Iraq War Has Spread Terror, Agencies Say

Ahem.

So maybe Microsoft isn't so stupid after all

 It looks like my earlier rant was a bit premature. PVRWire reports that the Zune will go for $249 or less, not the $299 that had been reported elsewhere. This will make the device much more competitive.

But I still think the "Plays For Sure" debacle remains a major turn-off. Why shove yet another DRM scheme down consumers' throats and abandon everyone who bought WMP tracks through MSN Music, Urge, Napster, Musicmatch and Yahoo?

 

Update: Looks like the final price will be even less - $230.

Why the Founding Fathers bothered with "speedy and public" trials

Because sometimes the government is wrong. This is just reprehensible:

Canadian intelligence officials passed false warnings and bad information to American agents about a Muslim Canadian citizen, after which U.S. authorities secretly whisked him to Syria, where he was tortured, a judicial report found Monday.

...

Arar, now 36, was detained by U.S. authorities as he changed planes in New York on Sept. 26, 2002. He was held for questioning for 12 days, then flown by jet to Jordan and driven to Syria. He was beaten, forced to confess to having trained in Afghanistan -- where he never has been -- and then kept in a coffin-size dungeon for 10 months before he was released, the Canadian inquiry commission found.

Bush and torture apologists will argue that the U.S. was only following up on some bad information -- blame Canada! But again, this is the perfect example of why a fair trial is so important. What happened to Arar shouldn't happen to anyone. (For the record, he's a Canadian citizen, but was kidnapped on U.S. soil.)

A refresher:

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defense.

- Amendment VI, U.S. Constitution

Stupid, stupid, stupid

Microsoft's new iPod killer will be priced at $284 at Wal-Mart -- $55 more than a 30 gig iPod -- and won't play Windows Media DRM-protected files.

First, the price: I realize Zune has a bigger screen and more features than the iPod. But if Microsoft really wants to stop iPod's steamroller momentum, the device will have to sell at a lower price -- not a similar price and definitely not at a higher price. The iTunes has a far bigger ecosystem, which makes it a much safer bet for the consumer. Microsoft should appreciate better than anyone and price accordingly.

Now about the DRM: Basically, if you've thrown in your lot with Microsoft and bought music at one of the partner sites, you're out of luck. I'm not sure how Redmond is going to convince anyone to trust Microsoft again with yet another DRM scheme.

Or maybe this is just a clever ploy by Microsoft to convince everyone that digital-rights management technology is hopelessly broken.

Why our policies on terrorism suspects matter

U.S. war prisons legal vacuum for 14,000: "Seventy to 90 percent of the Iraq detentions in 2003 were 'mistakes,' U.S. officers once told the international Red Cross."

Suspects are only suspects until they're convicted in a fair trial. Because sometimes -- indeed, with this administration, most of the time -- the government is wrong.