Despite the fact that there are a lot of people out there who openly oppose the mandatory internet filter proposed by the current Labor government, most are unable to argue their case from a purely technical standpoint. Fortunately they don’t need to, thanks to outspoken critic and engineer Mark Newton, who is now claiming that the ISP filter trials held last year may have been illegal. More »
Considering both talking on your mobile phone and texting on your mobile phone are illegal in this country, I can’t imagine any police officer who spots you checking out Tweetdeck at the traffic lights is going to go too easy on you… More »
Unless you have a really good reason to own a laser pointer (being a Giz-loving geek doesn’t count, apparently), you should probably avoid using / carrying / showing off anything that points a laser beam if you live in NSW (or WA).
Yesterday the NSW government passed legislation making it possible for police to search anyone the believe may be carrying a laser pointer, and unless you have it for a legitimate reason (you’re a teacher, an architect or a bounty hunter something similar), you could face fines of up to $5,000.
What’s more, class three and four laser pointers are now classified as prohibited weapons, and if you’re found with one of those babies, you could be rattling chains in your very own orange jumpsuit for up to 14 years.
The crackdown has happened because of a recent spate of jackasses pointing the lasers at commercial aeroplanes. As the NSW Premiere, Morris Iemma put it: “It only takes a fraction of a second for a pilot to become temporarily blinded and that could have catastrophic consequences.”
Every gadget nut knows that lasers can be fun. But there’s nothing fun about potentially bringing down a 747 (or any other flying vehicle, for that matter). If you know one of the assholes doing this (or you’re doing it yourself), give them (or yourself) a swift punch to the crotch for being so stupid.
[SMH]
Psystar, who’s just announced that they’re going to sell a US$399.99 Mac clone called Open Mac, doesn’t care that Apple’s EULA prohibits using OS X on any machine not made by Apple. In fact, they say that Apple’s terms “violate U.S. monopoly laws“, posing the example of Microsoft theoretically saying you could only install Windows on Dell machines.
