1. UK Man Jailed For Refusing To Decrypt His Files 41 minutes ago   permalink

Mike Masnick / Techdirt

Two years ago, a US judge ruled that a guy with an encrypted hard drive did not have to hand over his encryption key to the police, as it would be a violation of the 5th Amendment (the right not to self-incriminate). The argument there is that the encryption key is a form of "speech." This is quite a reasonable ruling -- but it appears that over ...

2. Rather Than Blaming Twitter, NY Police Using It To Track Gang Activity 4 hours ago   permalink

Rather Than Blaming Twitter, NY Police Using It To Track Gang Activity
Mike Masnick / Techdirt

We've seen way too many stories of law enforcement officials blaming online tools like Craigslist, rather than using them proactively to help fight crime. Luckily, it appears that more and more folks in law enforcement are smart enough to know better. Robert Ring alerts us to a story about how gangs in New York are using Twitter to communicate ...

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Blackfive / BLACKFIVE
More Fort Hood Support from Soldiers' Angels and Rudy's!!!   —  Below is a press release (full disclosure that I'm a trustee of Soldiers' Angels) about how we can continue to support the families at Fort Hood. Please note the easy (and free!) way to help by signing up on Facebook and Twitter as fan's of Rudy's Country Store and BBQ! RUDY’S “COUNTRY STORE” AND BAR-B-Q® REMEMBERS ONE-MONTH ANNIVERSARY OF ...

3. DoDLive Bloggers Roundtable to discuss U.S. Afghanistan Policy 3 hours ago   permalink

DoDLive Bloggers Roundtable to discuss U.S. Afghanistan Policy
Www.blogtalkradio.com

Currently there are no live chats in progress. Please check back later.

discussions

4. Obama's Afghan policy speech at West Point 6 hours ago   permalink

Voices.washingtonpost.com

Following is the transcript of President Obama's speech Tuesday at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. (The Post's report on the president's address is here.)

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Nymag.com
Obama's Speech, My First Reaction? Despair... How Obama Gets Out of the Woods   —  The Thursday before last, President Barack Obama came home from his eight-day trip to Asia and received a welcome even frostier than the subfreezing temperatures that had greeted him in Beijing. In the House of Representatives, the populist Democrat Peter DeFazio of Oregon was calling for the heads of Tim Geithner and Larry Summers on a pair of ...

P.M. / Thomas P.M. Barnett :
Shortcut on Obama speech   —  Nicely delivered, but strategically unimaginative in an off-putting way. Too much talking down to the American people. We're more sophisticated; we can handle more complex arguments. Overall then: good on the 30k decision, bad on specific timetable, and boat missed completely on articulating a larger regionalization of the solution. Afghanistan ...

5. Obama's plan for Afghanistan 5 hours ago   permalink

Obama's plan for Afghanistan
Blackfive / BLACKFIVE

Not here, that would be inappropriate. You know where the straight skinny will be applied.

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Pajamasmedia.com
Obama's plan for Afghanistan Drunkblogging Obama’s Afghanistan speech.   —  4:39PM I’m watching CNN’s online stream. And I’m so desperate after all these press conferences that I’ve decided to forego the usual, fancy name-brand martinis. Instead, I’ve taken a jug of McCormick and poured it over a large bucket of ice. One way or another, this is gonna be ugly.

6. General McChrystal Statement 7 hours ago   permalink

Greyhawk / Mudville Gazette

KABUL, Afghanistan (Dec. 2) - The statement of General Stanley McChrystal, Commander NATO International Security Assistance Force and U.S. Forces Afghanistan regarding the address by The President of the United States: "The Afghanistan-Pakistan review led by the President has provided me with a clear military mission and the resources to ...

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P.M. / Thomas P.M. Barnett :
Practicing for Afghanistan in Indiana   —  ARTICLE: In Indiana, practice for 'civilian surge' in Afghanistan , By Karen DeYoung, Washington Post , November 21, 2009 Another sign of the Army adjusting itself to the world as it finds it versus the wars some dream about. Personally, it's been interesting to witness the shift at Camp Atterbury, because the personnel who flow through there ...

Blackfive / BLACKFIVE
President to unveil strategy tonight   —  Well the long-awaited day is here and tonight we will here President Obama's revisit to his new strategy for Afghanistan. Reports have the number for a troop reinforcement at 34,000 which is short of what Gen. McChrystal called his medium risk option of 40,000. Even so, this is a major step and depending on what else he outlines could well be the ...

7. In house video, caps and overage fees for using it... 6 hours ago   permalink

In house video, caps and overage fees for using it...
Www.dslreports.com

Tags: business · alternatives · cable · world · caps · Rogers Hi-Speed Canadian cable operator Rogers has constructed what's essentially the dream business model for broadband executives. They're launching a new broadband video portal that's only available if you sign up for Rogers wireless, TV or broadband ...

discussions

8. Google and paid content 6 hours ago   permalink

Google and paid content
Googlenewsblog.blogspot.com

As newspapers consider charging for access to their online content, some publishers have asked: Should we put up pay walls or keep our articles in Google News and Google Search? In fact, they can do both - the two aren't mutually exclusive. There are a few ways we work with publishers to make their subscription content discoverable. Today we're ...

discussions

9. Help Grok Pivot, A Novel Approach to Search Interface 6 hours ago   permalink

Help Grok Pivot, A Novel Approach to Search Interface
Fmpub.net / John Battelle

Microsoft has been kind enough to give me a limited number of invitations for readers of Searchblog to grok Pivot, which I wrote about here last week. In that post I promised to grok Pivot, then report back more here. Alas, Pivot is currently Windows only, and - alas...

10. Text of the Speech 7 hours ago   permalink

Www.nytimes.com

Good evening. To the United States Corps of Cadets, to the men and women of our armed services, and to my fellow Americans: I want to speak to you tonight about our effort in Afghanistan – the nature of our commitment there, the scope of our interests, and the strategy that my Administration will pursue to bring this war to a successful ...

discussions

Scott Loftesness / Scott Loftesness :   Sobering Words

11. Stevenson High School: Students say district forced them to publish paper 8 hours ago   permalink

Www.chicagotribune.com

Those who compare the Stevenson High School student newspaper to professional news organizations have made a significant error. Stevenson High School, like all public schools, is a state-run organization; professional news organizations are not owned or operated by the state. When an editor or publisher of a professional news organization makes a ...

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12. US Visa Process Making It Even More Difficult For Foreign Musicians To Tour Here 9 hours ago   permalink

Mike Masnick / Techdirt

A couple of years ago, we noted that US Immigration was making life difficult for touring musicians by changing the way they enforced the visas commonly used by musicians. Specifically, the usual visa required proof of popularity -- but had no systems in place to account for popularity via the internet. This resulted in various well known ...

13. Just finished 6,600-word essay for Esquire--the print magazine 10 hours ago   permalink

P.M. / Thomas P.M. Barnett :

Wish me luck actually getting it into "the book," as it is known (the major features part). Since the financial crash, it's been an entirely different world when it comes to making it into any one issue. Since the 75th anniversary issue in the fall of 2008, I've only scored a small piece (Obama's New Map) in connection with the release of Great ...

14. Blackfive Live Blogs the Reaction to the President's Afghan Plan tonight 13 hours ago   permalink

Blackfive / BLACKFIVE

Hope to see you here at 7pm CST...Hello Fox Chicago viewers! First point, will the West Point back drop/photo op make him look more decisive? Second point, will his plan have guarantees from NATO countries (thank you, Brits!)? Third point, will he set realistic expectations about a tough fight, high casaulties, lots of effort and time invested, ...

15. Right Face 13 hours ago   permalink

Right Face
Greyhawk / Mudville Gazette

To the left: a little reminder that Barack Obama didn't invent the photo op with troops. He does, however, appear to be determined to perfect the art. And tonight from West Point you should see an example of the state of the art. If all goes well it will look easy - but behind the scenes it's anything but. Making it look easy is the business of ...

16. Announcing ’s new partner: NIKE 14 hours ago   permalink

Blog.joinred.com

(RED)™ is a simple idea that transforms our collective power as shoppers into a financial force that helps those affected by HIV in Africa. To date, $140 million has been generated and 4 million people have been helped through Global Fund programs that (RED) supports. When you choose to buy products from (RED) partner companies up to 50% of ...

discussions

17. The USAF’s KC-X Aerial Tanker RFP 16 hours ago   permalink

Joe Katzman / Defense Industry Daily

Old as the hills… (click to view full) DID’s FOCUS articles cover major weapons acquisition programs – and no program is more important to the USAF than its current bid to replace... [summary]

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Joe Katzman / Defense Industry Daily
The USAF’s KC-X Aerial Tanker RFP Next-Stage C4ISR Bandwidth: The AEHF Satellite Program   —  AEHF concept (click to view full) DID’s FOCUS articles offer in-depth, updated looks at significant military programs of record. This article offers a look at the AEHF system’s rationale... [summary]

18. LVSR: The Marines’ Heavy Trucks 18 hours ago   permalink

LVSR: The Marines’ Heavy Trucks
Joe Katzman / Defense Industry Daily

LVSR comes ashore (click to view full) Why are trucks a big deal? Because they’re the unglamorous but very necessary backbone of any mobile military force. The US Marines certainly fit the... [summary]

19. Interesting when put in perspective 18 hours ago   permalink

Cdrsalamander.blogspot.com

An Army buddy of CDRSalamander penned something that humbles me in its simple awesomeness. As he wishes to remain anon, I will change his work a little bit - but as in most masterpieces - it is best to leave it as the author intended.

discussions

20. Can Someone Please Do Annual Search Lists on Jan 1? 18 hours ago   permalink

Fmpub.net / John Battelle

I never did understand why everyone releases the "top Searches of 2009" with one month yet to go. It's as if nothing happens in December. Anyway, here are the sites: Bing. Yahoo. Google....