Day: February 22, 2005

ROTFLMAO at Google Toolbar Attacks

You just have to appreciate the sort of bombast that Dave Winer can generate. Google creates a beta version of its toolbar that automatically detects addresses and turns them into links to Google Maps automatically — if the user explicitly chooses this behavior — and it turns out to be the end of the Web as we know it.

Any news organization or academic journal that publishes on the Web now has a serious integrity issue because of the existence of the Google toolbar with the AutoLink feature. All documents will have to contain a disclaimer that links contained within the page may not have been placed there by the author or organization whose copyright notice is on the page. Same is true for legal documents, end-user license agreements, rental agreements, etc. And if links are changeable, is text subject to change as well? Might Google correct our spelling? Or might they correct our thinking? Where is the line?

Straight from user-requested automatic links to George Orwell’s 1984.

I’ve participated in this sort of insidious conspiracy myself. I have an Extension to Firefox that inserts a graphic next to any link that is a PDF, MP3 or a number of other such links that piss me off when I click on them without being warned that my browser is going to try to load some huge-assed file.

I thought I was enhancing my experience and tailoring the web to work the way I’d prefer. Instead, I was walking down the slippery slope of Big Brother control of the web. If that plug-in can insert a graphic after a PDF, for example, what’s to stop it from taking every instance of “Winer” in a web page and substituting “Weenie”?

Hmmm… I wonder if Winer ever received permission beforehand to do SalonHerringWiredFool.Com? And I bet all of those organizations are happy he let the domain expire so it could become a porn site. Maybe Google should alter Dave’s thinking!

How Not to Lend Credibility to Your Book

Since its available as a free Creative Commons-licensed PDF, I downloaded Kembrew McCleod’s new book Freedom of Expression. Unfortunately I get less than two pages into the book before noticing that McCleod’s book perpetuates a mini-hoax that would have been easy for him to do a little research and debunk.

Back in 2003, Fox News briefly tried to sue Al Franken when Franken used the words “Fair and Balanced” in the title of his book. Fox was stupid for even trying and received a lot of negative publicity over it.

Matt Groening appeared on “Fresh Air” with Terry Gross about that time and started a mini-hoax by telling Gross that Fox News had threatened to sue The Simpson’s over a satirical news crawl that The Simpson’s placed on a cable news parody.

Groening later claimed he meant to be satirical, but regardless Groening’s claim was reported by numerous newspapers as if it were true.

But The Simpsons’ producers released a statement the next day, saying,

Matt was being satirical and certainly there was never any issue between the show and Fox News. We regret any confusion.

By then the hoax was everywhere, however, and Kembrew repeats it on the second page of his book,

It [Fox News] also targeted The Simpsons (which airs on its sister network) for parodying the news channel’s right-wing slant. During one episode, the cartoon imitated the Fox News ticker, running crawling headlines . . .

Fox News eventually backed down, opting not to file a lawsuit against the show. . . It’s probably the first time that media consolidation has actually enabled freedom of expression.

No, its probably a hoax that we’ll be hearing even more of thanks to Kembrew repeating it in his book.

And, this fits into my constant complaints about fact checking. Even if it appears to be from a credible source, if it sounds to good to be true — and Fox threatening to sue itself fits into that category — you have to go the extra mile in confirming it. A simple call or e-mail to The Simpsons or Fox would have cleared the matter up and prevented the further dissemination of this hoax.

Update: Kembrew, to his credit, says he did try to contact Groening’s production company.

Source:

Freedom of Expression. Kembrew McLeod, Doubleday, December 7, 2004.

Names & Faces. Washington Post, October 31, 2003.

California Foie Gras Restaurant Targeted by Extremists Closes

Sonoma Saveurs, the foie gras store and restaurant owned by the partners behind Sonoma Foie Gras, recently closed after failing to generate enough business to stay open.

The restaurant was severely vandalized in 2003, but ultimately closed because of a simple lack of patronage.

Junny and Guilermo Gonzalez, who were partners in the restaurant and also own Sonoma Foie Gras, said they would turn their focus to their foie gras farm.

Source:

Sonoma Saveurs foie gras shop closes. GraceAnn Walden, San Francisco Chronicle, February 9, 2005.

SAEN: Animal Research? Must Be The Money!

Stop Animal Exploitation Now’s Leana Stormont held a press conference at the University of Iowa in February to denounce animal research outside Spence Laboratories.

Spence Laboratories was the site of a much-publicized Animal Liberation Front attack last year, in which animals were stolen and machinery was smashed by extremists.

Stormont held a press conference outside Spence saying that the only reason researchers at the University of Iowa were continuing to conduct animal research was to enrich themselves.

Stormont said,

Barbaric experiments are under way at the University of Iowa. This is not about science. This is about money — attracing hundreds of thousands of dollars to UI’s coffers.

But Stormont seems to have limited knowledge about the research going on at the University of Iowa. The Iowa City Press-Citizen noted that Stormant denounced University of Iowa researcher Gary Van Hoesen research on macaques.

Just one problem, according to the Press-Citizen,

However, Van Hoesen said he has not used monkeys since 1982. He now conducts research on the human brain related to Alzheimer’s disease

Animal rights activists’ compassion is matched only by their accuracy.

Update/Correction: Thanks to Rick Bogle for pointing out that there are serious problems with the Press-Citizen’s reporting above that Van Hoesen has not done any research on monkeys since 1982. Van Hoesen is, in fact, listed as the last author on a number of studies that involve research on monkeys in recent years. Van Hoesen is probably correct that he hasn’t personally done any research on monkeys, and his name is probably being add as the last author due to convention of adding senior researchers and program heads on research that comes out of their department (Van Hoesen is the director of the Alzheimer’s disease program at the University of Iowa). But Stormont was being completely reasonable, in my opinion, in assuming that Van Hoesen was conducting research on monkeys since his name was attached to a number of such studies, and the Press-Citizen and/or Van Hoesen was being grossly unfair and deceptive in depicting Stormont as being ignorant or relying on outdated information. AnimalRights.Net regrets reproducing the Press-Citizen’s deceptive characterization of Stormont.

Sources:

UI target of animal rights group. Kristen Schorsch, Iowa City Press-Citizen, February 11, 2005.

Group pressures University of Iowa to halt animal research. Associated Press, February 11, 2005.

Suspect Arrested in Attempted Ecoterrorism Arsons

In February, Ryan Lewis, 21, was arrested in New Castle, California, and charged with the attempted January 12 firebombing of an Auburn, California, commercial complex.

Five incendiary devices were found by construction workers at the commercial complex in Auburn on January 12. According to the FBI, the devices were similar to three incendiary devices found at an upscale Lincoln, California, subdivision. No one has been charged yet in the attempted arson in Lincoln.

Both attempted arsons were claimed by the Earth Liberation Front in letters sent to a number of newspapers.

The full text of the criminal complaint against Lewis can be read here.

Sources:

Suspect in ecoterror attack called polite, sweet. KRCA, February 11, 2005.

Arrest made in one of three alleged eco-terror arsons. Don Thompson, Associated Press, February 10, 2005.