debts," she told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "Later, when they get the ransom money, they pay us a lot."

For Somalis, the simple fact that pirates offer jobs is enough to gain their esteem, even as hostages languish on ships for months. The population makes sure the pirates are well-stocked in qat, a popular narcotic leaf, and offer support from the ground even as the international community tries to quash them.

"Regardless of how the money is coming in, legally or illegally, I can say it has started a life in our town," said Shamso Moalim, a 36-year-old mother of five in Haradhere.

"Our children are not worrying about food now, and they go to Islamic schools in the morning and play soccer in the afternoon. They are happy."

I find this curious because of the warlord situation there. As I see it, the warlords' primary interest is to hold onto power. That means they'd either be in on the piracy business or demanding a shit ton of "protection" money. And maybe they are. But an economic boom is empowering to the common folk. They're getting jobs, vehicles, going to school.... not exactly the picture of dependency that we've come to identify with Somalia since the 90's. They're even doing business overseas and getting wired up on the 'net--getting connected with the rest of the world.

This may seem perverse, but maybe this piracy thing is a bit of a blessing in disguise. It's hard to keep a population dependent on you when they're doing business and getting connected. No, that's not a justification, but it is food for thought, because disconnectedness is what defines danger and instability these days. Right now, it seems Somalia is too far gone to connect to the rest of the world (much like Afghanistan) and not suitable for a nation-building type program, but maybe as the seeds of connectedness are sown through this piracy, that will start to slowly change.

Silver lining or not, I still think more aggressive measures need to be taken to stop this problem.

Piracy Leading to Disruption in Int'l Trade

You know it's serious when you can't get your Wii games.

Alarmed at the growing number of attacks off Somalia, international merchant shipping is edging closer to doing the unthinkable in peace time: by-passing one of world's most vital trade routes.

Somali pirates have been plundering ships off the Horn of Africa for years, but the recent surge in attacks has spilled out into the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea, threatening access to the Suez Canal.

Now big firms employed in moving everything from oil, gas and coal to toys, are urgently considering whether to travel round South Africa's Cape of Good Hope instead.

***

The alternative voyage round the Cape of Good Hope would add upwards of three weeks to a typical journey, delaying goods to buyers and increasing transport costs.

***

Giles Noakes, chief maritime security officer at BIMCO, a big industry association, said two operators, one a gas carrier and a tug operator Svitzer, a maritime logistics group, were already routing their fleets via the Cape.

"The next group that I expect to be going round the Cape are the big dry bulkers -- carriers of coal, grains and iron ore -- who also cruise at lower speeds," Noakes said.

How long are we going to let these mosquitos bite us before we spray the nest?

Peek-A-Boo

The JMSDF sees you!

No info yet on how close they came to the G-Dub. Hans are noisy fiddle luckers, though, so hopefuly not that close.

I can't help but wonder if this story was intended to coincide with the SCOTUS news, as it doesn't say when the subs were detected.

Victory!

SCOTUS is full of awesome and win today:

U.S. Supreme Court Lifts Restrictions on Navy Sonar (Update3)

By Greg Stohr

Nov. 12 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Supreme Court lifted restrictions on the Navy's use of sonar during training exercises off the Southern California coast, ruling that national security needs trumped environmental concerns.

A divided high court rejected arguments by environmentalists that the judge-ordered restrictions were warranted to protect whales and other marine mammals.

The environmental interests ``are plainly outweighed by the Navy's need to conduct realistic training exercises to ensure that it is able to neutralize the threat posed by enemy submarines,'' Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority.

Well, not that divided... two dissents and two concurrences for a 6.5 to 2.5 majority. Not bad.

I See What You Did There

First, giving credit where credit is due, Conservative Wahoo saw it first.

Here is a story about how the press covered the election. It is amazing in three respects. First, if there was ever any doubt about the widespread perception that the mainstream media has a liberal bias, this should prove it once and for all. Second--and I was surprised by this--it shows that Fox News Channel really is living up to its "Fair and Balanced" motto (I thought they would have had a slight conservative tilt, but the data shows otherwise). Finally, it's remarkable because despite what the raw data shows, the Pew Research Center still managed to present the data in a form that made it appear that FNC was skewed right and that the network news outlets were right in the middle.

Absolutely amazing. The problem with Pew's presentation is that it compares each outlet to the average of all of them, and then decides that if a network is to the left or right of that average, then they are left or right politically. The obvious problem with that is it assumes that the media as a whole is centrist. But it doesn't take a genius to figure out that the media as a whole can be on one side or another--especially when you have a network like MSNBC out there pulling the average way, way out to the left. A better method of analysis is not to assume anything, but to compare the way the networks treated the candidates. No spin, just straight up.

So here is the raw data that the story is based on. The data tells a pretty clear story, when you look at is for what it really is. So, here is what it looks like when you compare how the networks covered the candidates:

FNC
Negative Stories
Obama: 40%
Mcain: 40%
-BALANCED-

Positive Stories
Obama: 25%
McCain: 22%
-BALANCED- (slightly Obama favoring)

MSNBC:
negative stories:
Obama: 14%
McCain 73%
--Tilted against McCain by 5 to 1 ratio--

Positive stories
Obama: 42%
McCain: 10%
--Tilted for Obama by 4 to 1 ratio--

CNN:
Negative Stories
Obama: 39%
McCain: 61%
--Tilted against McCain by 1.7 to 1 ratio--

Positive Stories
Obama: 36%
McCain: 13%
--Tilted for Obama by 2.8 to 1 ratio--

NBC
Negative Stories
Obama: 20%
McCain: 54%
--Tilted against McCain by 2.7 to 1 ratio--

Positive Stories
Obama: 43%
McCain: 17%
--Tilted for Obama by 2.5 to 1 ratio--

CBS
Negative Stories
Obama: 27%
McCain: 57%
--Tilted against McCain by 2.1 to 1 ratio--

Positive Stories
Obama: 21%
McCain: 8%
--Tilted for Obama by 2.6 to 1 ratio--

ABC
Negative Stories
Obama: 27%
McCain: 56%
--Tilted against McCain by 2.1 to 1 ratio--

Positive Stories
Obama: 49%
McCain: 15%
----Tilted for Obama by 3.3 to 1 ratio--

So there you have it. When FNC says "Fair and Balanced", at least in this election, they meant it. CNN, MSNBC, and the old networks favored Obama in their coverage by a 2-5 to 1 margin. The data proves it.

Peril On the Sea

Developing:


RIA Reports a major tragedy at sea:

Over 20 killed in Russian submarine accident

MOSCOW, November 9 (RIA Novosti) - More than 20 people were killed in an accident at a nuclear submarine of the Russian Pacific Fleet, an aide to the Russian Navy commander said Sunday.

"More than 20 people were killed during sea trials as a result of accidental launch of the fire-extinguishing system at a nuclear submarine of the Pacific Fleet on November 8," Capt. 1st Rank Igor Dygalo said. "Shipyard workers and servicemen are among the victims."

He said the Navy commander-in-chief had ordered to stop the trials and the submarine was heading to a temporary base.

Dygalo said 208 people, including 81 servicemen were onboard the submarine.

First Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Kolmakov and Navy commander-in-chief, Admiral Vladimir Vysotsky are heading for the site of the accident, Dygalo added. He did not specify the type and name of the submarine.

A source at the Russian Pacific Fleet told RIA Novosti that the accident had not damaged the submarine's reactor.

The most serious accident regarding Russian submarines occurred on August 12, 2000, when the nuclear submarine Kursk sank following an onboard torpedo explosion, killing all 118 crewmembers.

The story does not identify the sub, but the Nerpa seems like the likely candidate, as it is known to have been undergoing sea trials at the time.

Update: They are calling freon gas the cause of death.

The Cynicism Returns

It's the 2nd half of the video that's worth watching. I don't know what the deal is with that prop sword he had on his back, but the officers clearly have more of a problem with him being there than the object he was carrying at first, because after someone removes it they continue to demand that he leaves, while he insists on being able to exercise his 1st Amendment rights. And he gets arrested for it.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?

Positive Signs from SCOTUS on Sonar

It would appear that the Supreme Court has a bit of a pro-Navy leaning in the "Sailors v. Whales" case.

In a closely watched environmental case, justices Wednesday morning repeatedly sounded sympathetic to Pentagon officials who want to run large-scale Navy exercises off the Southern California coast. While the resulting underwater sonar storm disturbs marine mammals, it also helps prepare sailors for combat.

"I thought the whole point of the armed forces was to hurt the environment," Associate Justice Stephen Breyer said, half-jokingly. "Of course they're going to do harm."

***

Chief Justice John Roberts raised the specter of an undetected "North Korean diesel submarine to get (closer) to Pearl Harbor" if sailors couldn't train with sonar, and Associate Justice Samuel Alito asked pointedly if a judge could be considered "an expert on anti-submarine warfare." Alito added that there is "something incredibly odd" about a trial judge making a decision "contrary" to the Navy's requirements.

Even Breyer, who at times has been skeptical about other claims of executive authority, suggested that "an admiral (who) comes along with an affidavit that seems plausible" might outrank a "district judge who just says" the training should stop.

***

Associate Justice David Souter pressed Garre vigorously, insisting that the Navy may have brought the emergency circumstances on itself, but Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy added that a presidential declaration of military necessity "certainly must be given great weight."

Full story here.