Free Republic

The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) recently released a software toolkit designed to help universities detect instances of potentially illegal file-sharing on school networks. The toolkit is based on the increasingly popular Ubuntu Linux distribution and includes the Apache web server as well as custom traffic monitoring software created by the MPAA. Although the toolkit was previously available from a web site set up by the MPAA, the software was removed last night after the organization's ISP received a DMCA takedown notice from Ubuntu technical board member Matthew Garret. Many of the components in the Ubuntu Linux distribution, including...

A federal judge fined a Florence man $10,000 and ordered him to spend nine months in home detention for possessing a World War II-era machine gun. U.S. District Judge Karen O. Bowdre also put Paul David Connolly, 49, on five year's probation and ordered him to perform 150 hours of community service. Connolly, who had faced a possible 10-year sentence, had been indicted in April for possessing a Sten machine assembled from a kit. He later pleaded guilty. Connolly's attorney, Jim Sturdivant, said Connolly possessed the weapon for recreational purposes only and he hoped the sentence imposed by the judge...

The ink is barely dry on the Supreme Court's devastating decision in McConnell v. FEC -- the so-called campaign finance case that GOA was involved in. That decision severely restricted broadcast communications, thus making it more difficult for GOA to hold legislators accountable on Second Amendment issues. Now, the IRS is already leaping forward to expand the Court's ruling to include GOA newsletters, e-mail alerts, and other Second Amendment communications. Put out for comment on December 23, 2003 -- when, presumably, no one would notice -- proposed IRS Revenue Ruling 2004-6 creates a broad new set of ambiguous standards which...