E-Bay And Paypal In The European Union

You can now start filing legal action against E-Bay & PayPal in the European Union! You don't even need to hire a lawyer at all.

Firstly,read this; http://eur-lex.europa.eu/en/treaties/index.htm .

Secondly,read this;
http://ec.europa.eu/community_law/your_rights/your_rights_forms_en.htm .

Download the form marked 'en',then fill it in & send.

The European Commission will even accept complaints made anonymously,even if they are lodged from outside Europe.

Please state that you want to invoke Article 82d. of the European Union Treaty,which will generate a complaint against the authorities of all 27 European Union member states for failing to apply E.U. law against eBay & PayPal. - THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT!

If enough people file complaints to the European Commission against E-Bay & PayPal,they WILL take notice & they will file a legal case in the European courts on behalf of consumers.

If legal action does occur in Europe,then hopefully,that will spur the authorities in other countries,including both America & Canada,to file legal action against both E-Bay & PayPal in their own legal jurisdictions.

Pirate Bay Retrial Plea Rejected

It's kinda interesting that a Judge did not reveal some of the groups he belongs too that would seem like a conflict of interest to most lay people. What do you think does something stink about this and do you think they should have a new trial?

A Swedish court has thrown out a request for a retrial by the four men behind The Pirate Bay website.

The four were found guilty of promoting copyright infringement in April and face jail sentences and hefty claims for damages.

The Pirate Bay's lawyers called for a retrial when it emerged that one of the judges in the case belonged to several copyright protection groups.

The Swedish court said the judge's affiliations did not bias the case.

The Svea Court of Appeal said Judge Tomas Norstrom should have declared that he was a member of the Swedish Association for the Protection of Industrial Property and the Swedish Copyright Association before the case went to trial.

"The fact that he failed to shed light on this does not however mean that there was any wrongdoing during the proceedings that would require a retrial," said the court in a statement.

"This was not a case of bias," concluded the court.

No appeal is allowed against the judgement.

The Pirate Bay is well-known for hosting lists of websites where people can get pirated copies of movies, music, software and TV shows.

The Pirate Bay defended itself saying that it did not infringe copyright because none of the pirated material is stored on its servers.

The court found them guilty because, it said, they continued to operate the service even when they knew users were being pointed to pirated material.

The four men behind The Pirate Bay, Frederik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, Carl Lundstrom and Peter Sunde, were sentenced to one year in jail and told to pay damages of 30m Swedish kronor (£2.3m, 2.7m euros) to entertainment companies such as Warner Bros and Sony Music Entertainment.

In response to the ruling Peter Sunde said The Pirate Bay would now file charges against Sweden for violating the human rights of the defendants.

E-Bay And Third Party Coin Grading Company's Sued

This should be interesting to see what happens, there have been a few cases working their way through the courts the decisions made could have a big impact on E-bay and the other party's in my opinion.

Online Internet auction firm eBay, the American Numismatic Association, the Professional Numismatists Guild, and the ANA president's coin firm have been hit with a lawsuit in federal court alleging anti-competitive conduct.

There are four plaintiffs: Universal Grading Service of New Jersey; John Callandrello, a UGS shareholder; Joseph Komito, a New Jersey coin dealer; and Vadim Kirichenko, a New York coin dealer.

They claim damages in excess of $75,000, exclusive of costs, interest and attorney's fees and permanent injunctive relief.

Basis for the claim is an allegation of conduct "constituting violation of antitrust policies, as well as violation of anticompetitive conduct.

There is also a claim for "civil conspiracy and trade libel" pursuant to New York common law. Under the rules of defamation, truth is an affirmative defense to trade libel, if the action complained of actually took place.

The summons and complaint was filed in late August in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, headquartered in Brooklyn, where the Hon. Charles Sifton presides. An initial conference has been scheduled for Jan. 19, 2009, at 10:30 a.m. before the Judge Robert M. Levy.

Plaintiffs claim a "conspiracy between [Barry Suppler & CO., LLC], ANA, PNG and eBay to obstruct the ability of the smaller coin grading services to participate in the coin marketplace on eBay."

The basis of the claim: In 2001, eBay "formed a group that became known as the 'Internet rules committee' made up of coin industry insiders, including Barry Stuppler, in his capacity as then ANA governor and chairman of the ANA Consumer Protection Committee (the precursor to the "Coins Community Watch Group"), Doug Winter, a PNG dealer, and R. Steven Ivy," of Heritage.

Through the effort of this group and others, plaintiffs charge, PNG, in conjunction with the Industry Council for Tangible Assets ("ICTA") and spearheaded by Stuppler, commissioned a survey of rare coin authentication and grading services, which it is claimed gave rise to false and damaging results because of insufficient data.

"Small grading companies like UGS were never referenced in 2006 Grading Service Survey," it is claimed. Thus, coupled with an eBay policy permitting "only coins that have been graded by five grading services (NGC, NCS, PCGS, ICG and ANACS, ) to be listed for sale on eBay as "certified" coins," they claim these actions are anti-competitive and illegal.

The policies, plaintiffs hope to prove, are "destroying the competitive free market by prohibiting consumers and dealers from purchasing or dealing in certified coins graded from any coin grading service except for the ones listed in eBay's policy."

Attorneys for the companies that claim to be besmirched brought it as a class action suit on behalf of themselves and all others similarly situated who comprise the ... "class." That includes "all companies and individuals who provide coin grading services on the market for coin auctions to the public at large and who have not been certified by eBay as 'the authorized grading company" pursuant to eBay's Counterfeit Currency and Stamps policy and who are interested in pursuing this lawsuit.' The class period is from January 2004 to the present.

It is also claimed that "eBay's policy enacted on Sept. 17, 2007 ... is per se unlawful because it limits the flow of goods in commerce."

There will be procedural wangling as to whether the ANA has a sufficient New York presence to be sued here. Presumably, as a national organization which held conventions in New York City in 1997, 1976, 1939 and earlier; had officers who resided or were present and conducted official ANA business in New York over extended periods of time, that may be hard to defeat.

PNG procedurally faces a better set of facts, as does Suppler. EBay will be interesting to watch since their presence is everywhere there is the Internet, but the law is more nuanced. ICTA, though named as a part of all this, was not sued.

For now, the case is in a legal hiatus while plaintiffs try an serve the defendants with legal process. Once that's done, there may be requests for summary relief before an answer is even filed, or the case may proceed with a different track which will be interesting to watch as it plays out. The step after that is the 2009 conference.

LawSuit against God tossed over lack of address

This has to go into the the strange but true file, it just goes to show some people have too much free time with nothing better to do but file lawsuits.

LINCOLN, Neb. - A judge has thrown out a Nebraska legislator's lawsuit against God, saying the Almighty wasn't properly served, because of his unlisted home address. State Sen. Ernie Chambers filed the lawsuit last year seeking a permanent injunction against God.

He said God has made terroristic threats against the senator and his constituents in Omaha, inspired fear and caused "widespread death, destruction and terrorization of millions upon millions of the Earth's inhabitants."

Chambers has said he filed the lawsuit to make the point that everyone should have access to the courts regardless of whether they are rich or poor.

On Tuesday, however, Douglas County District Court Judge Marlon Polk ruled that under state law a plaintiff must have access to the defendant for a lawsuit to move forward.

"Given that this court finds that there can never be service effectuated on the named defendant this action will be dismissed with prejudice," Polk wrote.

Hole in the judge's ruling?
Chambers, who graduated from law school but never took the bar exam, thinks he's found a hole in the judge's ruling.

"The court itself acknowledges the existence of God," Chambers said Wednesday. "A consequence of that acknowledgment is a recognition of God's omniscience."

Therefore, Chambers said, "Since God knows everything, God has notice of this lawsuit."

Chambers has 30 days to decide whether to appeal. He said he hasn't decided yet.

Chambers, who has served a record 38 years in the Nebraska Legislature, is not returning next year because of term limits. He skips morning prayers during the legislative session and often criticizes Christians.

eBay Convicted in Counterfeit Case

eBay Convicted in Counterfeit Case

Finally something is happening, it's a small fine but it sets the precedent maybe now we will see some action in other areas.

eBay- Convicted- in-Counterfeit- Case

...

In what has the makings of a landmark decision, a court in Reims, France,
has ruled that eBay is directly responsible for the sale of bogus Hermes
bags on its auction site, and ordered the e-commerce giant to pay 20,000
Euros, or approximately $30,000, in damages. The ruling, handed down
Wednesday, stated that eBay "failed to act within [its] powers" to prevent
counterfeiting activity within its online community, according to a news
report, which stated the verdict was the first of its kind in France.

In a statement issued following the ruling, eBay said: "eBay takes the issue
of counterfeiting very seriously and we condemn it outright. Today's court
ruling relates to past seller verification issues. The court acknowledged
that eBay subsequently addressed these issues with its enhanced
anti-counterfeiting measures through its VeRO initiative."

...

A handful of similar cases are pending against eBay in five European
countries, and at least one is under review in the U.S. How heavily the
Hermes decision will factor in the direction of the remaining lawsuits
depends largely on the locality of the individual cases, notes Aaron
Kessler, senior research analyst with Piper Jaffray & Co. in East Palo Alto,
CA.

"The question is, who is the merchant of record, and how much is eBay
responsible for verifying the authenticity of the items sold on its site,"
Kessler says. "Each country might have its own interpretation of that. If
people don't trust what they're buying, that's a problem for eBay"

The material impact of the court fines will barely register at eBay-$30,000
is pocket change for the multibillion- dollar Internet goliath. However, eBay
has plenty to fear in terms of the psychological effect on buyers. While
it's probably close to impossible to completely eliminate illicit activity
on such an online venue, the company can and should take steps to increase
enforcement, Kessler says.

"There is continuing concern for buyers on issues of trust and safety. If
people don't trust what they're buying, that's a problem for eBay," he adds.
"We have been seeing slower buying activity on eBay the last couple of
years."

...

According to an Agence France-Presse report, lawyers for The Hermes Group
asserted eBay is "an active player in the transaction because, not only does
it offer a number of services to improve the sale, but when it does not work
well enough or fast enough, they intervene with the client. They are
perfectly informed of the transactions since they take a percentage cut."

Several other European designer brands, including Louis Vuitton, Dior
Couture and cosmetics company L'Oreal have separately sued eBay for doing
too little to thwart counterfeit activity. Unifab, a French industry lobby
group, has also taken eBay to court, seeking action by eBay to better police
its site.

In the United States, a counterfeiting lawsuit filed by Tiffany in 2004 is
now being considered by a New York federal judge.

E-Bay And Third Party Coin Grading Companys

I thought some people might be interested in this suite that has started with E-Bay and some of the slabbing company's. This I think could get very interesting and may work. It also highlights some of the problems with Third Party Grading services/slabbing.

Area 419 Sorry the Number You Have Dialed is Not In Service Please Try Again (An Old Scam) Part Two

Since it's Friday and the weekend is upon us I thought I would end off the week with a laugh. Here is another one of those 419 scams, as I get them I will post them here so people can see them and have an idea of what they are like. I'm still surprised that people fall for these things. I really Liked " The armed Rubbers" part in the response it's great for a chuckle or two.

From Miss Blessing Soke
Bp ave 6 Abidjan Cote d'Ivoire
Email :blessingsoke1@yahoo.fr

Pls do response via this email address : blessingsoke1@yahoo.fr

Dear one,

It is my pleasure to contact you for a business venture which I intend to establish in your country for our mutual benefits hence I write with due respect .

I am Blessing Soke and I inherited an important sum of money from my late father who was killed by the rebels in northern part of the country in a recent crisis in Cote d'Ivoire in 2004. I wish to request for your assistance in transfering and investing this money in a lucrative venture under your directives and guidiance in your country.

I want you to assist me for the transfer of this sum of Three million, five hundred thousand United State Dollars.($3.500,000)to your account designate hence I will give you the contact of the bank where the money is so that you can contact them immediately and discuss with them since I do not know much about financial issues.

I will give you some resonable percentage from the total sum for your assistance while I pray that you do not betray me at last. Please it is important you contact me immediately for more clarifications on the next step hence it is my wish to relocate to your country as soon as this transaction is concluded.
Awaiting your immediate response via this email address : blessingsoke1@yahoo.fr
God bless you.

Miss Blessing Soke .

My Reply

Hello Blessing Soke,

I would like to be of service please forward to me the details on how
I might be able to assist you. Keep in Mind I know this is a con job I'm fishing to see what the response will be.

Here is the response

My Dear,

Thanks a lot for your mail, This is a long story that tears don't allow me explain to you out my condition and what i have been passing through here since the death of my father. Infact it is by the grace of God i contact you, i prayed and ask God to do his wish if you will be my messiah in this my agony. I know this may come to you as a surprise but
please, i want you to find it in your heart to help me out of the agony am facing here, I am hiding in a guest house now because of my uncle who would have been my father, but turn to hunt for my life because of the only thing i inherited from my father.

Like i told you that before the death of my father , he advise me to seek for a reliable partner who will help me transfer this money and invest it wisely,since his death, his junior brother has claim everything and even the cars my father left, that is not my problem but he turns to hunt for my life because of the onlything i inherited, that is why i ran away to the church but still he wanted to kill me that he even sent some armed rubbers to harm the Rev Father, the Rev father has to advise me to go and secure a hiding place in one of the guest house, that is where i find my self in agony, even feeding here is difficult to me,

Please i have consulted the bank here about the deposit and informed them that i want to transfer the money abroad and they said that they will hear from my partner before they commence the transfer, Please for God sake, i want you to stand as my guardian towards the deposit so that the bank will release into your account and you kindly help me come
over to your country and start a new life, I have with me here the documents about the deposit and i can send it to you please help me out, i need your urgent assistance.

Please what i need from you now is to indicate your interest towards contacting the bank on my behalf so that they will transfer the money to your account.please do send your picture to me for more details and also give me your tel number so that i will call you. this is my number where you can reach me +22508747657

I will be expecting your kind mail please urgent and always remember me in prayer as am facing agony here and even feeding is very difficult to me and all my hope relies on the deposit. God bless and give you the strenght to help me out.
Thanks for your concern and may God continue to bless you .
Regard from
Blessing.

Google and Privacy

Google has announced that it will be changing it's policy of data storage about you and your searches. It's a move in the right direction, though much more could be done.

"Under the new policy announced on Wednesday, which Google expects to have fully implemented by the end of the year, the company will anonymize the final eight bits of the IP address and the cookie data after somewhere between 18 months and 24 months, unless legally required to retain the data for longer."

The entire article can be found here http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-6167333.html?tag=nl.e539

Now if you are a person that likes having privacy, this could be disturbing and a lot of privacy advocates feel the same way. I'm wary of this, as information is power and could be misused, though perhaps I'm just old fashioned.

I like to think of privacy on the Internet like this, it's just like a telephone conversation, but you are using a computer, the only time your privacy should be invaded, is when you give permission for it, and there should be full disclosure in a transparent manner of what information is being stored and gathered about you. I would also like to stress it should not be in tiny Print ,but stated in a clear manner.

I would like to know your feeling's about privacy, how much should people have? Who should control that information? Who has ownership over it? Who can access it?

My opinion is that the individual should have the final say on their information and privacy. The only time that should be invaded is either when a person commits a crime or they give permission.

The Dangers of Becoming

This article I think shows how we must be careful that in our anger ,fear, acts of emotion, we create Laws where we become like those who did us harm. We are a Democracy not a police state, and rights should not be cast aside with ease.

On the Net:

The report is at: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ap/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/storytext/national_security_letters/22207893/SIG=11g7gvn4m/*http://www.usdoj.gov/oig/reports/FBI/index.htm
Justice Department: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ap/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/storytext/national_security_letters/22207893/SIG=10m1k3jtt/*http://www.usdoj.gov
FBI: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ap/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/storytext/national_security_letters/22207893/SIG=10lo5b2hr/*http://www.fbi.gov/

E-Bay Class Action Lawsuit

I thought readers might be interested in this if you were not aware of it, or if you wanted to opt out before your deadline expires.

SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIACOUNTY OF SANTA CLARA JOHN ROCKERS, MARK RAWLING and BRIAN MORK , On Behalf of Themselves and for the Benefit of All with the Common or General Interest, Any Persons Injured, and All Others Similarly Situated, Plaintiff, vs. EBAY, INC., et al.,

Defendants. ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) )

Case No. 1:05-CV-035930 CLASS ACTION NOTICE OF SETTLEMENT OF CLASS ACTION DATE ACTION FILED: 02/17/05THIS IS A LEGAL NOTICE. YOUR RIGHTS MAY BE AFFECTED.PLEASE READ IT CAREFULLY.


To: All eBay users from February 16, 2001 to the present. If youclaimto have been harmed by eBay raising the eBay bidder's existing bidwhere nohigher competing bid had been made and where raising the bid was notnecessary to meet a reserve minimum you are a Member of the "Class" and your rights may be affected by the proposed class action settlement of a law suit alleging that eBay would automatically increase in certain circumstances an existing bid where no competing bid had been made and where it was not necessary to meet a reserve minimum. eBay denies any and all of the contentions and allegations of wrong doing relating to eBay's in creasing an existing bid where no competing bid had been made and where it was not necessary to meet a reserve minimum, and denies that the Members of the Class have suffered any damage. This Notice summarizes the terms of the settlement, and explains your rights and options under the settlement.

I. THE LAWSUIT

On February 17, 2005, a complaint was filed by plaintiff Glenn Block in the Superior Court of the State of California County of Santa Clara( the"Court") as a class action alleging that eBay's automatic increase in certain circumstances of an existing bid where no competing bid had been made and increasing the bid was not necessary to meet a minimum reserve was improper and artificially inflated the bids of eBay buyers, thus causing damage to eBay buyers (the "Action"). On April 17, 2006, an AmendedComplaint which, among other things, substituted Plaintiffs John Rockers,Mark Rawling and Brian Mork for the original plaintiff was filed in theCourt. The caption of the Action is Rockers v. eBay, Inc., et al., CaseNo.1:05-CV-035930.

II. THE SETTLEMENT TERMS The parties participated in mediation with the Honorable Read Ambler(Ret.) in an effort to resolve the Action. As a result of the mediation and in order to settle the allegations in the Action, eBay has agreed to cease the conduct alleged by making the following "curative disclosure" that is relative to the misrepresentations claimed by
Plaintiffs: In response to a system prompt, if a high bidder attempts to raise his maximum bid when such bidder is then between bid increments, eBay shall first disclose to such bidder the exact amount of any resulting bid increase that would otherwise occur by virtue of the bidder raising the maximum bid.By way of illustration only and using the facts set forth in paragraph 23 of the Complaint, upon raising the maximum bid once plaintiff had reached his existing bid maximum of $111.00, eBay would disclose whether raising the maximum bid level would result in the $111.00 bid being raised to the next bid increment over the last competitive bid of $110.00 and, if so,specify the exact amount to which the bid would be raised - that is, $112.50.

In addition, eBay has agreed to pay the sum of $2.1 million("Settlement Fund"). The Settlement Fund will be distributed to one or more federally tax exempt charities chosen by Plaintiffs' Counsel and approved by the Court. None of the charities selected by Plaintiffs' Counsel and approved by the Court shall be directly or indirectly affiliated or associated with Plaintiffs or their counsel. Based on information provided by eBay to Plaintiffs' Counsel, the $2.1 million is estimated to be approximately 50% of the claimed damages and all other economic harm allegedly incurred by Members of the Class. Distribution of the Settlement Fund to charitable organizations is appropriate because any attempt to distribute the Settlement Fund to individual Members of the Class -whos eaverage recovery would be less than $1.00 - would result in administrative costs that would consume any settlement proceeds. eBay has also agreed to separately pay Plaintiffs' Counsel$800,000for past and anticipated future attorneys' fees and expenses regarding the Action, subject to Court approval ("Attorney Fees"). This amount was negotiated and agreed to after the substantive provisions of the settlement were reached and after the memorandum setting forth the material terms of the settlement was executed. Plaintiffs' Counsel, subject to Court approval,intend to pay up to $104,300.00 and $150,000.00 to Glenn Block (orGlennBlock, P.C.) and Daniel Block (or DSB Consulting, Inc.), respectively,for their expert services in this Action from the Attorney Fees. Glenn Block was the original plaintiff in the Action and provided technical assistance to Plaintiffs' Counsel regarding eBay's auction practices, the allegations in the Action, the calculation of damages and economic harm, and due diligence.Daniel Block is Glenn Block's son and provided computer, programming and data mining expertise that was otherwise unavailable to Plaintiffs in a timely and efficient manner. Their expertise was unique and necessary for the successful prosecution of the Action.

eBay shall also separately pay, subject to Court approval, the three Plaintiffs named in the Amended Complaint, $1,000 to reimburse them fortheir time, costs and efforts in representing the Class. III. CONSEQUENCES OF THE SETTLEMENT If the Court approves the settlement, a judgment will be entered dismissing the lawsuit with prejudice against eBay and all of its past and present officers, directors, shareholders, employees, insures, agents,representatives, partners, joint-ventures, parents, subsidiaries,affiliates, and attorneys (the "Released Persons"). This means that Members of the Class will be barred from bringing their own lawsuit against any of the Released Persons relating to eBay's alleged practice of raising an eBay bidder's existing bid where no higher competing bid had been made, and where raising the bid was not necessary to meet a reserve minimum. If you do not want to be barred from bring your own lawsuit on such claims, you must validly and timely request exclusion from the Class, as set forth below.

IV. YOUR OPTIONS If you are a Class Member, you have the following options: (A) Participate in the settlement. To participate in the settlement, you do not need to do anything. If the Court approves the settlement and the judgment is not successfully appealed, the terms of the settlement will be implemented. (B) Request exclusion from the Class and settlement. If you wish to be excluded from the Class and the settlement, you must send a written request for exclusion by regular or express mail, so that it is postmarked no later than January 30, 2007. Your exclusion request must include (1)yourname, address, and telephone number; and (2) a statement that you wishto be excluded from the Class and settlement in Rockers v. eBay, Inc., etal.,Case No. 1:05-CV-035930. If you submit a valid and timely exclusion request,you will not participate in the settlement. You will not be bound by the judgment dismissing the lawsuit with prejudice as to Released Persons,and your claims will not be released. (C) Comment on the settlement. If you remain in the Class,you may comment in support of or in opposition to the settlement. To do so,you must, no later than January 30, 2007, file your comment or objectionwiththe Court and send copies by regular or express mail to Plaintiffs'Counselat the addresses below: The Court: Clerk of the Court SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA COUNTY OF SANTA CLARA Civil Division 191 North First Street San Jose, CA 95113 Plaintiffs' Counsel: Jeffrey D. Light LERACH COUGHLIN STOIA GELLER RUDMAN & ROBBINS LLP 655 West Broadway, Suite 1900 San Diego, CA 92101-3301 Your written comment or objection must include (1) your name,address,and telephone number; (2) information sufficient to establish your membership in the Class; (3) a statement of your views; (4) any supporting documentation you wish to submit; and (5) a reference to Rockers v.eBay,Inc., et al., Case No. 1:05-CV-035930. If you wish to appear and present your objection orally at the fairness hearing described in Part V below,your written objection must contain a notice that you intend to appear and be heard, a statement of the positions you intend to present at the hearing,and any supporting arguments. You may, but need not, appear in the lawsuit through your own attorney. If you do so, you will be responsible for your own attorney's fees and expenses.

V. FAIRNESS HEARING A hearing will be held on February 13, 2007, at 9:00 a.m. before the Honorable Jack Komar, Superior Court Judge, in Department 17C at theSanta Clara Superior Old Courthouse, 161 North First Street, San Jose, California 95113. The purpose of the hearing will be to determine (a) whether the proposed settlement including the attorneys' fees and expenses and service awards that eBay has separately agreed to pay should be approved as fair,reasonable and adequate and should be granted; and (b) whether the Action and the claims of the Members of the Class should be dismissed with prejudice pursuant to the settlement. This hearing may be rescheduled without further notice to the Class. You may attend the hearing if you wish,but are not required to do so to participate in the settlement.

VI. HOW TO GET MORE INFORMATION You can get more information by contacting Plaintiffs' Counsel at the address listed in Part IV (C). Complete copies of the settlement agreement and all other pleadings and papers filed in the lawsuit are available for inspection and copying, during regular business hours, at the Office oftheClerk of the Court, Superior Court of the State of California, County of Santa Clara, Civil Division, 161 North First Street, San Jose, CA 95113.

PLEASE DO NOT CONTACT THE COURT REGARDING THIS NOTICE. DATED: November 8, 2006 BY ORDER OF THE COURT SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SANTA CLARA

Big Brother 1984 Double Plus Good

I don't know about you, but I find this a bit scary, it seems like in response to our fears we see enemies everywhere, is it just me or does it feel like Big Brother maybe just maybe might be making a comeback, and folks it's not 1984.

OTTAWA - Federal government departments are profiling some access requesters, a veteran Ottawa researcher charged Monday.

Testifying before a parliamentary committee, Ken Rubin revealed that he learned recently he has been the subject of just such a profile.

Documents Rubin obtained from the Canadian Border Services Agency revealed a memo prepared in January 2004 for then-public safety minister Anne McLellan outlining an access request that Rubin had filed for information concerning the department's Advance Passenger Information project. In the memo, which the department told Rubin was never transmitted all the way to the minister, the department outlines details of telephone calls officials had with Rubin, other access requests he had filed and the fact that he had volunteered to help Maher Arar and his wife get information about their case.

At the time, Arar was still under suspicion by the government of being a terrorist and was on a watch list along with his wife and children.
The memo was released to Rubin earlier this month under the Access to Information Act after he filed a complaint.
''This is unacceptable,'' Rubin told the committee. ''Matching up my background data and work and separate access requests should not be used to create a profile and discuss my access usage or that of other requesters. I do not consider this kind of data being prepared and shared internally or going, or potentially going, to a minister, a positive part of, or within the spirit of the Access to Information Act.''

New Democrat MP Pat Martin said he was shocked to learn that a government department had prepared a profile of an access requester.
''I think it is an absolute bombshell that they are not only asking the identity, which I think undermines the integrity of the whole system, but they are asking about confidential personal information.''

Jason Kenney, parliamentary secretary to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, said Rubin's testimony about being profiled corresponds with some of the testimony that the committee has already heard about the way the privacy of some access requesters has been treated in the past.
''This would be, I guess, the third concrete instance that we know about. There seems to be sufficient evidence to conclude that this practice of furnishing names to political staff has happened in the past. Just how widespread or how frequent, we just don't know.''

The comment came as the committee wrapped up another day of hearings into reports that the government appears to have broken the privacy law by disclosing the name of Canadian Press reporter Jim Bronskill during a telephone conference call in which public servants from several departments discussed which reporters were working on stories related to security and to pandemic preparedness.

The information was then sent to several officials in the prime minister's office who had not participated in the call, including communications director Sandra Buckler. None of those officials reported a possible violation of the privacy act.
Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart is investigating.
Kenney could not say Monday whether the government has reviewed the minutes of the weekly security conference call to ascertain whether there were other instances of the names of access requesters being discussed.

All I can say is it's about time, in some ways I still think it's not enough.

I would like to see sex offenders and those who commit violent crimes put away for a long time, with no chances to come back out into society so they can hurt more people, and their friends and family's.

That have to deal with the aftermath, that these criminals create in their wake.


Ottawa to introduce dangerous offender bill


The federal government is expected to introduce on Tuesday a bill that would make it easier to have criminals designated as dangerous offenders.

The proposed legislation would call for tougher sentences and stricter conditions on repeat offenders — those convicted of a third sexual or violent offence.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced the proposed legislation last week in Toronto, saying: "We will work to ensure that those who are truly dangerous will be put in jail for an indefinite period of time."

The onus would be put on offenders instead of the Crown to prove they should not be declared dangerous offenders. Failing to do so means they would be designated as dangerous and be given an indeterminate jail sentence, with no eligibility for parole for seven years.

Currently, the Crown must show at a hearing why an individual should be declared a dangerous offender.

Under the proposed legislation, the person would not be given the benefit of the doubt and would have to prove why the designation should not apply.

It would also increase the maximum duration of peace bonds from 12 to 24 months, allowing additional restrictions and conditions to be placed on released criminals.



At the news conference announcing the proposed legislation, Harper said: "By putting criminals on a tighter leash after release, we hope to better facilitate their reintegration into the community."