Chad's News

January was a good month for class action lawsuit settlements. Some of them have very broad participation requirements.

• Apple iPod Nano scratches
• Dell computers
• Bank of America overdrafts
• Vonage fax service

New Zealand will be implementing a new section of its copyright law, aimed at file sharers. Guilt will be assumed upon accusation. The penalty will be to disconnect the user’s internet service. This reminds me to be thankful for the Bill of Rights.

Link: http://torrentfreak.com/…
(via Slashdot)

Update: New Zealand has changed its mind.

Because the borders of a country are special cases, the U.S. Government is allowed more flexibility in border zone searches and seizures than is normally permitted by the 4th Amendment of the Constitution. For this purpose, the border zone of the U.S. is defined as anything within 100 miles of its external boundary. This doesn’t sound that bad, until one realizes that it encompasses two-thirds of the U.S. population.

Link: http://www.aclu.org/…
(via digg)

The Australian government will be implementing a nation-wide internet filtering system, to prevent its citizens from accessing illegal content. Concerns have been raised over the possibility that, with such a mechanism in place, it would be all too easy for the government to filter legal content that it deems inappropriate. And this appears to be exactly what is happening. At times like this I’m thankful for the Bill of Rights.

Link: http://www.news.com.au/…
(via Slashdot)

Here’s a way to get a two-for-one deal on airline seats. It appears that Canada officially considers obesity to be a disability.

Thanks to Josh for this topic.

Link: http://www.reuters.com/…

And I always thought it was because they were too out of touch with technology.

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/…
(via Lifehacker)

Update: Turns out that he may be keeping his Blackberry after all.

Update #2: Yes he can.

In the UK, suspected criminals are required to provide their encryption keys to law enforcement officials, even if the unencrypted data would be incriminating. From the linked article, “In the decision, the Court stated that although there was a right to not self-incriminate, this was not absolute, and that the ‘public interest’ can supersede this right in some circumstances.” All I can say is thank God for the Bill of Rights. (Chad’s New has previously covered the UK’s use of ubiquitous surveillance cameras.)

Link: http://arstechnica.com/…

It’s Y2K all over again! The National Debt Clock no longer has enough digits to accurately display the US national debt. They’ve got a temporary workaround, but we’ll have to wait until next year for a new clock with two additional digits. (God forbid the national debt should ever reach $1 quadrillion in my lifetime…)

Link: [Video] http://www.youtube.com/…
(via digg)

Link: [Non-Video] http://ap.google.com/…

In George Orwell’s famous novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four, a primary feature of the totalitarian government is that every citizen is under continuous observation. Over the past couple years I’ve read about how various parts of the United Kingdom have gone all-out with video surveillance cameras. The linked video shows how pervasive it is. Oh, and you get to see a neat, 8-foot tall alien.

Link: http://presurfer.blogspot.com/…

The linked article explains, in layman’s terms, how the largest bankruptcy in history occurred. I figure we, the taxpayers of the United States, should know something about AIG since we now own the company. And for those who want a more general explanation of “What the #$@(&* happened to our economy, there’s this Freakonomics article.

Link: http://www.mentalfloss.com/…

For those Chad’s News readers who’ve purchased makeup between 1994 and 2003, you could participate in a $175 million class action settlement. I figure this probably covers anyone who’s female, and possibly even a good number of men.

Link: http://consumerist.com/…

Due to the massive increase in the price of gasoline, the Internal Revenue Service has raised the standard mileage deduction. As of July 1st, it is $0.585 per mile instead of $0.505. The new rate applies to travel performed from July 1st to the end of the year. Note that the old rate still applies from January 1st to June 30th, 2008.

Link: http://www.irs.gov/…
(via The Consumerist)