Nat’l Conference for Media Reform w/ Bill Moyers Video

More than 3,000 people came together for NCMR2007 in Memphis this weekend and though I wasn’t able to attend, I would like to channel the messages and motivation expressed at the conference. The Free Press Action Center, which organized the event, is hosting some video and audio of all sessions on its conference page. More on the conference blog

Additionally, they’ve released calls for action regarding stopping big media, saving the internet, and promoting media reform and justice.

Part two of the above video of Bill Moyers‘ opening plenary is available here.

More from Nieman Watchdog, BuzzMachine, Memphis Commercial Appeal, SavetheInternet. Photos here and here.

Mark at News Corpse provided a brief summary:

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Hacking the Vote: Chicago Edition

A “very serious vulnerability” in Chicago’s elections Web site made it possible for hackers to swipe Social Security numbers and the personal information of over 1.3 million voters… No confirmation at this point of any information actually being gleaned from the site.

ABC News reports that the problem has existed for more than five years.

Chicago Tribune reports election officials claim to have patched the more than 5-year-old problem.

Can you imagine how much money may have been made by hackers over the past five years who accessed this info? I mean charging just 2 cents per SS# could provide nearly $30k toward an entire year’s tuition the outrageously expensive college of your choice. Is anyone gonna pay to fix this this

This story originally broken by the non-partisan Illinois Ballot Integrity Project

Day Against DRM

Defective by Design has designated today (Oct. 3) Day Against DRM Day.

Digital Rights Management licenses, watermarks, and sabotaged appliances should be avoided at all costs today as a general statement against DRM. DRM and its growing acceptance as a “protection” for copyright holders and corporations alike, creates fear and levels creativity. The fact that Sony was allowed, last year, to get away with their rootkit, is one example of how DRM enables surreptitious corporate crime, while strangling and discouraging the freedom to express and create.

DBD notes 10 Things you can do in recognition of Day Against DRM Day here (one of which is to include this link wherever you can). Also, watch videos highlighting the problems with DRM. Check out the Day Against DRM Flickr photo pool slideshow:

Bring Me the Head of…

Greg Palast, bestselling author and union/consumer rights advocate, is wanted by the Department of Homeland Security for exposing critical infrastructure in the filming of an unauthorized one-year-after-Katrina documentary.

The kicker is that — surprise, surprise:

the Bush Terror Terriers have kindly indicated on the Internet that this unprotected critical infrastructure can be targeted — I mean located — at 30 29? 11? N Latitude and 91 11? 39? W Longitude.

As if the president didn’t repeat himself enough last night, here’s one more reason why “The safety of America depends on the outcome of the battle in the streets of Baghdad New Orleans…”

Palast’s documentary itself apparently exposes that, while he may be a wanted man, tens of thousands are being held hostage “in this aluminum ghetto in the middle of nowhere….”

Palast is reknown not only for his excellent writing and activism, he has been in the Bush doghouse for quite a while. He previously exposed the Bush Administration for letting Exxon off easy by only charging for punitive damages as a result of the Valdez disaster. Before that, he “busted” ChoicePoint, the government’s chosen credit and ID-verification service, for voiding votes in the 2000 presidential election by falsifying criminal records of select Florida voters.