000209.html

Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Wed, 09 Feb 2000 13:00:00 GMT
As planned, I went to {@DaveNet Live 2/8/2000} at the Hynes last night. Follow that link to get to my story. Dave's pointer to it on Scripting News has made it my most popular story to date.

Joe Farah at WorldNetDaily - End the drug war: Joe tells the story of machine-gun-toting cops breaking into Clyde Highbarger's Cave Junction, Oregon, home and dispensing their "state-directed police terror". No drugs were found, though the cops "did not appreciate some of the literature they discovered in the house", as if it were any of their business. "Enough is enough. The government is merely empowering the drug lords with its phony 'war.' America is losing its civil liberties in the name of law and order. It's time to call off the dogs, get the federal troops out of our communities and send them packing -- disarmed -- back to Washington where they belong. I declare the drug war over." I've been reading WorldNetDaily for a long time, and don't remember seeing Joe's position on the war on some drugs. Bravo!

C. Scott Ananian at Salon - Criminal code?: "To the uninformed, the fight over DeCSS might look like the latest hacker obsession -- sure to blow over as soon as the DVD industry starts licensing DVD player technology for the Linux-based operating system. But the key issue at stake here -- corporate control versus individual freedom -- is fundamentally important. It's reason enough for me to stand on a cold New York street corner, and it's reason enough for hackers to fight."

WebMonkey - Et Tu, Slashdot? Comments on the VA Linux acquisition of Andover.net: "Any unbiased appraisal of this merger, however, will yield one difficult but inescapable truth: The camaraderie and high spirits engendered by Linus and his band of programmers will soon be replaced by the same rancor and factiousness that permeates the rest of the capitalist world. And Slashdot, which is so highly revered by its readers and those who know its mission, will soon lose its trust, reputation, and standing." I find this hard to believe. Slashdot says, "Everyone who works on Slashdot, and everyone in Andover.net management, has sworn to defend Slashdot's editorial independence. Period."

Wired - Visa Touts XML Data Standard. Visa International is apparently embracing XML. No sign of it on their web site, yet; a search for "XML" came up empty.

Business Week - The Browser Wars Are Breaking Out All Over Again. Mentions Spyglass, Be, Opera, and Mozilla. I'm using Opera on Windows right now. Looking forward to their PPCLinux version (there is an alpha release for x86 Linux).

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