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HEALDSBURG, Calif., Nov. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- "GUNPAL, Inc. is a transaction-neutral online payment platform with a philanthropic spirit," announces Founder/CEO Ben Cannon. "It is also the first serious competitor for PayPal Inc." A percentage of each transaction is donated to a selected charity at no additional cost to the user. The initial list of organizations includes the American Red Cross, American Cancer Society, and the Supercomputing Disease Research Center. Users can also suggest charities for consideration. An avid supporter of constitutional rights, Cannon created a discrimination-free online payment application, starting with the recognition of the Second Amendment right to keep...

The FCC voted unanimously yesterday to move forward with the debate in an effort to formalize net neutrality guidelines. Senator John McCain followed up by introducing a bill that would prohibit the FCC from governing communications. Oddly, the bill also contains text stating that any regulations in effect on the day before the Internet Freedom Act is officially enacted are grandfathered in and exempt from the provisions of the Internet Freedom Act. The implication seems to be that if the FCC can formalize net neutrality rules before McCain can get the Internet Freedom Act signed into law, the net neutrality...

Stephanie Kahn wanted to bask in her engagement for a few hours before diving into the task of calling aunts, uncles and good friends with the big news. And even before she could call them, she had a surprise party to attend, one that her fiance had set up for their parents and her "closest group of girlfriends." That party was when Kahn lost control of her news. Some of the guests took photos and were "uploading them on Facebook before I could even post anything," Kahn said from Smyrna, Ga., where she lives. "Of course the next morning I...

Most Americans are sleepwalking right now through the early reign of Obama the Magnificant. He tells them he is cutting spending, cutting taxes, and cutting the deficit, and they believe him. When they find in 2010 and 2011 that he deliberately misled them and has been doing just the opposite, and they are deep in the soup as a result, public opinion will turn decisively against him. Meanwhile, our "mainstream media," which should be called the Party Controlled Press, are quite successfully maintaining the smokescreen in promoting the Obama propaganda line, acting as slavishly as Pravda and Izvestia did towards...

In 2006, Thailand announced it was blocking access to YouTube for anyone with a Thai I.P address, and then identified 20 offensive videos for Google to remove as a condition of unblocking the site. ‘If your whole game is to increase market share,’ says Lawrence Lessig, speaking of Google, ‘it’s hard to . . . gather data in ways that don’t raise privacy concerns or in ways that might help repressive governments to block controversial content.’ In March of last year, Nicole Wong, the deputy general counsel of Google, was notified that there had been a precipitous drop in activity...

Golden Gate Bridge officials vote for suicide net SAN FRANCISCO — Golden Gate Bridge officials have voted to hang a stainless steel net below the iconic span to stop suicides. The Golden Gate Transportation District's board of directors voted 14-1...

Steps taken by Canadian Internet service providers to shape and control Internet traffic are discriminatory and should be investigated by Canada's telecommunications commission, the National Union of Public and General Employees charged this week. In a letter sent to the CRTC, union president James Clancy said they have become "increasingly concerned about the issue of network neutrality," and asked the commission to investigate the impact on consumers.

The man who spoke for Comcast at Harvard last month has told the Federal Communications Commission that the agency has no legal power to stop the cable giant from engaging in what it calls "network management practices" (critics call it peer-to-peer traffic blocking). Comcast vice president David L. Cohen's latest filing with the Commission claims that regulators can do nothing even if they conclude that Comcast's behavior runs afoul of the FCC's Internet neutrality guidelines. "The congressional policy and agency practice of relying on the marketplace instead of regulation to maximize consumer welfare has been proven by experience (including the...

open.NET? Microsoft To Make .NET Libraries Available Under "Open Source" One minute ago Microsoft made one of its first "open source" moves under the new Microsoft Reference License: the team in Redmond announced they'll make some .NET libraries available.  I say "open source" because to me, open source means you can easily access a .tar or .zip of the code.  Microsoft's effort is a bit more cumbersome. What does that mean for you?  Is .NET open source now?  I wouldn't call it that quite yet.  This is the first step on a much longer journey.  The license indicates that developers...

The US Federal Communications Commission has begun an enquiry "to better understand the behavior of participants in the market for broadband services" - in other words to see whether the traditional non-discriminatory data carriage provided by the Internet is under threat. "In 2005, the Commission adopted an Internet Policy Statement containing four principles. The intent of these principles was to protect consumers’ access to the lawful online content of their choice and to foster the creation, adoption and use of Internet broadband content, applications, and services," said FCC chairman Kevin Martin. But since that time, the FCC has classified broadband...

WHERE are you now? What are you doing? Jealous teenagers often send messages like these with their handphones and computers to harass and control their romantic partners. And most victims of the abuse are reluctant to discuss it with their parents, a US survey showed on Thursday. The survey, carried out by Teenage Research Unlimited, found nearly one in every four teens in a relationship had received hourly text messages or phone calls to check up on them between midnight and 5am. One out of six said they had received messages 10 or more times an hour overnight. 'Contacting someone...

Surfing net is top pastime for elderly By David Derbyshire, Consumer Affairs Editor Last Updated: 1:51am GMT 02/02/2007 Browsing the internet has overtaken DIY and gardening to become the favourite pastime of older people, according to a survey. The internet is named as one of the favourite pastimes of retired Britons The current generation of "silver surfers" spends an average of six hours online each week, research by the insurance company AXA found. Emailing and online chatting to friends and family was the favourite internet activity of the retired people surveyed, followed by researching information, booking holidays and shopping. Alison...

...Net neutrality travels under the euphemism of "nondiscrimination," which sounds very nice. But what it really means in practice is that the government dictates what AT&T and other Internet access companies can charge users of their pipelines. So there's "discrimination," all right -- against the companies that have invested billions to lay that pipe. The beneficiaries of this discrimination are Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and other very rich Web businesses, which have loaded up on Beltway lobbyists to have these mandates imposed. Democrats are taking the PAC money and running interference. The Democratic Commissioners -- Jonathan Adelstein and Michael Copps --...

WASHINGTON, July 21, 2006 – Iraqi security forces captured 25 suspected terrorists and killed one in multiple operations throughout Iraq July 19 and yesterday, military officials in Iraq reported. Iraqi security forces conducted two separate operations in Baghdad yesterday, capturing four insurgents who may be involved in "extra judicial killing" cells. The first operation by Iraqi security forces, a raid on back-to-back objectives in southwestern Baghdad, netted three primary targets. The first individual was a key insurgent leader believed to plan and coordinate insurgent operations in Baghdad, officials said. The second is allegedly involved in financing operations and supplying weapons...

WASHINGTON, June 25, 2006 – Three American soldiers were killed by improvised explosive devices while on patrol in Iraq in recent days, officials in Iraq said today. Separate IED explosions in Baghdad and Tikrit June 24 each claimed the life of one U.S. soldier. A roadside bomb explosion in Baghdad on June 23 killed another U.S. soldier. Another U.S. soldier in Baghdad died of a non-combat incident June 23. Names of the deceased are being withheld until their families are notified. Coalition forces in Iraq are continuing operations to thwart enemy IED attacks, officials said. Iraqi forces captured three members...

Sen. Hillary Clinton has thrown her support behind "network neutrality” regulations that conservatives say mark the first major attempt by the federal government to regulate the Internet. In a mass e-mail to supporters, Clinton writes: "I want to tell you a little bit about Net neutrality, why I believe it’s so important to our democracy, and what you can do to help.” In the Net neutrality debate, cable and telephone companies that provide Internet service, including AT&T and Verizon, are pitted against major Internet players like Google and Amazon and large-scale users, like the left-wing MoveOn.org. The Internet providers are...

US politicians have rejected attempts to enshrine the principle of net neutrality in legislation. Some fear the decision will mean net providers start deciding on behalf of customers which websites and services they can visit and use. The vote is a defeat for Google, eBay and Amazon which wanted the net neutrality principle protected by law. All three mounted vigorous lobbying campaigns prior to the vote in the House of Representatives. Tier fear The rejection of the principle of net neutrality came during a debate on the wide-ranging Communications Opportunity, Promotion and Enhancement Act (Cope Act). Among other things, this...

For some, the Internet it has become an addiction, adversely affecting their lives and their family's lives. While not yet defined as a true addiction, many people are suffering the consequences of obsession with the online world, warns Dr. Diane M. Wieland, who treats patients with computer addiction in her practice in Lansdale, Pennsylvania. For some people, the Internet may promote addictive behaviors and pseudo-intimate interpersonal relationships, reports Wieland in the journal, Perspectives in Psychiatric Care. "Such cyberspace contacts may result in cyber disorders such as virtual relationships that evolve into online marital infidelity (cybersex) or online sexually compulsive behaviors,"...

"The concept of Network Neutrality has unfortunately been misunderstood by many conservatives, libertarians, and other champions of the free market. That's too bad, because the free market essence of the Internet is exactly what would be lost without Network Neutrality. The large telecoms, some politicians and a number of conservative pundits have characterized the push for Network Neutrality as a left-wing attempt to stifle innovation and put government bureaucrats in control of the Internet. Well, it’s not. Through my work with Gun Owners of America, I am demonstratively a lot further to the right than they are. It is true...

Ever wonder why the telcos spend so much on lobbyists rather than, oh I don’t know, value-creating new applications like Skype and Vonage? And don’t think for a second that killing net neutrality isn’t a huge issue. It has already happened in Canada and the results weren’t pretty. As the National Journal noted today, this could be an election deal-breaker for the GOP!

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Stevens on Monday said he is considering a mechanism in which the Federal Communications Commission would be charged with ensuring that consumers can go wherever they choose on the Internet or run any Internet-based application. The Alaska Republican said at a conference sponsored by communications companies that the issue, dubbed network neutrality, is one of the most difficult for lawmakers to reach a consensus on as they craft legislation aimed at overhauling U.S. communications laws. ``Net neutrality is one of the most difficult issues our committee faces in this process,'' he told the conference sponsored...

WASHINGTON, March 20, 2006 – Iraqi and coalition troops detained suspects and seized weapons caches throughout Iraq, and an Iraqi review board recommended the release of a number of male detainees being held in the country, Multinational Force Iraq officials reported. In Salah Ad Din province today, Iraqi Army and Task Force Band of Brothers units continued "Operation Swarmer." The operation was launched March 18 to clear a suspected insurgent operating area northeast of Samarra, military officials reported. Today's operation yielded an additional three caches of small-arms ammunition and rocket-propelled grenades. The combined forces also detained three men suspected of...

WASHINGTON, March 18, 2006 – Iraqi security forces and U.S. servicemembers participating in Operation Swarmer and other combined operations continued to capture hidden terrorist weapons caches, while detaining and processing terrorist suspects yesterday, military officials in Iraq reported. Operation Swarmer, an ongoing, methodical search of a 10-mile-by-10-mile area in the Samarra region, has netted six weapons caches and roughly 50 terrorist suspects, officials said. The weapons caches included mortar rounds, rocket-propelled grenades, rockets, artillery rounds and a significant amount of other bomb-making materials for improvised explosive devices. Seventeen of the roughly 50 detainees were released after questioning and the others...

WASHINGTON, March 3, 2006 – Coalition and Iraqi forces operations in Iraq northeast of Fallujah and in Anbar province recently resulted in the detention of 62 suspects, military officials reported. On March 1, Iraqi soldiers from 2nd Brigade, 9th Iraqi Army Division, and U.S. soldiers from 1st Battalion, 66th Armored Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, detained a suspected terrorist northwest of Baghdad based on a tip. The detainee is suspected of being a member of a bomb-making cell responsible for a roadside bomb attack that killed a U.S. soldier in February. The incident is under investigation. Northeast...

Law enforcement authorities seized about 2,300 pounds of marijuana over the weekend in three separate incidents near the border. At 6:30 a.m. Saturday on U.S. 191 north of Douglas, U.S. Border Patrol agents encountered two men driving a stolen Dodge pickup heading north, according to Johnny Bernal, spokes-man for Border Patrol's Tucson Sector. When the agents attempted to stop the vehicle, the men turned around and headed back south. Agents temporarily lost sight of the pickup but found it again near Arizona 80 and Golf Course Road in east Douglas. There, the two men hit an impassable wash and ran...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 7, 2006 – Raids near Salman Pak, Iraq, yesterday resulted in the detention of suspected terrorists, and U.S. forces discovered a significant weapons cache Feb. 3, Multinational Force Iraq officials said today. Iraqi special forces led the nighttime raid near Salman Pak, south of Baghdad. About 100 Iraqi soldiers, supported by coalition forces, participated. The operation was designed to disrupt and capture wanted terrorists reportedly running a terrorist training camp and planning to launch attacks against Ashura Pilgrims traveling toward Karbala. A search of the buildings led to a cache consisting of AK-47 assault rifles and AK-47 magazines...

US plans to 'fight the net' revealed By Adam Brookes BBC Pentagon correspondent A newly declassified document gives a fascinating glimpse into the US military's plans for "information operations" - from psychological operations, to attacks on hostile computer networks. The document says information is "critical to military success" Bloggers beware. As the world turns networked, the Pentagon is calculating the military opportunities that computer networks, wireless technologies and the modern media offer. From influencing public opinion through new media to designing "computer network attack" weapons, the US military is learning to fight an electronic war. The declassified document is called...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 9, 2005 – Iraqi and U.S. forces continued to make progress in the fight against terrorism in the north-central region of Iraq, detaining suspects and netting weapons and ammunition, officials in Iraq reported today. Raids and patrols throughout the area Dec. 8 resulted in the detention of 22 suspected terrorists and the discovery of four weapons caches, officials said. In an early morning raid near Duluiyah, soldiers from the 3rd Battalion, 1st Brigade, 4th Iraqi Army Division, captured seven suspected terrorists. The men were wanted for staging roadside bomb and mortar attacks against coalition forces in the area....

WASHINGTON, Oct. 23, 2005 – Coalition and Iraqi forces nabbed 31 suspects and discovered several bombs in operations across Iraq conducted between Oct. 21 and today. During raids on safe houses, coalition forces killed two suspected terrorists in Mosul on Oct. 22, and detained 22 others near Ramadi today. Coalition forces found the safe house in Mosul empty when they arrived. However, they were engaged by terrorists occupying two nearby houses. Coalition forces assaulted both houses and were attacked with grenades and small-arms fire. During the firefight, they killed the two terrorists and several others fled. Based on multiple intelligence...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 19, 2005 – A U.S. soldier was killed and two others were wounded in a roadside-bomb during a combat logistics patrol Oct. 18 near Iskandariyah, Iraq, military officials reported. The soldier killed was assigned to 56th Brigade Combat Team. The soldier's name is being withheld pending notification of family. In other news, Task Force Baghdad and Iraqi security forces discovered weapons caches and detained several suspects Oct. 18 and today. Today, soldiers assigned to 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, conducted a raid in Camel, detaining three terror suspects. They also confiscated ammunition and explosives, including 3,000 rounds of...

What a joke - the liberals that you find in places like Dmoz and other internet directories have managed to fill the Wikipedia description for Free Republic with all kinds of snipes that make FR look like a marginalized group of extremists. But, the beauty is that anybody can change a Wikipedia entry. I worked on one of the sections (which shall go nameless!) a bit already - it's easy to spot. Believe it or not Wikipedia entries get quite a few page views - the site is one of the top 50 sites on the web - so let's...

Many people have not been able to get to several sites on the internet all day. Finally the reason is becoming clearer. Please see the posts below taken from the Drudge thread. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1497077/posts?q=1&&page=101 Sorry I don't have any articles. All I have is what has been gathered on the Thread. ..................................................... To: cgk Hello- I work for Level 3 and can vouch for the previous comments; we have depeered Cogent, which means that any customer or third party with Level 3, such as roadrunner, will not be able to connect to cogent websites, and vice versa. Obviously i have a...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 3, 2005 – A physics professor, allegedly working as a terror cell leader in west Baghdad, was one of seven suspected terrorists detained during an early-morning raid Oct. 2, military officials in Iraq reported. Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, found bomb-making materials and various chemicals and detained seven men in two separate locations in Saydiyah. The men were suspected of using the materials and chemicals to make lethal roadside bombs to target coalition Iraqi security forces. Other items found during the raid included electronic circuit boards, circuit testers, wireless car alarms, spools of wire, a computer...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 17, 2005 – Early morning raids today resulted in the detention of five suspected terrorists and the confiscation or destruction of multiple weapons caches, military officials in Iraq reported. In Samarra, three suspected terrorists were detained during a joint raid based on information gathered from Iraqi civilians. One suspect tested positive for explosive residue at the scene. The men told security personnel they were preparing two vehicles at the scene for use as bombs. Security forces destroyed the two vehicle bombs at the site. Iraqi army and coalition soldiers also seized $1,500, 66,000 Iraqi dinar, two cell phones,...

Aug. 10, 2005. 12:48 PM AP PHOTO Scott Harper of Armonk, N.Y, fell from the upper deck at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday, Aug. 9. Police arrested Harper on charges of disorderly conduct and reckless endangerment.   BLUE JAYS LINKS   > Scoreboard   > Schedule   > Jays schedule   > Standings   > League leaders   > Injuries   > Notebook   > Starball   > 2005 Blue Jays (PDF)   > Richard Griffin   Yankee fan arrested after plunge   ASSOCIATED PRESS NEW YORK — A fan plunged from the upper deck at Yankee Stadium onto the screen behind home...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Charities who hire commercial fund-raisers in 2003 received back an average of 41 percent of the revenue raised in their names, according to a report released Thursday. That figure represents a slight increase over last year's average return of 38 percent. But one-quarter of commercial fund-raising campaigns turned over 15 percent or less to the nonprofits, California Attorney General Bill Lockyer's report on charitable solicitations found. "Charities need to carefully assess whether employing commercial fund-raisers is the wisest, best way to raise money for valuable programs that serve our communities," he said in a statement. Most of...

Somebody at Seattle's KOMO-TV sure doesn't like Matt Drudge. After linking to a photo at KOMO's website, the station had the image changed from one of an illegal drug/alien/terrorist smuggling tunnel between Lynden, Washington and British Columbia, to this:

Some countries have long dreamed of ending America’s domination of high tech, and of asserting “international” control over it. In the case of the Internet, the main movers are South Africa, China and especially Brazil. Not coincidentally, all three are major violators of intellectual property rights, stealing billions from U.S. high-tech and drug firms each year. And this isn’t the first time.

How God is cleaning up 'worst city in world' -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted: July 12, 2005 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2005 WorldNetDaily.com No one will ever mistake Cali, Colombia, for an Amish community, but it's way more peaceful than it was 10 years ago, when God began to transform it. As home of the world's largest drug cartel, it was the murder capital of the world, with an average of 15 homicides a day. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency called the cartel the largest, richest criminal organization in history. It terrorized the 2 million citizens with a kind of lawless violence not...

Seizing on public embarrassment as a deterrent, the Chicago Police Department has begun posting on its website the names, addresses and photos of people arrested for soliciting prostitutes. "We're telling everyone who sets foot in Chicago, if you solicit a prostitute, you'll be arrested," Mayor Richard Daley said. "And when you are arrested, people will know. Your spouse, your children, your families, your neighbours and your employers." Some newspapers already print the names of those arrested for soliciting sex for money. Cities have tried broadcasting mug shots on community access TV channels. And in Oakland, California, officials began a "shaming...

An online petition gathering signatures to save Microsoft’s Visual Basic 6 programming language will not change the company’s intention to cut free support on March 31, a Microsoft representative said on Thursday afternoon. Microsoft’s plan to stop support has been discussed for almost three years and the deadline already has been extended once, said the press representative, who requested anonymity. Visual Basic 6 has been supported longer than any other Microsoft product, according to the representative. “Extended” support, which is fee-based, will continue through 2008. The vendor has spent the past few years encouraging Visual Basic 6 programmers to migrate...

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

NOTE: If I know anything about the rabid naysayers on FR, at least some of the RELIGIOUS [vs spiritual] types will wail and rant that ANYTHING having to do with numbers and The Bible has to be crossing the line into dealing with Biblically forbidden NUMEROLOGY. This is nonsense. The dictionary definition of “numerology” makes clear that numerology is the study of numbers, as the figures designating the year of one’s birth, “to determine their supposed influence on one’s life, future, etc.” [Quix color, bold emphasis on the definition from: HERE: http://www.infoplease.com/ipd/A0562554.html Clearly, the Biblically prohibited issue is INTEREST IN,...

As part of the effort to keep America secure from future acts of violence, the U.S. is looking at monitoring Internet chat rooms to identify potential terrorists. According to CNET News.com, the CIA is quietly funding research into surveillance of online discussion halls. In April 2003, the intelligence agency reportedly agreed to finance a series of research projects that newly disclosed government documents indicate were intended to create "new capabilities to combat terrorism through advanced technology." One of the projects at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., centers on profiling the behavior of those who talk in chat rooms....

More than 30,000 PCs per day are being recruited into secret networks that spread spam and viruses, a study shows. Six months ago only 2,000 Windows machines per day were being recruited into these so-called bot nets. Experts say the numbers are growing quickly because the remotely controlled networks are so useful to people who profit from hacking and virus writing. The figures came to light in Symantec's biannual Internet Threat Report which traces trends in net security. Hidden harm Nigel Beighton, a member of Symantec's Threat Team, said the number of PCs being enrolled in these networks was...

OPINION -- There was something almost quaint about the Chicago Tribune’s editorial assertion August 24 declaring that the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth controversy surrounding John Kerry’s war record was over. Forgetting that we are in the midst of a “new media” revolution that allows everyday Americans to investigate truth claims on their own - without the clouded filter of biased journalists - the Tribune editors wrote, “That should be the end of the debate about John Kerry's experience in Vietnam.” Days before, the Tribune had injected itself prominently into the presidential campaign and the Swift Boat controversy by giving...

A new internet worm, named "Sasser" began spreading across the net Friday night. It uses the MS LSASS vulnerability that was patched recently by Microsoft Security Bulletin MS04-011.

<p>WASHINGTON -- Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona) worked Friday to revive a bill banning taxes on Internet connections, a measure that bogged down last year amid worries that state and local governments could lose billions in tax revenue.</p> <p>Senators have been battling since a temporary ban ran out nearly six months ago.</p>

Net File-Swappers Snap Up Windows Source Code Fri Feb 13, 3:50 PM ET By Bernhard Warner and Lucas van Grinsven LONDON/AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Internet users on Friday were ferociously downloading pirate versions of Microsoft Corp's Windows source code, stoking concerns hackers and virus writers could use it for a new wave of cyber attacks. The world's largest software maker alerted the public on Thursday that parts of its valuable source code for its Windows NT and Windows 2000 operating systems had been leaked to various online file-sharing networks. Microsoft said the released code amounted to a fraction of the entire...

Terror in the sky: the net tightens By David Usborne in New York and Kim Sengupta in London 03 January 2004 A week of terrorist alerts that has caused disruption on a scale not seen since 11 September 2001 culminated in dramatic scenes at Heathrow airport yesterday, when a British Airways flight to Washington DC was barred from taking off, for the second successive day, because of a specific terrorist threat. BA flights to and from the Saudi Arabian capital, Riyadh, were also cancelled after warnings from British intelligence services. BA 263, which was to take off from Heathrow at...