- Wal-Mart is embarking on a sweeping campaign to offer extensive and intensive business training for small businesses around its urban stores, a PR stunt on the order of “Restaurant Cooks World’s Largest Pancake.” Except, of course, this pancake has immigrant babies grilled in it.
- NY Attorney General Elliot Spitzer filed suit today against Direct Revenue for installing spyware on people’s computers that filled them with pop-ups. Man, some people will stoop to anything to become governor.
- A report issued by the Government Accountability Office surveying returns filed at tax return preparation commercial chains found errors on every single one of the 19 returns tested by its undercover operatives. 19 returns, eh? Some sample size. Guess the government doesn’t like doing its taxes, either.
- And in the Stick a Fork in It, It’s Done Department: Netflix sued Blockbuster yesterday, claiming infringement against several of its innovations, such as no-late fees and wish-lists.
- In a case of the bacon frying the grease, a CBS journalist who exposed police intimidation against citizens attempting to file complaints has, in a retaliatory tactic by Florida Police, had his name and personal information put on the top of a online police BOLO (Be On the Lookout) list.
- Recording industry’s legal strongarm tells a student to drop out of MIT to pay her copyright infringement settlement, student claims. Does the RIAA‘s evil know no bounds? No? Okay, good, didn’t think so.







Regarding the MIT student: The point is, unless they’ve got the wrong girl and she never downloaded a tune, we’re to assume the girl stole music. People all laughed at me for not doing it and look in wonder at me when I won’t go downtown with them to buy knockoff Chanel, etc, handbags on Santee Alley. (I used to live by the handbag dealers on NY’s Canal Street.)
You can’t be against lacking corporate ethics but all for lacking consumer ethics. And how much money Madonna makes or record companies make is immaterial. The music belongs to them. They can sell it for whatever price they want, and all we can do is choose not to pay for it. Moreover, it’s theft to buy designer knockoff handbags. Again, if Miuccia Prada wants to sell ugly nylon bags for hundreds of dollars and if there are idiots out there who will pay her for it, that’s her business and theirs. The bags belong to her.
Legality of file-sharing aside (just because it’s illegal doesn’t mean it’s wrong), c’mon, it’s an college student!
“It’s theft to buy designer knockoff handbags”? Not to the best of my knowledge. It may be trademark infringement to _make_ them, but as far as I’m aware, buying them is perfectly legal. What are you stealing, exactly?
‘Stick a Fork in It, It’s Done Department’ – I dig it. I said the lawsuit would probably kill Blockbuster on my blog as well.
You’re stealing the work of the designers they’re knocking off.